"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.
Hey, pretty mama, I can smell the gumbo
Sweet as taste of honeysuckle on my lips
Good god almighty, I can hear the trombone
Every heart oughta beat to a rhythm like this
Girl, you as pretty as a Sunday morning
Standing on the corner of Carondelet
What you say we make our way up to Bourbon?
A couple hurricanes and a hand grenade
And get blown away, let the chips fall where they may
If it’s all the same, what you say, bon temps rouler {let the good times roll}
Hey, pretty mama, I can smell the gumbo
Sweet as taste of honeysuckle on my lips
Good god almighty, I can hear the trombone
Every heart oughta beat to a rhythm like this
Come a little closer, honey, let me hold you
Nothing tastes better than a bourbon kiss
You could be the flower on my magnolia
Every heart oughta beat to a rhythm like this
Like this, like this, mmm
Ain’t worried bout the heat or police on horses
Beads raining down from the balcony
Hazy from the rum and dizzy from the dancing
Spilling our drinks in the middle of the street
We got bills and hell to pay but they ain’t getting theirs today
I just watched them sink, bottom of the Ponchartrain
Hey, pretty mama, I can smell the gumbo
Sweet as taste of honeysuckle on my lips
Good god almighty, I can hear the trombone
Every heart oughta beat to a rhythm like this
Come a little closer, honey, let me hold you
Nothing tastes better than a bourbon kiss
You could be the flower on my magnolia
Every heart oughta beat to a rhythm like this
Like this, like this, mmm
I'll be your dancing man if you’ll be my queen
And we'll get away with everything
The prettiest girl I ever seen
And you don’t even know my name
Hey, pretty mama, I can smell the gumbo
Sweet as taste of honeysuckle on my lips
Good god almighty, I can hear the trombone
Every heart oughta beat to a rhythm like this
Come a little closer, honey, let me hold you
Nothing tastes better than a bourbon kiss
You could be the flower on my magnolia
Every heart oughta beat to a rhythm like this
Like this, yeah, like this, mmm
Like this, hey...
Sweet as taste of honeysuckle on my lips
Good god almighty, I can hear the trombone
Every heart oughta beat to a rhythm like this
Girl, you as pretty as a Sunday morning
Standing on the corner of Carondelet
What you say we make our way up to Bourbon?
A couple hurricanes and a hand grenade
And get blown away, let the chips fall where they may
If it’s all the same, what you say, bon temps rouler {let the good times roll}
Hey, pretty mama, I can smell the gumbo
Sweet as taste of honeysuckle on my lips
Good god almighty, I can hear the trombone
Every heart oughta beat to a rhythm like this
Come a little closer, honey, let me hold you
Nothing tastes better than a bourbon kiss
You could be the flower on my magnolia
Every heart oughta beat to a rhythm like this
Like this, like this, mmm
Ain’t worried bout the heat or police on horses
Beads raining down from the balcony
Hazy from the rum and dizzy from the dancing
Spilling our drinks in the middle of the street
We got bills and hell to pay but they ain’t getting theirs today
I just watched them sink, bottom of the Ponchartrain
Hey, pretty mama, I can smell the gumbo
Sweet as taste of honeysuckle on my lips
Good god almighty, I can hear the trombone
Every heart oughta beat to a rhythm like this
Come a little closer, honey, let me hold you
Nothing tastes better than a bourbon kiss
You could be the flower on my magnolia
Every heart oughta beat to a rhythm like this
Like this, like this, mmm
I'll be your dancing man if you’ll be my queen
And we'll get away with everything
The prettiest girl I ever seen
And you don’t even know my name
Hey, pretty mama, I can smell the gumbo
Sweet as taste of honeysuckle on my lips
Good god almighty, I can hear the trombone
Every heart oughta beat to a rhythm like this
Come a little closer, honey, let me hold you
Nothing tastes better than a bourbon kiss
You could be the flower on my magnolia
Every heart oughta beat to a rhythm like this
Like this, yeah, like this, mmm
Like this, hey...
Lyrics submitted by nikkus34
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