"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.
I suddenly noticed the body of a parson lying on the ground in a ruined churchyard
I felt unable to leave him to the mercy of the red weed, and decided to bury him, decently
Nathaniel! Nathaniel!
The parson's eyes flickered open
He was alive!
Nathaniel, I saw the church burst into flame, are you all right?
Don't touch me!
But it's me, Beth! Your wife!
No! You're one of them - a devil!
He's delirious!
Lies! I saw the devil's sign!
What are you saying?
The green flash in the sky
His demons were here all along, in our hearts and souls
Just waiting for a sign from Him
And now they're destroying our world!
But they're not devils, they're Martians
We must leave here!
Look, a house still standing, come Nathaniel, quickly
We took shelter in a cottage, and black smoke spread, hemming us in
Then a fighting machine came across the field
Spraying jets of steam that turned the smoke into thick, black dust
Ulla!
Dear God, help us!
The voice of the Devil is heard in our land!
Listen, do you hear them drawing near
In their search for the sinners?
Feeding on the power of our fear
And the evil within us?
Incarnation of Satan's creation of all that we dread
When the demons arrive those alive would be better off dead!
There must be something worth living for
There must be something worth trying for
Even some things worth dying for!
And if one man can stand tall
There must be hope for us all
Somewhere, somewhere in the spirit of man
Once there was a time when I believed
Without hesitation
That the power of love and truth could conquer all
In the name of salvation
Tell me what kind of weapon is love when it comes to the fight?
And just how much protection is truth against all Satan's might?
There must be something worth living for
There must be something worth trying for
Even some things worth dying for
And if one man can stand tall
There must be some hope for us all
Somewhere, somewhere in the spirit of man
People loved you, and trusted you, came to you for help
Didn't I warn them this would happen?
Be on your guard, I said, for the Evil One never rests
I said exorcise the devil!
But no, they wouldn't listen, the demons inside them grew and grew
Until Satan gave his signal and destroyed the world we knew!
No Nathaniel, oh no, Nathaniel
No Nathaniel, no, there must be more to life
There has to be a way that we can
Restore to life the love we used to know
(No) Nathaniel, no, there must be more to life
There has to be a way that we can
Restore to life the light that we have lost
Now darkness has descended on our land
And all your prayers cannot save us
Like fools we've let the devil take command
Of the souls that God gave us
To the altar of evil like lambs to the slaughter were led
When the demons arrive the survivors will envy the dead!
There must be something worth living for
(No, there is nothing!)
There must be something worth trying for
(I don't believe it's so!)
Even some things worth dying for
If just one man could stand tall
There would be some hope for us all
Somewhere, somewhere in the spirit of man
Forget about goodness and mercy, they're gone!
Didn't I warn them? Pray, I said! Destroy the devil, I said!
They wouldn't listen! I could have saved the world!
But now it's too late, too late!
No Nathaniel, oh no, Nathaniel
No Nathaniel, no, there must be more to life
There has to be a way that we can
Restore to life the love we used to know
(No) Nathaniel, no, there must be more to life
There has to be a way that we can
Restore to life the light that we have lost
Dear God!
A cylinder's landed on the house
And we are underneath it, in the pit!
The Martians spent the night making a new machine
It was a squat, metallic spider with huge, articulated claws
But it, too, had a hood in which a Martian sat
I watched it pursuing some people across a field
It caught them nimbly and tossed them into a great metal basket upon its back
Beth! She's dead! Buried under the rubble Why?
Satan! Why did you take one of your own?
There is a curse on Mankind
We may as well be resigned
To let the devil, the devil take the spirit of man
As time passed in our dark and dusty prison
The Parson wrestled endlessly with his doubts
His outcries invited death for us both - and yet, I pitied him
I felt unable to leave him to the mercy of the red weed, and decided to bury him, decently
Nathaniel! Nathaniel!
The parson's eyes flickered open
He was alive!
Nathaniel, I saw the church burst into flame, are you all right?
Don't touch me!
But it's me, Beth! Your wife!
No! You're one of them - a devil!
He's delirious!
Lies! I saw the devil's sign!
What are you saying?
The green flash in the sky
His demons were here all along, in our hearts and souls
Just waiting for a sign from Him
And now they're destroying our world!
But they're not devils, they're Martians
We must leave here!
Look, a house still standing, come Nathaniel, quickly
We took shelter in a cottage, and black smoke spread, hemming us in
Then a fighting machine came across the field
Spraying jets of steam that turned the smoke into thick, black dust
Ulla!
Dear God, help us!
The voice of the Devil is heard in our land!
Listen, do you hear them drawing near
In their search for the sinners?
Feeding on the power of our fear
And the evil within us?
Incarnation of Satan's creation of all that we dread
When the demons arrive those alive would be better off dead!
There must be something worth living for
There must be something worth trying for
Even some things worth dying for!
And if one man can stand tall
There must be hope for us all
Somewhere, somewhere in the spirit of man
Once there was a time when I believed
Without hesitation
That the power of love and truth could conquer all
In the name of salvation
Tell me what kind of weapon is love when it comes to the fight?
And just how much protection is truth against all Satan's might?
There must be something worth living for
There must be something worth trying for
Even some things worth dying for
And if one man can stand tall
There must be some hope for us all
Somewhere, somewhere in the spirit of man
People loved you, and trusted you, came to you for help
Didn't I warn them this would happen?
Be on your guard, I said, for the Evil One never rests
I said exorcise the devil!
But no, they wouldn't listen, the demons inside them grew and grew
Until Satan gave his signal and destroyed the world we knew!
No Nathaniel, oh no, Nathaniel
No Nathaniel, no, there must be more to life
There has to be a way that we can
Restore to life the love we used to know
(No) Nathaniel, no, there must be more to life
There has to be a way that we can
Restore to life the light that we have lost
Now darkness has descended on our land
And all your prayers cannot save us
Like fools we've let the devil take command
Of the souls that God gave us
To the altar of evil like lambs to the slaughter were led
When the demons arrive the survivors will envy the dead!
There must be something worth living for
(No, there is nothing!)
There must be something worth trying for
(I don't believe it's so!)
Even some things worth dying for
If just one man could stand tall
There would be some hope for us all
Somewhere, somewhere in the spirit of man
Forget about goodness and mercy, they're gone!
Didn't I warn them? Pray, I said! Destroy the devil, I said!
They wouldn't listen! I could have saved the world!
But now it's too late, too late!
No Nathaniel, oh no, Nathaniel
No Nathaniel, no, there must be more to life
There has to be a way that we can
Restore to life the love we used to know
(No) Nathaniel, no, there must be more to life
There has to be a way that we can
Restore to life the light that we have lost
Dear God!
A cylinder's landed on the house
And we are underneath it, in the pit!
The Martians spent the night making a new machine
It was a squat, metallic spider with huge, articulated claws
But it, too, had a hood in which a Martian sat
I watched it pursuing some people across a field
It caught them nimbly and tossed them into a great metal basket upon its back
Beth! She's dead! Buried under the rubble Why?
Satan! Why did you take one of your own?
There is a curse on Mankind
We may as well be resigned
To let the devil, the devil take the spirit of man
As time passed in our dark and dusty prison
The Parson wrestled endlessly with his doubts
His outcries invited death for us both - and yet, I pitied him
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
The Spirit Of Man Lyrics as written by Gary Osbourne Jeff Wayne
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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