"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.
You don't have a clue
What it is like to be next to you
I'm here to tell you
That it is good
That it is true
Birds singing a song
Old paint is peeling
This is that fresh
That fresh feeling
Words can't be that strong
My heart is reeling
This is that fresh
That fresh feeling
Try
Try to forget what's in the past
Tomorrow is here
Love,
Orange sky above lighting your way
There's nothing to fear
Birds singing a song
Old paint is peeling
This is that fresh
That fresh feeling
Words can't be that strong
My heart is reeling
This is that fresh
That fresh feeling
Some people are good
Babe in the 'hood
So pure and so free
I'd make a safe bet
You're gonna get whatever you need
What it is like to be next to you
I'm here to tell you
That it is good
That it is true
Birds singing a song
Old paint is peeling
This is that fresh
That fresh feeling
Words can't be that strong
My heart is reeling
This is that fresh
That fresh feeling
Try
Try to forget what's in the past
Tomorrow is here
Love,
Orange sky above lighting your way
There's nothing to fear
Birds singing a song
Old paint is peeling
This is that fresh
That fresh feeling
Words can't be that strong
My heart is reeling
This is that fresh
That fresh feeling
Some people are good
Babe in the 'hood
So pure and so free
I'd make a safe bet
You're gonna get whatever you need
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Fast Car
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I don't have a clue what it's like to be next to me. It's probably a pretty boring experience though. Like sitting next to a stranger on a bus.
@tittletat ROFL How odd, I feel like that would also be what it's like to be next to me.
E's lyrics ever substandard? E is an absolutely fantastic lyricist, best displayed throughout the entirety of the ultimate life-affirming album, Electro-Shock Blues, on which the sadness throughout has an undercurrent of incredibly sharp and dark wit and humour.
don't look at me....BUS STOP BOXER!<br /> i'ts not great lyrics, but being the first thing i think of when mentally seatching for E's lyrics, its not fantastic. Hey, why am i arguiing against you, he is almost always fucking fantastic!
This song is one of those that fills me with this incredible "everything is ok" feeling. It makes the sun shine and the clouds float and all of that jazz.
"You don't have a clue what it is like to be next to you" - - such incredible, simple, honest words.
yea, i defiantly agree. the words don't even have to be deep to be powerful and to hit home. the combination with the words and music. WOW
"E's lyrics ever substandard? E is an absolutely fantastic lyricist, best displayed throughout the entirety of the ultimate life-affirming album, Electro-Shock Blues, on which the sadness throughout has an undercurrent of incredibly sharp and dark wit and humour. " .... I had to quote that. it's classic. right on, man. way to use, like, a million high school vocab words. worrrrd.
Says E of this song:
"I had a fever and felt really miserable. I wanted to write something 'fresh' because I felt so very not fresh. I saw a tape of the string session for one of the songs ['Selective Memory'] from the last album sitting on the desk and thought, 'too bad I can't use those strings.' Then I thought, 'who says I can't?' and Koool G Murder and I set out to find a way to take something from the near past and make it fresh."
E's lyrics at times, are not the best in the world. but this song is incredible. really. and the music too. one of the best songs ever without doubt.
this really is a terrific song. I've loved it ever since I heard it on the college radio station (which was only a few weeks ago, but still...). yay for the eels!
it's about his wife, i read it in an interview. this and "it's a motherfucker are both about his wife
I love this song. I think the lyrics are self-explanatory