"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
Out of the darkness the torches are comin'
Clatter of hoofs and torches on roofs
Young bairns wailin', ships they are sailing
Bound off our homeland, a new land to calm
Will ye be proud when yer grandfather's turnin'
Will ye be proud as yer son dies sae well
Will ye be proud when the last battle's over
Will ye be proud at yer life's last remain
Highland men hangin' by English decree
Hung by their kilts as a warnin' tae the free
From a landlord's voice the Highlands are finished
Yer sword and yer plaid shall be never again
Will ye be proud when yer grandfather's turnin'
Will ye be proud as yer son dies sae well
Will ye be proud when the last battle's over
Will ye be proud at yer life's last remain
The targe is torn and the claymore is blunt
As is the spirit of those who won't stand
Betrayed and dishonoured and robbed of their land
What's become of a Highland band
Will ye be proud when yer grandfather's turnin'
Will ye be proud as yer son dies sae well
Will ye be proud when the last battle's over
Will ye be proud at yer life's last remain
There are new lives beginning
For those who are Highland
Heads held high, proud once again
Two hundred years of bitter tears mourning
The country once ours, it will be again
Will ye be proud when yer grandfather's turnin'
Will ye be proud as yer son dies sae well
Will ye be proud when the last battle's over
Will ye be proud at yer life's last remain
Clatter of hoofs and torches on roofs
Young bairns wailin', ships they are sailing
Bound off our homeland, a new land to calm
Will ye be proud when yer grandfather's turnin'
Will ye be proud as yer son dies sae well
Will ye be proud when the last battle's over
Will ye be proud at yer life's last remain
Highland men hangin' by English decree
Hung by their kilts as a warnin' tae the free
From a landlord's voice the Highlands are finished
Yer sword and yer plaid shall be never again
Will ye be proud when yer grandfather's turnin'
Will ye be proud as yer son dies sae well
Will ye be proud when the last battle's over
Will ye be proud at yer life's last remain
The targe is torn and the claymore is blunt
As is the spirit of those who won't stand
Betrayed and dishonoured and robbed of their land
What's become of a Highland band
Will ye be proud when yer grandfather's turnin'
Will ye be proud as yer son dies sae well
Will ye be proud when the last battle's over
Will ye be proud at yer life's last remain
There are new lives beginning
For those who are Highland
Heads held high, proud once again
Two hundred years of bitter tears mourning
The country once ours, it will be again
Will ye be proud when yer grandfather's turnin'
Will ye be proud as yer son dies sae well
Will ye be proud when the last battle's over
Will ye be proud at yer life's last remain
Lyrics submitted by Burrich
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Fast Car
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