"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.
One more time
Just a little thing they call they poor man blues
I've been a working in a cotton field way down south
Choppin' and a pickin' lord and followin' the plow
Tryin' to make a livin' on the poor hard ground
I asked for a loan but the boss turned me down
But I'll keep on a workin' cause a can't get down
Another load of Cotton' gotta take into town
I'll take my little money and buy a new par' shoes
I got a woman sittin' home humming the poor boy blues
She goes ahumm ahumm Poor old soul she goes ahumm mm mm
Just a little thing they call the poor boys blues
I got in debt to the bank and now I can't move on
I'll stay in the field til the last bo's gone
I got one old mule, that I recon' is my own
They might keep me down but I'll keep humming my song
I'll go amm ahumm mm
One more time amm mm aumm mm
Just a little thing they call the poor boys blues
Ah they say the great society goin' a change a few things
A farmer like me I wonder what it's goin' a bring
I don't pay taxes I say it with a smile
Cause I ain't never made enough in my life to file
But I'll keep on a workin' til the lord calls me home
That's when I'll know if I've done wrong
I keep on a humming let everybody sue
The Poor national anthem called the Poor blues
I go amm amm mm
One more time amm amm
Just a little thing they call the poor boys blues
Amm mm amm
One more time mm fade out
Just a little thing they call they poor man blues
I've been a working in a cotton field way down south
Choppin' and a pickin' lord and followin' the plow
Tryin' to make a livin' on the poor hard ground
I asked for a loan but the boss turned me down
But I'll keep on a workin' cause a can't get down
Another load of Cotton' gotta take into town
I'll take my little money and buy a new par' shoes
I got a woman sittin' home humming the poor boy blues
She goes ahumm ahumm Poor old soul she goes ahumm mm mm
Just a little thing they call the poor boys blues
I got in debt to the bank and now I can't move on
I'll stay in the field til the last bo's gone
I got one old mule, that I recon' is my own
They might keep me down but I'll keep humming my song
I'll go amm ahumm mm
One more time amm mm aumm mm
Just a little thing they call the poor boys blues
Ah they say the great society goin' a change a few things
A farmer like me I wonder what it's goin' a bring
I don't pay taxes I say it with a smile
Cause I ain't never made enough in my life to file
But I'll keep on a workin' til the lord calls me home
That's when I'll know if I've done wrong
I keep on a humming let everybody sue
The Poor national anthem called the Poor blues
I go amm amm mm
One more time amm amm
Just a little thing they call the poor boys blues
Amm mm amm
One more time mm fade out
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Poor Boy Blues Lyrics as written by Carl Perkins
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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