"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.
A lonely mother gazing out of the window
Staring at a son that she just can't touch
If at any time he's in a jam, she'll be by his side
But he doesn't realize he hurts her so much
But all the praying just ain't helping at all
'Cause he can't seem to keep his self out of trouble
So, he goes out and he makes his money the best way he knows how
Another body laying cold in the gutter
Listen to me
Don't go chasing waterfalls
Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to
I know that you're gonna have it your way or nothing at all
But I think you're moving too fast
Little precious has a natural obsession for temptation
But he just can't see
She gives him loving that his body can't handle
But all he can say is, "Baby, it's good to me"
One day he goes and takes a glimpse in the mirror
But he doesn't recognize his own face
His health is fading and he doesn't know why
Three letters took him to his final resting place
Y'all don't hear me
Don't go chasing waterfalls
Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to
I know that you're gonna have it your way or nothing at all
But I think you're moving too fast
Don't go chasing waterfalls
Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to
I know that you're gonna have it your way or nothing at all
But I think you're moving too fast
Come on
I seen a rainbow yesterday
But too many storms have come and gone
Leavin' a trace of not one God-given ray
Is it because my life is ten shades of gray?
I pray all ten fade away
Seldom praise Him for the sunny days
And like his promise is true
Only my faith can undo
The many chances I blew
To bring my life to anew
Clear blue and unconditional skies
Have dried the tears from my eyes
No more lonely cries
My only bleedin' hope
Is for the folk who can't cope
With such an endurin' pain
That it keeps 'em in the pourin' rain
Who's to blame for tootin' caine into your own vein?
What a shame
You shoot and aim for someone else's brain
You claim the insane
And name this day in time
For fallin prey to crime
I say the system got you victim to your own mind
Dreams are hopeless aspirations
In hopes of comin' true
Believe in yourself
The rest is up to me and you
Don't go chasing waterfalls
Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to
I know that you're gonna have it your way or nothing at all
But I think you're moving too fast (oh, you're moving too fast)
Don't go chasing waterfalls
Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to
I know that you're gonna have it your way or nothing at all
But I think you're moving too fast
Staring at a son that she just can't touch
If at any time he's in a jam, she'll be by his side
But he doesn't realize he hurts her so much
But all the praying just ain't helping at all
'Cause he can't seem to keep his self out of trouble
So, he goes out and he makes his money the best way he knows how
Another body laying cold in the gutter
Listen to me
Don't go chasing waterfalls
Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to
I know that you're gonna have it your way or nothing at all
But I think you're moving too fast
Little precious has a natural obsession for temptation
But he just can't see
She gives him loving that his body can't handle
But all he can say is, "Baby, it's good to me"
One day he goes and takes a glimpse in the mirror
But he doesn't recognize his own face
His health is fading and he doesn't know why
Three letters took him to his final resting place
Y'all don't hear me
Don't go chasing waterfalls
Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to
I know that you're gonna have it your way or nothing at all
But I think you're moving too fast
Don't go chasing waterfalls
Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to
I know that you're gonna have it your way or nothing at all
But I think you're moving too fast
Come on
I seen a rainbow yesterday
But too many storms have come and gone
Leavin' a trace of not one God-given ray
Is it because my life is ten shades of gray?
I pray all ten fade away
Seldom praise Him for the sunny days
And like his promise is true
Only my faith can undo
The many chances I blew
To bring my life to anew
Clear blue and unconditional skies
Have dried the tears from my eyes
No more lonely cries
My only bleedin' hope
Is for the folk who can't cope
With such an endurin' pain
That it keeps 'em in the pourin' rain
Who's to blame for tootin' caine into your own vein?
What a shame
You shoot and aim for someone else's brain
You claim the insane
And name this day in time
For fallin prey to crime
I say the system got you victim to your own mind
Dreams are hopeless aspirations
In hopes of comin' true
Believe in yourself
The rest is up to me and you
Don't go chasing waterfalls
Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to
I know that you're gonna have it your way or nothing at all
But I think you're moving too fast (oh, you're moving too fast)
Don't go chasing waterfalls
Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to
I know that you're gonna have it your way or nothing at all
But I think you're moving too fast
Lyrics submitted by Moondragon
Waterfalls Lyrics as written by Rico Renard Wade Raymon Ameer Murray
Lyrics © TuneCore Inc., BMG Rights Management, Royalty Network, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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Amazing
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I remember watching this song on M.T.V. when I was 15. The video clearly shows a boy or young man selling drugs to earn lots of money, only to be shot in the end by another drug dealer or client while his mother
sspirit` pleads with him to back away and avoid the confrontation. Naturally he neither sees nor heeds her. This is the first waterfall -- something exciting but dangerous, which offers much money but too much risk.The second scenario shows a man and women in bed, doing.. what men and women tend to do together in bed (and it`s not reading). The man reaches for a condom but the woman brushes it away. Then we see her picture frame, and pictures of various men appear and disappear, men who caught her H.I.V. (three letters) and died from it, and finally her picture disappears, representing her death. This is the second waterfall, promiscuity, which offers pleasure but also emotional pain and physical disease and death.
The message is to avoid things that give success and/or pleasure but are immoral, dangerous, or both. Keep doing things that are good and not too risky, even if they`re not flashy like waterfalls.
@keetrainchild Yeah I think the song is basically saying don't take those unneeded risks in your life.