"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.
So I got a stack of tapes,
Got a name and maybe date,
They're gonna be worth
Something someday
That is if I pop that song,
Just about three minutes long,
'Bout how you told me wrong
Or make the outrage safe
And if before my time
I decide to take my life
You could take these treasures
And pull them up into light
Make every song a gem,
Take every one of them,
Release a collection
Of cacophonic hits
And remix, and remaster
My disasters
Our first-track words
And never-before-heard
Acoustic takes, it's yours
From the shoebox to the online store
Bury me in analog
Pull the reels up
Nearly burn that water log
And release it
They bought it, you sold it
Got nothin' for everyone
They bought it, you sold it
Got nothin' for everyone
And when it goes out of print,
You could then re-issue it
Trade off the publishin' rights
To the highest bid
To a queen or king of pop,
Sell revolution off,
It's an investment, man,
I can't make this stuff up
And the brats I leave behind
Will party every night
And sleep all day 'til five
And live the trust fund life
And they'll call the radio,
Complain and curse and moan
'Bout how everybody thinks
It's cake to live this way
And my grave will be showered
With the latest in flower power
And the freaks will drive by my street
And cry and sing and dream
And listen to the new CD
Bury me in analog
Take the suit and
You can have it auctioned off,
Couple thousand
They bought it, you sold it
Got nothin' for everyone
They bought it, you sold it
Got nothin' for everyone
Bury me in analog,
Every paper
That I ever scribbled on
Is a treasure
Chart-topper, best seller
Yeah, it'll be yours to take
And buy it and sell it,
It's all garbage anyway
The b's and the suckers
Have all gone out to play
Got a name and maybe date,
They're gonna be worth
Something someday
That is if I pop that song,
Just about three minutes long,
'Bout how you told me wrong
Or make the outrage safe
And if before my time
I decide to take my life
You could take these treasures
And pull them up into light
Make every song a gem,
Take every one of them,
Release a collection
Of cacophonic hits
And remix, and remaster
My disasters
Our first-track words
And never-before-heard
Acoustic takes, it's yours
From the shoebox to the online store
Bury me in analog
Pull the reels up
Nearly burn that water log
And release it
They bought it, you sold it
Got nothin' for everyone
They bought it, you sold it
Got nothin' for everyone
And when it goes out of print,
You could then re-issue it
Trade off the publishin' rights
To the highest bid
To a queen or king of pop,
Sell revolution off,
It's an investment, man,
I can't make this stuff up
And the brats I leave behind
Will party every night
And sleep all day 'til five
And live the trust fund life
And they'll call the radio,
Complain and curse and moan
'Bout how everybody thinks
It's cake to live this way
And my grave will be showered
With the latest in flower power
And the freaks will drive by my street
And cry and sing and dream
And listen to the new CD
Bury me in analog
Take the suit and
You can have it auctioned off,
Couple thousand
They bought it, you sold it
Got nothin' for everyone
They bought it, you sold it
Got nothin' for everyone
Bury me in analog,
Every paper
That I ever scribbled on
Is a treasure
Chart-topper, best seller
Yeah, it'll be yours to take
And buy it and sell it,
It's all garbage anyway
The b's and the suckers
Have all gone out to play
Lyrics submitted by concreteblues
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