"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.
When she passes him by
She's a ray of light
Like the first drop of sun
From the sky
And he knows she's a queen
Who deserves a king
But he is not a king
And she doesn't see him
When she dances
She moves him to a smile
He sees everything
Near her shine
There's a grace in her ways
That he can't contain
He has not that grace
Oh, he has not that grace
And the closer he gets
He can't help but hide
So ashamed
Of his body and voice
There are boundaries
We pass in spite of the war
But our own
We can't seem to cross
He has a way that surrounds him
So delicate
With a glory that reigns in his life
He is also so much that he is not
These things they don't see
And she doesn't see him
Oh-oh-oh
And she doesn't see him
There are things we can change
If we just choose to fight
But the walls of injustice are high
When she passes him by
She's a ray of light
Like the first drop of sun
From the sky
And he knows she's a queen
Who deserves a king
Someone other than him
So different from him
Oh-oh-oh
She doesn't see him
Oh-oh-oh
She doesn't see him
She doesn't see him
She's a ray of light
Like the first drop of sun
From the sky
And he knows she's a queen
Who deserves a king
But he is not a king
And she doesn't see him
When she dances
She moves him to a smile
He sees everything
Near her shine
There's a grace in her ways
That he can't contain
He has not that grace
Oh, he has not that grace
And the closer he gets
He can't help but hide
So ashamed
Of his body and voice
There are boundaries
We pass in spite of the war
But our own
We can't seem to cross
He has a way that surrounds him
So delicate
With a glory that reigns in his life
He is also so much that he is not
These things they don't see
And she doesn't see him
Oh-oh-oh
And she doesn't see him
There are things we can change
If we just choose to fight
But the walls of injustice are high
When she passes him by
She's a ray of light
Like the first drop of sun
From the sky
And he knows she's a queen
Who deserves a king
Someone other than him
So different from him
Oh-oh-oh
She doesn't see him
Oh-oh-oh
She doesn't see him
She doesn't see him
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
She Doesn't See Him Lyrics as written by Jose Maria Cano Andres
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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