"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.
These are last words of a hanging slave
How could I forget this
I rob you, put you on my hit list
Under my nails are dirty look at the grime
My burnt lips from the roach clips
How can I shine
Being broke and bag a dope bitch
Powerful minds, we brave men
I blow smoke and I'ma keep sayin'
These are last words of a hanging slave
How could I forget this
I rob you, put you on my hit list
Under my nails is dirty look at the grime
My burnt lips from the roach clips
How can I shine
Being broke and bag a dope bitch
Powerful minds, we brave men
I blow smoke and keep sayin'
I wanna be more than that bullet that go through ya zone
Wanna be the lead that tear through ya skin and crack bones
Wanna be the heat you feel makin' ya moan
Wanna be the hospital bed that you lay on
Wanna be the god you feel when you pray-on
It's Nashawn the type that get the hyper calm
I'm gonna kill somethin', rap cats be real frontin'
Fuck shootin' legs, cock back put his brains on the pave
Nigga how 'bout that, close range with the gauge get paid
First rapper to shoot off stage
Turn the front page the next day, my life is like a book
A twenty four hour song without no hook
Millennium Thug computer chips up in my slug
Turn corners when you turn corners, know who to plug
Thugs around me outside it's grimy outside
Better slide before you get bodied outside
These are last words of a hanging slave
How could I forget this
I rob you, put you on my hit list
Under my nails are dirty look at the grime
My burnt lips from the roach clips
How can I shine
Being broke and bag a dope bitch
Powerful minds, we brave men
I blow smoke and I'ma keep sayin'
These are last words of a hanging slave
How could I forget this
I rob you, put you on my hit list
Under my nails are dirty look at the grime
My burnt lips from the roach clips
How can I shine
Being broke and bag a dope bitch
Powerful minds, we brave men
I blow smoke and I'ma keep sayin'
I'ma prison cell six by nine
Livin' hell stone wall metal bars for the gods in jail
My nickname the can, the slammer, the big house
I'm the place many fear 'cause there's no way out
I take the sun away put misery instead
When you with me most folks consider you dead
I saw too many inmates fallin' apart
Call for the guards to let them out at night when it's dark
Convicts think they alone but if they listen close
They can hear me groan touch the wall feel my pulse
All the pictures you put up is stuck to my skin
I hear ya prayers (even when ya whisperin')
I make it hotter in the summer, colder in the winter
If the court parole ya then another con enters
No remorse for your tears I seen 'em too often
When you cry I make you feel alive inside a coffin
Watch you when you eat play with you mind when you sleep
Make you dream that you free then make you wake up to me
Face to face with a cage no matter your age
I can shatter you turn you into a savage in rage
Change ya life that's if you get a chance to get out
'Cause only you and I know what sufferings about
Yo it's stunnin' when bed sheets become your woman
And I'm the one that gotcha weapons when the beef is comin'
Maybe one day I'll open up my arms to release you
You'll always be my property nigga stay legal
These are last words of a hanging slave
How could I forget this
I rob you, put you on my hit list
Under my nails are dirty look at the grime
My burnt lips from the roach clips
How can I shine
Being broke and bag a dope bitch
Powerful minds, we brave men
I blow smoke and I'ma keep sayin'
These are last words of a hanging slave
How could I forget this
I rob you, put you on my hit list
Under my nails is dirty look at the grime
My burnt lips from the roach clips
How can I shine
Being broke and bag a dope bitch
Powerful minds, we brave men
I'ma blow smoke and I'ma keep sayin'
These are last words of a hanging slave
How could I forget this
I rob you, put you on my hit list
Under my nails are dirty look at the grime
My burnt lips from the roach clips
How can I shine
Being broke and bag a dope bitch
Powerful minds, we brave men
I blow smoke and I'ma keep sayin'
How could I forget this
I rob you, put you on my hit list
Under my nails are dirty look at the grime
My burnt lips from the roach clips
How can I shine
Being broke and bag a dope bitch
Powerful minds, we brave men
I blow smoke and I'ma keep sayin'
These are last words of a hanging slave
