"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.
Pictures of you
Oh, they're still on my mind
You had this smile
That could light up the world
Now when it rains
It seems the sun never shines
And I drive
Down this lonely, lonely road
Ooh, I got this feelin'
Girl, I gotta let you go
'Cause now you've got to fly high (fly high)
Fly to the angels
Heaven awaits your heart
And flowers bloom in your name
Whoa oh
You've got to fly (fly high)
Fly to the angels
All the stars in the night
Shine in your name
Though it hurts me way deep inside
When I turn and look and find
That you're not there
I try to convince myself
That the pain
The pain is still not gone
Still I drive
Down this lonely, lonely road
Ooh I got this feelin'
Girl, I've got to let you go
But now you've got to fly (fly high)
Fly to the angels
Heaven awaits your heart
And flowers bloom in your name
Whoa
You've got to fly (fly high)
Fly to the angels
All the stars in the night
Shine in your name
Fly
And still I drive down
This lonely, lonely road
Ooh, I got this feelin'
Oh, I can't let you go
But I know
That you've got to fly (fly high)
Fly to the angels
Heaven awaits your heart
And flowers bloom in your name
Whoa oh oh oh
You've got fly (fly high)
Fly to the angels
All the stars in the sky
Shine in your name, yeah
I'm gonna miss you
Miss you, girl
Oh, they're still on my mind
You had this smile
That could light up the world
Now when it rains
It seems the sun never shines
And I drive
Down this lonely, lonely road
Ooh, I got this feelin'
Girl, I gotta let you go
'Cause now you've got to fly high (fly high)
Fly to the angels
Heaven awaits your heart
And flowers bloom in your name
Whoa oh
You've got to fly (fly high)
Fly to the angels
All the stars in the night
Shine in your name
Though it hurts me way deep inside
When I turn and look and find
That you're not there
I try to convince myself
That the pain
The pain is still not gone
Still I drive
Down this lonely, lonely road
Ooh I got this feelin'
Girl, I've got to let you go
But now you've got to fly (fly high)
Fly to the angels
Heaven awaits your heart
And flowers bloom in your name
Whoa
You've got to fly (fly high)
Fly to the angels
All the stars in the night
Shine in your name
Fly
And still I drive down
This lonely, lonely road
Ooh, I got this feelin'
Oh, I can't let you go
But I know
That you've got to fly (fly high)
Fly to the angels
Heaven awaits your heart
And flowers bloom in your name
Whoa oh oh oh
You've got fly (fly high)
Fly to the angels
All the stars in the sky
Shine in your name, yeah
I'm gonna miss you
Miss you, girl
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This song is clearly about loosing someone. And whenever I hear this song I think about my friend Drew and my dog Sassy. It's such a beautiful song lyrically.
I actually remember listening to this song the night I found out Drew passed away.
This song, strangely, IMO, is an example of why hair rock, and glam etc finally ended. It finished the genre, it really could get no better for the sonic architecture which was building to epics like this song. The bands of LA, basically finished the evolution of what a great balled was about for that age. Steelheart, Kix, Skid Row, Poison, Motley and others may have lamented the rise of grunge, engulfing hair rock as a super market for music, but strangely again, the perfection of the craft is what did it, it was done, and the songs themselves could be a categor unto themselves, but the power ballad symetry, opened the door to the strange abstract darkness of Nirvana, Soundgarden and others, the rock dream turned into a secret nightmare, which grunge in many ways is, insane lyrics, punk, neo blues and psychedilc in a heroine soup. Somehow the prettiness of glam, invited the ugliness of grunge, so called. It really was a change in mood as well, music left the bright lights, the sexual overkill, and went up north to rot in the mind fully. The gloom, fog and strange depression followed, from pretension to symbolic suicide, from understandable, to abstractions not only in lyric, but how a word could be painted sepia, with several meanings as a song meandered. Grunge, in many examples is surreal insanity, of those who recognized what glam was not: miserable.
That's why both genres, are perfectly related, and still great artistic periods in the evolution of rock n roll. From glam to.... black.
you truly hit the nail right on the head. i'd never really given much thought to how each genre evolved, but your description paints the picture perfectly.
The story is about Mark coming off tour and called up a friend to get an ex-girlfriend's number so he could catch up with her. His friend told him that she had died. This song is written about her.
I had a GF killed in a car accident and shortly after I heard about it, this song came up. It helped immensely.
BTW, there is a YouTube video with an interview of Mark Slaughter about this song. youtube.com/watch
The song was originally written for a girl called cindy, a good friend of slaughter there singer Mark, when he went looking for her he heard she just died... This is a song bout saying goodbye...
I know it's about a girl that Mark Slaughter was good friends with. It's soooo sad. It makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. And it makes me think of my friends who have passed away.
Classic 80's. Great song.
it came out in '91 :)
this song is really could and i want this song played at my funeral its so good
me too
Last night, I lost my grandma after a couple of years of ups and downs in her health...and I just happened to have my iPOD on random and this song came on...and it has helped me to say goodbye to her. Its funny that a song would be so cathartic, but it really has been. You are in heaven now, and no longer suffering grandma...you may be gone, but you will never be forgotten!!