"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.
Woke of from the raddest dream, there were purple skies and we all could fly
and there were neon signs where our hearts reside saying “you are welcome here, anytime”
I was hypnotized and I opened my eyes, put on my face and then i hit the drive
With the swerves of my life, and the turns of my life and i asked:
“Why did I wake up from this dream? Am I a minnow on this stream?”
things aren’t exactly what they seem.
When you see the Velveteen and nothing more
It’s a beautiful strange world when you see it like a Distant Star.
Walking along today looking single-file, cartwheels in my mind as a crack a smile
Oh, there you were you said the illest things like “I know how you feel and I feel the same.”
Then a tear dropped out of the corner of my eye, in the happiest way to know that you’re alive
With the swerves of my life, the beautiful turns of my life and i said:
“Don’t wanna wake up from this day—are we as rare as the Desert Rain?”
then you took my hand and we flew away
When you see the Velveteen and nothing more
It’s a beautiful strange world when you see it like a Distant Star.
It’s a beautiful strange world that we live in
What is real, always changing
and when you feel like you’re standing in the middle of the ocean—
the Light of the Stars shine the Dream.
When you see the Velveteen and nothing more
It’s a beautiful strange world when you see it like a Distant Star.
and there were neon signs where our hearts reside saying “you are welcome here, anytime”
I was hypnotized and I opened my eyes, put on my face and then i hit the drive
With the swerves of my life, and the turns of my life and i asked:
“Why did I wake up from this dream? Am I a minnow on this stream?”
things aren’t exactly what they seem.
When you see the Velveteen and nothing more
It’s a beautiful strange world when you see it like a Distant Star.
Walking along today looking single-file, cartwheels in my mind as a crack a smile
Oh, there you were you said the illest things like “I know how you feel and I feel the same.”
Then a tear dropped out of the corner of my eye, in the happiest way to know that you’re alive
With the swerves of my life, the beautiful turns of my life and i said:
“Don’t wanna wake up from this day—are we as rare as the Desert Rain?”
then you took my hand and we flew away
When you see the Velveteen and nothing more
It’s a beautiful strange world when you see it like a Distant Star.
It’s a beautiful strange world that we live in
What is real, always changing
and when you feel like you’re standing in the middle of the ocean—
the Light of the Stars shine the Dream.
When you see the Velveteen and nothing more
It’s a beautiful strange world when you see it like a Distant Star.
Lyrics submitted by MelancholyXIII
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Fast Car
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