How could I forget this
I rob you, put you on my hit list
Under my nails is dirty look at the grime
My burnt lips from the roach clips
How can I shine
Being broke and bag a dope bitch
Powerful minds, we brave men
I blow smoke and keep sayin'
I wanna be more than that bullet that go through ya zone
Wanna be the lead that tear through ya skin and crack bones
Wanna be the heat you feel makin' ya moan
Wanna be the hospital bed that you lay on
Wanna be the god you feel when you pray-on
It's Nashawn the type that get the hyper calm
I'm gonna kill somethin', rap cats be real frontin'
Fuck shootin' legs, cock back put his brains on the pave
Nigga how 'bout that, close range with the gauge get paid
First rapper to shoot off stage
Turn the front page the next day, my life is like a book
A twenty four hour song without no hook
Millennium Thug computer chips up in my slug
Turn corners when you turn corners, know who to plug
Thugs around me outside it's grimy outside
Better slide before you get bodied outside
These are last words of a hanging slave
How could I forget this
I rob you, put you on my hit list
Under my nails are dirty look at the grime
My burnt lips from the roach clips
How can I shine
Being broke and bag a dope bitch
Powerful minds, we brave men
I blow smoke and I'ma keep sayin'
These are last words of a hanging slave
How could I forget this
I rob you, put you on my hit list
Under my nails are dirty look at the grime
My burnt lips from the roach clips
How can I shine
Being broke and bag a dope bitch
Powerful minds, we brave men
I blow smoke and I'ma keep sayin'
I'ma prison cell six by nine
Livin' hell stone wall metal bars for the gods in jail
My nickname the can, the slammer, the big house
I'm the place many fear 'cause there's no way out
I take the sun away put misery instead
When you with me most folks consider you dead
I saw too many inmates fallin' apart
Call for the guards to let them out at night when it's dark
Convicts think they alone but if they listen close
They can hear me groan touch the wall feel my pulse
All the pictures you put up is stuck to my skin
I hear ya prayers (even when ya whisperin')
I make it hotter in the summer, colder in the winter
If the court parole ya then another con enters
No remorse for your tears I seen 'em too often
When you cry I make you feel alive inside a coffin
Watch you when you eat play with you mind when you sleep
Make you dream that you free then make you wake up to me
Face to face with a cage no matter your age
I can shatter you turn you into a savage in rage
Change ya life that's if you get a chance to get out
'Cause only you and I know what sufferings about
Yo it's stunnin' when bed sheets become your woman
And I'm the one that gotcha weapons when the beef is comin'
Maybe one day I'll open up my arms to release you
You'll always be my property nigga stay legal
These are last words of a hanging slave
How could I forget this
I rob you, put you on my hit list
Under my nails are dirty look at the grime
My burnt lips from the roach clips
How can I shine
Being broke and bag a dope bitch
Powerful minds, we brave men
I blow smoke and I'ma keep sayin'
These are last words of a hanging slave
How could I forget this
I rob you, put you on my hit list
Under my nails is dirty look at the grime
My burnt lips from the roach clips
How can I shine
Being broke and bag a dope bitch
Powerful minds, we brave men
I'ma blow smoke and I'ma keep sayin'
These are last words of a hanging slave
How could I forget this
I rob you, put you on my hit list
Under my nails are dirty look at the grime
My burnt lips from the roach clips
How can I shine
Being broke and bag a dope bitch
Powerful minds, we brave men
I blow smoke and I'ma keep sayin'
Lyrics submitted by spliphstar
Last Words Lyrics as written by Nasir Jones Leshan Lewis
Lyrics © Downtown Music Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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The instrumental of this, the woman's voice, and Nas' verse give this song a haunting feel to it. Nas' verse on this song is one of the most powerful verses I've ever read/heard. He made the prison cell into a real life monster. It's crazy. On the hook they say "last words of a hanging slave." The thing about this song is that anything that enslaves you--an addiction, evil, another person..etc-- can very well be the prison cell Nas was describing.