"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.
Girl we made it to the top
We went so high we couldn't stop
We climbed the ladder leading us nowhere
Two of us together
Building castles in the air
We spun so fast we couldn't tell
The gold ring from the carousel
How could we know the ride would turn out bad
Everything we wanted
Was everything we had
I miss the hungry years
The once upon a time
The lovely long ago
We didn't have a dime
Those days of me and you
We lost along the way
How could I be so blind
Not to see the door
Closing on the world
I now hunger for
Looking through my tears
I miss the hungry years
We shared our daydreams one by one
Making plans was so much fun
We set our goals and reached the highest star
The things that we were after
Were much better from afar
Here we stand just me and you
With everything and nothing, too
It wasn't worth the price we had to pay
Honey take me home
Let's go back to yesterday
I miss the hungry years
The once upon a time
The lovely long ago
We didn't have a dime
Those days of me and you
We lost along the way
How could I be so blind
Not to see the door
Closing on the world
I know hunger for
Looking through my tears
I miss the hungry years
I miss the hungry years
We went so high we couldn't stop
We climbed the ladder leading us nowhere
Two of us together
Building castles in the air
We spun so fast we couldn't tell
The gold ring from the carousel
How could we know the ride would turn out bad
Everything we wanted
Was everything we had
I miss the hungry years
The once upon a time
The lovely long ago
We didn't have a dime
Those days of me and you
We lost along the way
How could I be so blind
Not to see the door
Closing on the world
I now hunger for
Looking through my tears
I miss the hungry years
We shared our daydreams one by one
Making plans was so much fun
We set our goals and reached the highest star
The things that we were after
Were much better from afar
Here we stand just me and you
With everything and nothing, too
It wasn't worth the price we had to pay
Honey take me home
Let's go back to yesterday
I miss the hungry years
The once upon a time
The lovely long ago
We didn't have a dime
Those days of me and you
We lost along the way
How could I be so blind
Not to see the door
Closing on the world
I know hunger for
Looking through my tears
I miss the hungry years
I miss the hungry years
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
The Hungry Years Lyrics as written by Howard Greenfield Neil Sedaka
Lyrics © MUSIC SALES CORPORATION, BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Word Collections Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
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