"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.
Ah yeah
I looked out the window seen his bald head
Ran to the fridge and pulled out an egg
Scoped him with my scopes, he had no hair
Launched that shot and he was caught out there
Saw the convertible driving by
I loaded up the slingshot, let one fly
He went for his to find he didn't have one
Put him in check, correct, with my egg-gun
The egg, a symbol of life
I go inside your house and bust out your wife
I pulled out the jammy, he thought it was a joke
The trigger, I pulled his face, the yolk
Reached in his pocket, took all his cash
Left my man standing with the egg mustache
Suckers, they come a dime a dozen
"When I say dozen, you know what I'm talkin' about, boy"
Yeah, that's right, I'm the Egg Man, driving around
King of the town (yeah)
Always got my windows rolled down
Ready to throw
You know, I'm the Egg Man
Once upon a time
Egg Man
Humpty Dumpty was a big fat egg
He was playing the wall, then he broke his leg
Tossed it out the window, three minutes hot
Hit the Rastaman, he said, (blood clot)
What came first, the chicken or the egg?
I egged the chicken, and then I ate his leg
Riding the trains, in between cars
When I pull out the station, You're Gonna Get Yours
Drive-by eggings, plaguing LA
"Yo, you just got my little cousin, ese"
Sometimes hard-boiled, sometimes runny (Ray)
Comes from a chicken, not a bunny, dummy
People laugh, it's no joke
My name's "Yauch" and I'm throwing the yolk
"Now they got me in a cell," but I don't care
It was then that I got caught catching people out there
Up on the roof, in my car, up all night
I'm going through science like Dolemite
The Mack, who?
I'm the Egg Man, taxi driver?
I'm the Egg Man
Egg Man, Egg Man
We all dressed in black, we snuck up around the back
We began to attack, the eggs did crack on Haze's back
Sam I Am, down with the program
Green Eggs and Ham, Yosemite Sam
Come Halloween, you know I come strapped
I throw it at a sucker, "k-pap"
You made the mistake and judge a man by his race
You go through life with egg on your face
Woke up in the morning, peculiar feeling
Looked up and saw egg dripping from the ceiling
Family, punk rocks, the businessman
I'll dog everybody with the egg in my hand
Not like the crack that you put in a pipe
But crack on your forehead, here's a towel, now wipe
Egg Man, Egg Man, Egg Man, Egg Man, Egg Man, Egg Man
Egg Man, Egg Man, Egg Man, Egg Man, Egg Man, Egg Man
Egg Man, Egg Man, Egg Man, Egg Man, Egg Man
Egg Man
I looked out the window seen his bald head
Ran to the fridge and pulled out an egg
Scoped him with my scopes, he had no hair
Launched that shot and he was caught out there
Saw the convertible driving by
I loaded up the slingshot, let one fly
He went for his to find he didn't have one
Put him in check, correct, with my egg-gun
The egg, a symbol of life
I go inside your house and bust out your wife
I pulled out the jammy, he thought it was a joke
The trigger, I pulled his face, the yolk
Reached in his pocket, took all his cash
Left my man standing with the egg mustache
Suckers, they come a dime a dozen
"When I say dozen, you know what I'm talkin' about, boy"
Yeah, that's right, I'm the Egg Man, driving around
King of the town (yeah)
Always got my windows rolled down
Ready to throw
You know, I'm the Egg Man
Once upon a time
Egg Man
Humpty Dumpty was a big fat egg
He was playing the wall, then he broke his leg
Tossed it out the window, three minutes hot
Hit the Rastaman, he said, (blood clot)
What came first, the chicken or the egg?
I egged the chicken, and then I ate his leg
Riding the trains, in between cars
When I pull out the station, You're Gonna Get Yours
Drive-by eggings, plaguing LA
"Yo, you just got my little cousin, ese"
Sometimes hard-boiled, sometimes runny (Ray)
Comes from a chicken, not a bunny, dummy
People laugh, it's no joke
My name's "Yauch" and I'm throwing the yolk
"Now they got me in a cell," but I don't care
It was then that I got caught catching people out there
Up on the roof, in my car, up all night
I'm going through science like Dolemite
The Mack, who?
