"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.
Santos-Dumont built and numbered 20 flying machines. This is their story, and his
1. A giant cigar made from Japanese silk. I crash into trees then fly up to the milk
2. Wider, gasier, a rotary fan. I crash into trees, this time I cut my knees
3. Shorter, thicker. Lamp gas inside. Around the Eiffel tower itís lifting my pride
4. Out of my basket I straddle a bike. Like a witch on her broom I can fly where I like
World love through flight
In wonder machines
We control
All our dreams
5. Piano wire ropes. I crash at my friends but master the art of aerial bends
6. Crystal Palace, Monaco, Deutsch Prize, New York. Sunken and slashed. People talk, people talk
7. I compete at St Louis for a shining grand prize and again my balloon is hacked at with knives
8. I return to Paris. And contemplate. Avoiding acknowledgment of the dreaded number 8
9. I transport a child in this aerial car and hand the controls to a woman. Huzzah!
10. I build it for 10 but it flies with just 1. This is the worldís first airship for no one
World love through flight
In wonder machines
We control
All our dreams
World love through flight
In wonder machines
We control
All our dreams
World love through flight
In wonder machines
We control
All our dreams
11. A glider. One engine. That can barely fly. It has to get better so upward I try
12. Leonardo inspired this twin helicopter. But unlike my vision, itís ability falters
13. A division of hydrogen and piping hot air. An airship that lacked elevation and flair
14. My airship becomes an aerial tug which I use to pull planes like a donkey with brains
15. A biplane at last, to the future I ride. If only I could make it fly high like a kite
16. Is it an airship or is it a plane? Whatever it is its clearly insane
17. A biplane again, but the design is elusive. I lack the passion to even build it
18. A plane that can float on the beautiful Seine. Did I call it a plane? Itís a boat, message ends
19. A precarious mess which I hope will win big. It carefully springs from the earth and then digs
20. Demoiselle. I love you but war has begun. You fly in my dreams. Dream on everyone
1. A giant cigar made from Japanese silk. I crash into trees then fly up to the milk
2. Wider, gasier, a rotary fan. I crash into trees, this time I cut my knees
3. Shorter, thicker. Lamp gas inside. Around the Eiffel tower itís lifting my pride
4. Out of my basket I straddle a bike. Like a witch on her broom I can fly where I like
World love through flight
In wonder machines
We control
All our dreams
5. Piano wire ropes. I crash at my friends but master the art of aerial bends
6. Crystal Palace, Monaco, Deutsch Prize, New York. Sunken and slashed. People talk, people talk
7. I compete at St Louis for a shining grand prize and again my balloon is hacked at with knives
8. I return to Paris. And contemplate. Avoiding acknowledgment of the dreaded number 8
9. I transport a child in this aerial car and hand the controls to a woman. Huzzah!
10. I build it for 10 but it flies with just 1. This is the worldís first airship for no one
World love through flight
In wonder machines
We control
All our dreams
World love through flight
In wonder machines
We control
All our dreams
World love through flight
In wonder machines
We control
All our dreams
11. A glider. One engine. That can barely fly. It has to get better so upward I try
12. Leonardo inspired this twin helicopter. But unlike my vision, itís ability falters
13. A division of hydrogen and piping hot air. An airship that lacked elevation and flair
14. My airship becomes an aerial tug which I use to pull planes like a donkey with brains
15. A biplane at last, to the future I ride. If only I could make it fly high like a kite
16. Is it an airship or is it a plane? Whatever it is its clearly insane
17. A biplane again, but the design is elusive. I lack the passion to even build it
18. A plane that can float on the beautiful Seine. Did I call it a plane? Itís a boat, message ends
19. A precarious mess which I hope will win big. It carefully springs from the earth and then digs
20. Demoiselle. I love you but war has begun. You fly in my dreams. Dream on everyone
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