"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.
Zoo lion sobers up, starts to scream and shout
A little dose of home fire got him all smoothed out
Melancholy wine-soaked tenderness
She hated it here, oh, she couldn't care less
Prison yard stares and fleur-de-lis tattoos
Cannibals are saving all their bones for soup
Eating with my fingers and sucking hulls of ships
My parasite don't deserve no better than this
The Golden Rim Motor Inn
Soft water and a color TV
Ah, so consumed with the shape I'm in
Can't enjoy the luxury
The luxury
She said, "and why are you partial to that Playboy con?"
When you can see me naked any time you want?"
If I had loads of money to make me tame and sour
I could pay you to remind of my baby by the hour
Yeah, zoo lion sobers up and starts to scream and shout
A little dose of home fire got him all smoothed out
If this is where it all starts getting good
Then I'll be here waiting for you like I said I would
The Golden Rim Motor Inn
Soft water and a color TV
Oh, so consumed with the shape I'm in
I can't enjoy the luxury
The luxury
The luxury
A little dose of home fire got him all smoothed out
Melancholy wine-soaked tenderness
She hated it here, oh, she couldn't care less
Prison yard stares and fleur-de-lis tattoos
Cannibals are saving all their bones for soup
Eating with my fingers and sucking hulls of ships
My parasite don't deserve no better than this
The Golden Rim Motor Inn
Soft water and a color TV
Ah, so consumed with the shape I'm in
Can't enjoy the luxury
The luxury
She said, "and why are you partial to that Playboy con?"
When you can see me naked any time you want?"
If I had loads of money to make me tame and sour
I could pay you to remind of my baby by the hour
Yeah, zoo lion sobers up and starts to scream and shout
A little dose of home fire got him all smoothed out
If this is where it all starts getting good
Then I'll be here waiting for you like I said I would
The Golden Rim Motor Inn
Soft water and a color TV
Oh, so consumed with the shape I'm in
I can't enjoy the luxury
The luxury
The luxury
Lyrics submitted by black_cow_of_death
The Luxury Lyrics as written by Gordon Sinclair Gordon Downie
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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This is about a convict who just got out of jail and realizes that his life will never be normal again. He gets out of the bing, goes to a hotel with all the amenities, gets a prostitute, but none of these "luxuries" can replace the life he had before he was imprisoned. He can't enjoy the luxury because he can't stop thinking about what he had.