"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 was walking on the low road
Having lost sight of a dream
I was thinking about what Sandra said
Struggling for the meaning.
Were those words supposed to hurt me?
Was she trying to crack my heart in two?
Well, she should know I've turned to steel
So lately that's been hard to do.
My mind started to drift
Like it sometimes does.
Started thinking about the state of this place
Those hawks and those doves.
As this world waits for war
I can hear the battle cry high and loud
Didn't make sense when I was a child
Doesn't make sense now.
Go on Babylon
Rattle your sabers
Tell me what you're going to do is justified.
Tell that to those who grieve their neighbours
And tell that to those who will die.
They say that it's so complicated
Too much for a little mind like mine
Then they turn around and say it's all about good and evil
As they try to drag me onside.
Their words roll off tongues
Hit the ground with a thud
I can see through their willy ambitions
Looks to me like blood.
Go on Babylon
Rattle your sabers
Tell me what you're going to do is justified
Tell that to those who grieve their neighbours
And tell that to those who will die.
I remember turning on your TV
Saw bodies falling, buildings burn
Saw dreams of freedom pass away
Hatred learned
Saw the death of the diplomat
Saw the blinding of soldiers
Saw reason lost in those white ashes
Saw rage take over.
Go on Babylon
Rattle your sabers
Tell me what you're going to do is justified
Tell that to those who grieve their neighbours
And tell that to those who will die.
This world that we're now living in
They tell me it's black or it's white
I guess I'm stuck in this raincloud and
I can't ever tell my wrongs from right
But I know this if I know anything at all
We should treasure every breath
Try every other avenue
Before we unleash death.
Go on Babylon
Rattle your sabers
Tell me what you're going to do is justified
Tell that to those who grieve their neighbours
And tell that to those who will die.
I was walking on the low road
Having lost sight of a dream
I was thinking about what Sandra said
Struggling for the meaning.
Having lost sight of a dream
I was thinking about what Sandra said
Struggling for the meaning.
Were those words supposed to hurt me?
Was she trying to crack my heart in two?
Well, she should know I've turned to steel
So lately that's been hard to do.
My mind started to drift
Like it sometimes does.
Started thinking about the state of this place
Those hawks and those doves.
As this world waits for war
I can hear the battle cry high and loud
Didn't make sense when I was a child
Doesn't make sense now.
Go on Babylon
Rattle your sabers
Tell me what you're going to do is justified.
Tell that to those who grieve their neighbours
And tell that to those who will die.
They say that it's so complicated
Too much for a little mind like mine
Then they turn around and say it's all about good and evil
As they try to drag me onside.
Their words roll off tongues
Hit the ground with a thud
I can see through their willy ambitions
Looks to me like blood.
Go on Babylon
Rattle your sabers
Tell me what you're going to do is justified
Tell that to those who grieve their neighbours
And tell that to those who will die.
I remember turning on your TV
Saw bodies falling, buildings burn
Saw dreams of freedom pass away
Hatred learned
Saw the death of the diplomat
Saw the blinding of soldiers
Saw reason lost in those white ashes
Saw rage take over.
Go on Babylon
Rattle your sabers
Tell me what you're going to do is justified
Tell that to those who grieve their neighbours
And tell that to those who will die.
This world that we're now living in
They tell me it's black or it's white
I guess I'm stuck in this raincloud and
I can't ever tell my wrongs from right
But I know this if I know anything at all
We should treasure every breath
Try every other avenue
Before we unleash death.
Go on Babylon
Rattle your sabers
Tell me what you're going to do is justified
Tell that to those who grieve their neighbours
And tell that to those who will die.
I was walking on the low road
Having lost sight of a dream
I was thinking about what Sandra said
Struggling for the meaning.
Lyrics submitted by jayster7
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