"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.
In my room at Third and Seneca
See the pigeons peck on tall roof tops
Homeless on the corners, they carouse
Ferries float out in the Puget Sound
Scenesters with their beards and tennis shoes
Skinny girls and pudgy ugly dudes
Lift their amplifiers from the ditches
Southern doormen brood in barroom witches
Seattle black, Alaska blue
Oregon grey, raincloud Vancouver
Dead in Denver, drowsy Idaho
Just dreams away from your love, San Francisco
In my room at Laurel and Beverly
Your mind blossoms, mine is withering
I'm retiring and you're aspiring
You're dream-chasing, I'm only escaping
Blood orange LA, blood red Arizona
Lonestar Sante Fe, lone palm La Pomona
Old soul San Antonio, dry grass of El Paso
Lifetimes away from your love, I know
From my view at 32nd Street
Winter throws its snow down heavily
Empty halls of friends who've come and gone
I'm awoken, rushed, and dragged along
New York, New York, New Haven, Hoboken
The skylines appear spinning past in fast motion
The words we shared dissolved as they're spoken
All the worlds away from my love
See the pigeons peck on tall roof tops
Homeless on the corners, they carouse
Ferries float out in the Puget Sound
Scenesters with their beards and tennis shoes
Skinny girls and pudgy ugly dudes
Lift their amplifiers from the ditches
Southern doormen brood in barroom witches
Seattle black, Alaska blue
Oregon grey, raincloud Vancouver
Dead in Denver, drowsy Idaho
Just dreams away from your love, San Francisco
In my room at Laurel and Beverly
Your mind blossoms, mine is withering
I'm retiring and you're aspiring
You're dream-chasing, I'm only escaping
Blood orange LA, blood red Arizona
Lonestar Sante Fe, lone palm La Pomona
Old soul San Antonio, dry grass of El Paso
Lifetimes away from your love, I know
From my view at 32nd Street
Winter throws its snow down heavily
Empty halls of friends who've come and gone
I'm awoken, rushed, and dragged along
New York, New York, New Haven, Hoboken
The skylines appear spinning past in fast motion
The words we shared dissolved as they're spoken
All the worlds away from my love
Lyrics submitted by 2006200720082009
Third and Seneca Lyrics as written by Mark Edward Kozelek
Lyrics © ROUGH TRADE PUBLISHING, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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