"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.
)
[scratched: "DMC"]
[Chorus: singers - repeat 4X]
What's wrong with this world today (what's wrong with this world)
[DMC]
Check it out now
12 years old and I'm smokin on weed
I want a lot of stuff that I don't really need
14 years old and I'm drinkin on beer
What my parents gotta say I don't wanna hear
16 years old and I'm takin ecstasy
Girl next to me is gonna have sex with me
18 years old and I'm sniffin cocaine
Don't really care what it's doin to my brain
[singers]
Don't understand, why all the fuss
Why the grown-ups keep messin with us
I'm not gonna die just because I smoked dust
Smack me in the face just because I said a cuss
Treat 'em like kids, we should leave them alone
But they don't understand (I'm 12 and I'm grown)
[Chorus]
[Napolean]
At the age of 12 I was probably sellin weed
Seein the same things that DMC seen
Was a young cat that'd love to see you bleed
But what's goin on with this world tell me
Kids in the street eatin meals off the streets
Take me off the streets but can't stop the streets
At the age of 3 they got shot right in front of me
My moms and my daddy, shoulda never had me
16 years old my balls got swoll
Heart got cold and them glocks got load
Take it back to 15, pops was on the scene
Took me out the hood, showed me how to stack cream
Take it back to my breddern, age 11
Khadafi, the head brother, of Makaveli
Wasn't for you, the streets woulda failed me
Napolean, Outlaw, give 'em hell DMC
[Chorus]
[DMC]
Check it out
Today is the day that I bring a gun to school
The teacher dissed me and he played me for a fool
Tryin to play the role, tryin to be cool
Being {?} well I make the rules
[Napolean]
If I pull the trigger, I figure if he die
I say that I'm crazy, you know that's a lie
[DMC]
Just gotta act like I'm out of my mind
To be on the news, on the cover of Time
[Napolean]
Shoulda known I would do it, shoulda seen the signs
Been lovin guns ever since I was 9
[DMC] I played PlayStation
[Nap] And Nintendo too
[DMC] And love all the games
[Nap] When I'm shootin at you
[DMC] When my dad was young he used to go out and hunt
[Nap] It doesn't really matter man, I came to front
[both]
It doesn't really matter as a kid or a man
Cause the same thing can happen with a gun in your hand
[Chorus]
[ad libbed scratches to end]
[scratched: "DMC"]
[Chorus: singers - repeat 4X]
What's wrong with this world today (what's wrong with this world)
[DMC]
Check it out now
12 years old and I'm smokin on weed
I want a lot of stuff that I don't really need
14 years old and I'm drinkin on beer
What my parents gotta say I don't wanna hear
16 years old and I'm takin ecstasy
Girl next to me is gonna have sex with me
18 years old and I'm sniffin cocaine
Don't really care what it's doin to my brain
[singers]
Don't understand, why all the fuss
Why the grown-ups keep messin with us
I'm not gonna die just because I smoked dust
Smack me in the face just because I said a cuss
Treat 'em like kids, we should leave them alone
But they don't understand (I'm 12 and I'm grown)
[Chorus]
[Napolean]
At the age of 12 I was probably sellin weed
Seein the same things that DMC seen
Was a young cat that'd love to see you bleed
But what's goin on with this world tell me
Kids in the street eatin meals off the streets
Take me off the streets but can't stop the streets
At the age of 3 they got shot right in front of me
My moms and my daddy, shoulda never had me
16 years old my balls got swoll
Heart got cold and them glocks got load
Take it back to 15, pops was on the scene
Took me out the hood, showed me how to stack cream
Take it back to my breddern, age 11
Khadafi, the head brother, of Makaveli
Wasn't for you, the streets woulda failed me
Napolean, Outlaw, give 'em hell DMC
[Chorus]
[DMC]
Check it out
Today is the day that I bring a gun to school
The teacher dissed me and he played me for a fool
Tryin to play the role, tryin to be cool
Being {?} well I make the rules
[Napolean]
If I pull the trigger, I figure if he die
I say that I'm crazy, you know that's a lie
[DMC]
Just gotta act like I'm out of my mind
To be on the news, on the cover of Time
[Napolean]
Shoulda known I would do it, shoulda seen the signs
Been lovin guns ever since I was 9
[DMC] I played PlayStation
[Nap] And Nintendo too
[DMC] And love all the games
[Nap] When I'm shootin at you
[DMC] When my dad was young he used to go out and hunt
[Nap] It doesn't really matter man, I came to front
[both]
It doesn't really matter as a kid or a man
Cause the same thing can happen with a gun in your hand
[Chorus]
[ad libbed scratches to end]
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