"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.
I was walkin' down the street when out the corner of my eye
I saw a pretty little thing approachin' me
She said, "I never seen a man who looked so all alone
Oh, could you use a little company?
If you pay the right price, your evening will be nice
And you can go and send me on my way"
I said, "You're such a sweet young thing, oh, why you do this to yourself?"
She looked at me and this is what she said
"Oh, there ain't no rest for the wicked
Money don't grow on trees
I got bills to pay, I got mouths to feed
There ain't nothin' in this world for free
Oh no, I can't slow down, I can't hold back
Though you know I wish I could
Oh no, there ain't no rest for the wicked
Until we close our eyes for good"
Not even fifteen minutes later, I'm still walkin' down the street
When I saw the shadow of a man creep out of sight
And then he swept up from behind, he put a gun up to my head
He made it clear he wasn't lookin' for a fight
He said, "Give me all you've got, I want your money, not your life
But if you try to make a move, I won't think twice"
I told him, "You can have my cash, but first, you know I gotta ask
What made you wanna live this kind of life?"
He said, "There ain't no rest for the wicked
Money don't grow on trees
I got bills to pay, I got mouths to feed
There ain't nothin' in this world for free
Oh no, I can't slow down, I can't hold back
Though you know I wish I could
Oh no, there ain't no rest for the wicked
Until we close our eyes for good"
Yeah
Well, now a couple hours passed and I was sitting in my house
The day was winding down and coming to an end
And so I turned on the TV and flipped it over to the news
And what I saw, I almost couldn't comprehend
I saw a preacher man in cuffs, he'd taken money from the church
He'd stuffed his bank account with righteous dollar bills
But even still I can't say much because I know we're all the same
Oh yes, we all seek out to satisfy those thrills
You know there ain't no rest for the wicked
Money don't grow on trees
We got bills to pay, we got mouths to feed
There ain't nothin' in this world for free
Oh no, we can't slow down, we can't hold back
Though you know we wish we could
Oh no, there ain't no rest for the wicked
Until we close our eyes for good
I saw a pretty little thing approachin' me
She said, "I never seen a man who looked so all alone
Oh, could you use a little company?
If you pay the right price, your evening will be nice
And you can go and send me on my way"
I said, "You're such a sweet young thing, oh, why you do this to yourself?"
She looked at me and this is what she said
"Oh, there ain't no rest for the wicked
Money don't grow on trees
I got bills to pay, I got mouths to feed
There ain't nothin' in this world for free
Oh no, I can't slow down, I can't hold back
Though you know I wish I could
Oh no, there ain't no rest for the wicked
Until we close our eyes for good"
Not even fifteen minutes later, I'm still walkin' down the street
When I saw the shadow of a man creep out of sight
And then he swept up from behind, he put a gun up to my head
He made it clear he wasn't lookin' for a fight
He said, "Give me all you've got, I want your money, not your life
But if you try to make a move, I won't think twice"
I told him, "You can have my cash, but first, you know I gotta ask
What made you wanna live this kind of life?"
He said, "There ain't no rest for the wicked
Money don't grow on trees
I got bills to pay, I got mouths to feed
There ain't nothin' in this world for free
Oh no, I can't slow down, I can't hold back
Though you know I wish I could
Oh no, there ain't no rest for the wicked
Until we close our eyes for good"
Yeah
Well, now a couple hours passed and I was sitting in my house
The day was winding down and coming to an end
And so I turned on the TV and flipped it over to the news
And what I saw, I almost couldn't comprehend
I saw a preacher man in cuffs, he'd taken money from the church
He'd stuffed his bank account with righteous dollar bills
But even still I can't say much because I know we're all the same
Oh yes, we all seek out to satisfy those thrills
You know there ain't no rest for the wicked
Money don't grow on trees
We got bills to pay, we got mouths to feed
There ain't nothin' in this world for free
Oh no, we can't slow down, we can't hold back
Though you know we wish we could
Oh no, there ain't no rest for the wicked
Until we close our eyes for good
Lyrics submitted by laurentheinvincible, edited by dodgerblue, crg4
Ain't No Rest for the Wicked Lyrics as written by Donald Bradley Shultz Matthew Ray Shultz
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I think if you live your life by not cheating, stealing or lying in the first place you won't end up in these situations, but I agree that yes once you're locked into that world there is no rest for the wicked.