"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.
Shadow and Jimmy
Were always yesterday's news
Jimmy's a bowler
Shadow rents out his green bowling shoes
Late Friday night
When the bars are all shuttered and dark
He shadows back Jimmy
To the lot in the lost trailer park
For Shadow and Jimmy
Every weekend ends up the same
If it's Saturday night
Then it must be the hockey game
After cold beer and barbecued ribs
The night is complete
With wrestling stories and elegant bones
That are tired of walking and on their way home
And they talk about the women
And they look at the girls
They'll never know the ways of the world
They've got a mouthful of much obliged
And a handful of gimme
And the love for each other
Oh Shadow and Jimmy
For Shadow and Jimmy
Now the story is told (Story is told)
There's nothing to hold on to
And no one to hold (No one to hold)
For men without women
Are like fish without water to swim in
(Water to swim in)
With their eyes bugging out
They flop on the beach
And look up at the girls
Who are just out of reach
And they talk about the women
(Talk about the women)
And they look at the girls (Look at the girls)
They'll never know the ways of the world
They've got a mouthful of much obliged
And a handful of gimme
And they love for each other
Oh Shadow and Jimmy
And they talk about the women
(Talk about the women)
And they look at the girls (Look at the girls)
They'll never know the ways of the world
They've got a mouthful of much obliged
And a handful of gimme
And they love for each other
Oh Shadow and Jimmy
And they love for each other
Oh Shadow and Jimmy
La la la la la la...Oh oh oh...[fade]
Were always yesterday's news
Jimmy's a bowler
Shadow rents out his green bowling shoes
Late Friday night
When the bars are all shuttered and dark
He shadows back Jimmy
To the lot in the lost trailer park
For Shadow and Jimmy
Every weekend ends up the same
If it's Saturday night
Then it must be the hockey game
After cold beer and barbecued ribs
The night is complete
With wrestling stories and elegant bones
That are tired of walking and on their way home
And they talk about the women
And they look at the girls
They'll never know the ways of the world
They've got a mouthful of much obliged
And a handful of gimme
And the love for each other
Oh Shadow and Jimmy
For Shadow and Jimmy
Now the story is told (Story is told)
There's nothing to hold on to
And no one to hold (No one to hold)
For men without women
Are like fish without water to swim in
(Water to swim in)
With their eyes bugging out
They flop on the beach
And look up at the girls
Who are just out of reach
And they talk about the women
(Talk about the women)
And they look at the girls (Look at the girls)
They'll never know the ways of the world
They've got a mouthful of much obliged
And a handful of gimme
And they love for each other
Oh Shadow and Jimmy
And they talk about the women
(Talk about the women)
And they look at the girls (Look at the girls)
They'll never know the ways of the world
They've got a mouthful of much obliged
And a handful of gimme
And they love for each other
Oh Shadow and Jimmy
And they love for each other
Oh Shadow and Jimmy
La la la la la la...Oh oh oh...[fade]
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Shadow & Jimmy Lyrics as written by David Weiss Elvis Costello
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
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