"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.
hold up the firing line
hold steady on the trigger's time
walk away counting backwards from nine
holdin' his breath so to start his own dying
[CHORUS:]
time served
to the ones that left you here
no people here, only names
soon to be put to numbers so it's one and the same
it's anyone's game as long as the fire flickers
the throat stickers, they place their bet
the trouble is that no one's added it up quite yet
cause when they do, when they do it'll be a
riot and the wire is down
hold up for the fury to sound
hold up you head from the ground
or they'll keep you on it
your time's served
to the one's that left you here
from tower to wall to guard to guard to wall
ever ready for th fire to fall
the confiners haven't seen the sun since
the lifers let got of their irrelevent innocence
but long before a single round was shot
word was spread from block to block to cell block
they're going to take him
and make an example of him for the escapees to fear
the incoming of the
incoming of the gun
oncoming of the year
you either die on the inside or trying to get out
the choice is yours, the choice is here
hold steady on the trigger's time
walk away counting backwards from nine
holdin' his breath so to start his own dying
[CHORUS:]
time served
to the ones that left you here
no people here, only names
soon to be put to numbers so it's one and the same
it's anyone's game as long as the fire flickers
the throat stickers, they place their bet
the trouble is that no one's added it up quite yet
cause when they do, when they do it'll be a
riot and the wire is down
hold up for the fury to sound
hold up you head from the ground
or they'll keep you on it
your time's served
to the one's that left you here
from tower to wall to guard to guard to wall
ever ready for th fire to fall
the confiners haven't seen the sun since
the lifers let got of their irrelevent innocence
but long before a single round was shot
word was spread from block to block to cell block
they're going to take him
and make an example of him for the escapees to fear
the incoming of the
incoming of the gun
oncoming of the year
you either die on the inside or trying to get out
the choice is yours, the choice is here
Lyrics submitted by dragonflower44
Time Served Lyrics as written by
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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the line "the incoming of the incoming of a gun, oncoming of another year, the choice is yours, the choise is here" sends chills up my spine.
it is amazaing on gut the van, too.