Warren wanted a Beach Boys thing for this one, and Carl Wilson and Billy Hinsche came in, with Carl arranging the vocal parts. The other harmony vocalists (credited as the "Gentlemen Boys") were Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther, Zevon's longtime backers Waddy Wachtel and Jorge Calderon, and Linda Rondstadt/Stone Poneys guitarist Kenny Edwards.
She said I can be a frog
I can be a bat
I can be a bear
Or I can be a cat
She said I can be a lion
I can be a gila monster
I can be a warrior Indian
I can be a helicopter
She said I can be a wolf
I can be a finch
I can be a jaguar
Or a locust on the bridge
She said I can be a monkey
I can be a tiger
I can be a tornado
Knocking down your wires
Well, it seems like she can be anything
Any kind of creature she wants to be
Oh, it seems like she can be anything
Any kind of frog
Any kind of bear
Any kind of monkey
She wants to be
I can be a bat
I can be a bear
Or I can be a cat
She said I can be a lion
I can be a gila monster
I can be a warrior Indian
I can be a helicopter
She said I can be a wolf
I can be a finch
I can be a jaguar
Or a locust on the bridge
She said I can be a monkey
I can be a tiger
I can be a tornado
Knocking down your wires
Well, it seems like she can be anything
Any kind of creature she wants to be
Oh, it seems like she can be anything
Any kind of frog
Any kind of bear
Any kind of monkey
She wants to be
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He reuses the verse melody from the previous album's "Dirty Little Religion", the topics of the verses are all over the place, and he packs too many words into one line (goes to show...) and too few in another (it's pretty hard to find), and rhymes "Henley Regatta" with "Persona non grata", but gets away with it all as only he could.
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He certainly did earn that reputation.
when rules change
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"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.
Reminds me of Devendra Banhart's "Little Yellow Spider." I love the childish silliness of both songs.
It sounds like either his mother or some other woman he admires tells him that he can be anything in creation and at the end of the song he admires her because she can be all those things and anything else she wants to be. I agree with the above poster, that childhood imagination and getting in touch with that allows someone to become anything they want to become.