"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.
She used to wear a skirt and play the violin
Hacksaw for a bow as she would rest me on her chin
A bunch of sanguine branches she collected from the leaves
When all I had to offer was an aromantic tree
Last one to the chapel and they wouldn't let me in
Flowers and a bridal gown to camouflage her sins
All the world was beautiful the day that she was wed
Teary-eyed I drag the cans that dangle from my legs
Fill a bag with wasted days and shake 'em til they turn to wasted years
Objects in the rearview mirror never seem as close as they appear
I wouldn't mind if (Inparticular)
You wanna try it (Inparticular)
If you can find it (Inparticular)
I won't ever buy it (Inparticular)
Grandma said to me, "My sweetheart, you could be a star
Too bad you turned out to be as ugly as you are."
So I built a world where dinosaurs drank fire from the ground
And night was just a rumor that the sun went out of town
Fill a bag with wasted days and shake 'em til they turn to wasted years
Objects in the rearview mirror never seem as close as they appear
If I call you baby
Will I grow into a man?
I'd rather write your name behind the schoolyard with a crayon
But everything I've worked to build my temper has destroyed
Strip me of my toys and I'm just a little boy
I wouldn't mind if (Inparticular)
You wanna try it (Inparticular)
If you can find it (Inparticular)
I won't ever buy it (Inparticular)
Hacksaw for a bow as she would rest me on her chin
A bunch of sanguine branches she collected from the leaves
When all I had to offer was an aromantic tree
Last one to the chapel and they wouldn't let me in
Flowers and a bridal gown to camouflage her sins
All the world was beautiful the day that she was wed
Teary-eyed I drag the cans that dangle from my legs
Fill a bag with wasted days and shake 'em til they turn to wasted years
Objects in the rearview mirror never seem as close as they appear
I wouldn't mind if (Inparticular)
You wanna try it (Inparticular)
If you can find it (Inparticular)
I won't ever buy it (Inparticular)
Grandma said to me, "My sweetheart, you could be a star
Too bad you turned out to be as ugly as you are."
So I built a world where dinosaurs drank fire from the ground
And night was just a rumor that the sun went out of town
Fill a bag with wasted days and shake 'em til they turn to wasted years
Objects in the rearview mirror never seem as close as they appear
If I call you baby
Will I grow into a man?
I'd rather write your name behind the schoolyard with a crayon
But everything I've worked to build my temper has destroyed
Strip me of my toys and I'm just a little boy
I wouldn't mind if (Inparticular)
You wanna try it (Inparticular)
If you can find it (Inparticular)
I won't ever buy it (Inparticular)
Lyrics submitted by katievcj
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