"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've made some bad choices I have failed more than once
I have taken chances even when they did not come
I was here at the beginning I will be here at the end
when I got strong I got lucky till my strength ran out again.
with your values of fear and deceit
your self important impotent way of life decrees
that every one should worship you
down on bended knees
I have risen up from the ashes of my own defeat
my family my friends and my fans were calling me
It seemed like a voice from a half remembered forgotten dream
I thought it was over, but over's not what it seems
[ From: http://www.elyrics.net/read/b/blaze-bayley-lyrics/judge-me-lyrics.html ]
Your hedonistic head on a stick
is what I would pay real money to see on live TV
With some friends from Texas would laugh with me
at you the pale and impaled
You haven't faced what I've faced
You haven't fought what I've fought
You haven't been on the floor
and tried to come back for more
You haven't lost what I've lost
You haven't won what I've won
You haven't been where I've been
You haven't done what I've done
unless you lived how I lived
unless you did what I did
you think you know who I am
just by looking at me
You judge me
I have taken chances even when they did not come
I was here at the beginning I will be here at the end
when I got strong I got lucky till my strength ran out again.
with your values of fear and deceit
your self important impotent way of life decrees
that every one should worship you
down on bended knees
I have risen up from the ashes of my own defeat
my family my friends and my fans were calling me
It seemed like a voice from a half remembered forgotten dream
I thought it was over, but over's not what it seems
[ From: http://www.elyrics.net/read/b/blaze-bayley-lyrics/judge-me-lyrics.html ]
Your hedonistic head on a stick
is what I would pay real money to see on live TV
With some friends from Texas would laugh with me
at you the pale and impaled
You haven't faced what I've faced
You haven't fought what I've fought
You haven't been on the floor
and tried to come back for more
You haven't lost what I've lost
You haven't won what I've won
You haven't been where I've been
You haven't done what I've done
unless you lived how I lived
unless you did what I did
you think you know who I am
just by looking at me
You judge me
Lyrics submitted by SergeF2007
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Fast Car
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