"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.
Woman hold her head and cry
'Cause her son had been shot down in the street and died
From a stray bullet
Woman hold her head and cry
Accompanying her was a passerby, who
Saw the woman cry
Wondering, can she work it out?
Now she knows that the wages of sin is death
The gift of God is life
Oh, oh
Oh, oh
Johnny was a good man
Oh, yeah
Woman hold her head and cry
'Cause her son had been shot down in the street and died
Just because of the system
Woman hold her head and cry
Comforting her, I was passing by and I
I saw the woman cry
She cried, oh, oh
Oh, oh, Johnny was a good man
He never did a thing wrong, no
Take it down
Johnny went out on a Saturday night
He never hurt anybody, never started no bar room fight
Johnny never did nobody no wrong
He never hurt anybody never-ever-ever-ever, johnny was a good man
Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, yeah-yeah
Johnny was a good
Johnny was a good man, I tell ya
Johnny was a good man
Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny was a good man, yeah
Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny
Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny
Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny was a good man, hey
On a top-floor flat in the middle of the night
There's a man with rifle and Johnny in his sight
I said oh no-no-no-no-no-no
We can't let that kind of thing happen here no more
Oh, no
Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, yeah
A single shot rings out in a Belfast night and I said oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh-oh
Johnny was a good man
Johnny was a good man
Johnny was a good man
Johnny was a good man, said
Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, hey, hey
Can a woman's tender care
Cease towards the child she bears, oh-oh?
Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, hey, hey, yeah!
Too many Johnnies, too many Johnnies
Too many Johnnies, somebody care
I care!
'Cause her son had been shot down in the street and died
From a stray bullet
Woman hold her head and cry
Accompanying her was a passerby, who
Saw the woman cry
Wondering, can she work it out?
Now she knows that the wages of sin is death
The gift of God is life
Oh, oh
Oh, oh
Johnny was a good man
Oh, yeah
Woman hold her head and cry
'Cause her son had been shot down in the street and died
Just because of the system
Woman hold her head and cry
Comforting her, I was passing by and I
I saw the woman cry
She cried, oh, oh
Oh, oh, Johnny was a good man
He never did a thing wrong, no
Take it down
Johnny went out on a Saturday night
He never hurt anybody, never started no bar room fight
Johnny never did nobody no wrong
He never hurt anybody never-ever-ever-ever, johnny was a good man
Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, yeah-yeah
Johnny was a good
Johnny was a good man, I tell ya
Johnny was a good man
Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny was a good man, yeah
Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny
Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny
Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny was a good man, hey
On a top-floor flat in the middle of the night
There's a man with rifle and Johnny in his sight
I said oh no-no-no-no-no-no
We can't let that kind of thing happen here no more
Oh, no
Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, yeah
A single shot rings out in a Belfast night and I said oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh-oh
Johnny was a good man
Johnny was a good man
Johnny was a good man
Johnny was a good man, said
Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, hey, hey
Can a woman's tender care
Cease towards the child she bears, oh-oh?
Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, hey, hey, yeah!
Too many Johnnies, too many Johnnies
Too many Johnnies, somebody care
I care!
Lyrics submitted by black_cow_of_death
Johnny Was Lyrics as written by Rita Anderson Marley
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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