"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.
Too bad we was thrown downstairs
You never got a chance to sing
We were quite polite
With one invite
To keep us off the street
So we mingled for a minute or two
With the high class clientele
And then somebody said who invited them
That crowd of refugees, too bad
What an insult to be shown the door
Before we could shake a leg
I was most intrigued by the colored queen
Leaning on the kitchen door
Then I was ushered with my friends
By the butler who was twelve feet tall
But let me please explain
'Cause we're not to blame
We just don't have the right accent
No, no, woo
All we wanted to do, was to socialize
Oh you know its a shame
I was always getting the pain
All we wanted to do, was to socialize
Oh you know its a shame
How we always get the blame
Twenty girls, damp hotels
Is where I'm gonna stay
'Cause now I see what it's all about
I didn't at the old school side
Don't worry we had more fun
Waiting for the all night bus, oh
Too bad my regional tongue
Gave us away again
You never got a chance to sing
We were quite polite
With one invite
To keep us off the street
So we mingled for a minute or two
With the high class clientele
And then somebody said who invited them
That crowd of refugees, too bad
What an insult to be shown the door
Before we could shake a leg
I was most intrigued by the colored queen
Leaning on the kitchen door
Then I was ushered with my friends
By the butler who was twelve feet tall
But let me please explain
'Cause we're not to blame
We just don't have the right accent
No, no, woo
All we wanted to do, was to socialize
Oh you know its a shame
I was always getting the pain
All we wanted to do, was to socialize
Oh you know its a shame
How we always get the blame
Twenty girls, damp hotels
Is where I'm gonna stay
'Cause now I see what it's all about
I didn't at the old school side
Don't worry we had more fun
Waiting for the all night bus, oh
Too bad my regional tongue
Gave us away again
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Too Bad Lyrics as written by Ron Wood Rod Stewart
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Spirit Music Group, Songtrust Ave, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
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