I'm the Egg Man, taxi driver?
I'm the Egg Man
Egg Man, Egg Man
We all dressed in black, we snuck up around the back
We began to attack, the eggs did crack on Haze's back
Sam I Am, down with the program
Green Eggs and Ham, Yosemite Sam
Come Halloween, you know I come strapped
I throw it at a sucker, "k-pap"
You made the mistake and judge a man by his race
You go through life with egg on your face
Woke up in the morning, peculiar feeling
Looked up and saw egg dripping from the ceiling
Family, punk rocks, the businessman
I'll dog everybody with the egg in my hand
Not like the crack that you put in a pipe
But crack on your forehead, here's a towel, now wipe
Egg Man, Egg Man, Egg Man, Egg Man, Egg Man, Egg Man
Egg Man, Egg Man, Egg Man, Egg Man, Egg Man, Egg Man
Egg Man, Egg Man, Egg Man, Egg Man, Egg Man
Egg Man
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i think this song has a deeper meaning to it. it's showing how ridiculous violence and discrimmination is, thus 'You made the mistake you judge a man by his race, You go through life with egg on your face.'
This song has some great intercut samples that complete the lyrics' rhymes. In addition to the Public enemy samples, there's:
Tossed it out the window three minutes hot Hit the Rastaman he said Good...God! (I'm pretty sure that's what the Rastaman said; I think it may be a sample from Steven Seagal's "Marked for Death.")
And this sample in which a spoken line almost exactly matches the meter of the rhyme:
Drive by eggings plaguing L.A. Yo they just got my little cousin ese (perhaps from "Colors")
The sample actually does say "blood clot," which is a Jamaican swear, a really strong one as I understand it. I'm not sure what the sample is from, but I would guess some reggae or dub song, or maybe the movie The Harder They Come.
@Black Dahlia I'm little late with this comment but if anyone still cares.. the word the Rastaman is saying is actually "bombaclot". It's Jamaican slang that basically means motherf*cker. :)
One of my favorite songs off of my favorite Beasties album. THIS is how you sample.
Word! I couldn't agree more.
this song's the fuckin shit....
:cheers:
I like that they even throw in an obscure self-reference to their early hardcore days (the whole "we were dressed in black/we snuck up around the back..." part is almost word-for-word from a song from the first EP called "Egg Raid On Mojo").
You're a true Beastie fan.
Not like the crack that you put in a pipe But crack on your forehead here's a towel now wipe
it sounds more like "punk rock" to me rather than "puck rocks"
The trigger I pulled, his face -- the yoke ^-- best rap line ever!
Wow. I should have looked up Egg Man first. Lot's of comments from real Beastie fans here! This song documents the Beasties' public attacks on random people using eggs instead of bullets. I think they use to do this before they were famous. And, yes, a few of the lyrics were lifted from Egg Raid On Mojo. An early song from their punk days. Originally on Polly Wog Stew, now available on Some Old Bullshit.
Also, You're Gonna Get Yours is the first song on the first Public Enemy album called Yo! Bum Rush The Show. If you love Paul's Boutique, you MUST hear it. The first PE album was the inspiration for Paul's Boutique.
Aside from the repurposed lyrics from their hardcore days, the lyrics to this song are actually quite literal. When the Beastie Boys relocated to L.A. to begin working on Paul\'s Boutique they spent a considerable amount of time chucking eggs at people from cars and, notably, from the roof and their rooms at the swanky Mondrian Hotel overlooking the sunset strip (directly across the street from the iconic Comedy Store, whose patrons waiting in line were a frequent target). They eventually rented a house (in which they discovered all of the fly \'70s outfits they can be seen wearing during that period) and their reign of egg terror ended (or at least slowed down a little).