"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.
Hey do it now, yeah hey
Once I was a boogie singer
Playin' in a rock and roll band
I never had no problems yeah
Burnin' down the one night stands
Then everything around me, yeah
Got to stop to feelin' so low
And I decided quickly, yes I did
To disco down and check out the show
Yeah they were
Dancin' and singin' and movin' to the groovin'
And just when it hit me somebody turned around and shouted
Play that funky music white boy
Play that funky music right
Play that funky music white boy
Lay down that boogie and play that funky music 'til you die
'Til you die, oh yeah yeah
Well, I tried to understand this (yeah)
I thought that they were out of their minds
How could I be so foolish (how could I)
To not see I was the one behind
So still I kept on fighting
Well, losing every step of the way
I said, I must go back there (I got to go back)
And check to see if things still the same
Yeah they were dancin' and singin' and movin' to the groovin'
And just when it hit me somebody turned around and shouted
Play that funky music white boy
Play that funky music right
Play that funky music white boy
Lay down the boogie and play that funky music till you die
'Til you die, yeah
Oh 'til you die
(Gonna play some electified funky music, yeah)
(Hey, wait a minute)
Now first it wasn't easy
Changin' rock and roll and minds
Yeah, things were getting shaky
I thought I'd have to leave it behind
Oh, but now its so much better (it's so much better)
I'm funking out in every way
But I'll never lose that feelin' (no I won't)
Of how I learned my lesson that day
When they were dancin' and singin' and movin' to the groovin'
And just when it hit me somebody turned around and shouted
Play that funky music white boy
Play that funky music right
Play that funky music white boy
Lay down the boogie and play that funky music 'til you die
'Til you die, yeah
Oh 'til you die
They shouted play that funky music
(Play that funky music)
Play that funky music
(You gotta keep on playin' funky music)
Play that funky music
(Play that funky music)
Play that funky music
(Want to take you higher, ya)
Play that funky music white boy
Play that funky music right, yeah
Play that funky music white boy
Play that funky music right
Play that funky music white boy
Play that funky music right, yeah
Once I was a boogie singer
Playin' in a rock and roll band
I never had no problems yeah
Burnin' down the one night stands
Then everything around me, yeah
Got to stop to feelin' so low
And I decided quickly, yes I did
To disco down and check out the show
Yeah they were
Dancin' and singin' and movin' to the groovin'
And just when it hit me somebody turned around and shouted
Play that funky music white boy
Play that funky music right
Play that funky music white boy
Lay down that boogie and play that funky music 'til you die
'Til you die, oh yeah yeah
Well, I tried to understand this (yeah)
I thought that they were out of their minds
How could I be so foolish (how could I)
To not see I was the one behind
So still I kept on fighting
Well, losing every step of the way
I said, I must go back there (I got to go back)
And check to see if things still the same
Yeah they were dancin' and singin' and movin' to the groovin'
And just when it hit me somebody turned around and shouted
Play that funky music white boy
Play that funky music right
Play that funky music white boy
Lay down the boogie and play that funky music till you die
'Til you die, yeah
Oh 'til you die
(Gonna play some electified funky music, yeah)
(Hey, wait a minute)
Now first it wasn't easy
Changin' rock and roll and minds
Yeah, things were getting shaky
I thought I'd have to leave it behind
Oh, but now its so much better (it's so much better)
I'm funking out in every way
But I'll never lose that feelin' (no I won't)
Of how I learned my lesson that day
When they were dancin' and singin' and movin' to the groovin'
And just when it hit me somebody turned around and shouted
Play that funky music white boy
Play that funky music right
Play that funky music white boy
Lay down the boogie and play that funky music 'til you die
'Til you die, yeah
Oh 'til you die
They shouted play that funky music
(Play that funky music)
Play that funky music
(You gotta keep on playin' funky music)
Play that funky music
(Play that funky music)
Play that funky music
(Want to take you higher, ya)
Play that funky music white boy
Play that funky music right, yeah
Play that funky music white boy
Play that funky music right
Play that funky music white boy
Play that funky music right, yeah
Lyrics submitted by Raphide, edited by lucyintheSkyWithDiamonds
Play That Funky Music Lyrics as written by Robert W. Parissi
Lyrics © CONSALAD CO., Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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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,
No Surprises
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Firstly, a verse is missing: Well, I tried to understand this…Yeah, huh, I thought that they were out of their minds How could I be so foolish, [How could I]…tonight's the hours, the one behind So still I kept on fightin'…Wow, loosin' every step of the way (Yeah, what'd you do?) I said, "I must go back there"[Got to go back]…and check to see if things still the same
This song means exactly what it says. There's actually a story behind it. The band, Wild Cherry, where hired by a club that used to play funk music. And they where a rock band, so it was a bit of a shock for them (and they where rather unknown). So they got on stage, and played some rock, and people left. So the manager of the club said, actually (or so the story goes) play that funky music, white boy. If they didn't, they would get fired. The next night when they where on stage, they played this track.
Dude, you got a couple things wrong. First of all, the lyrics go "How could I be so foolish, to not see I was the one behind," meaning at first he thinks rock is awesome, and doesn't realize that funk is in fact the way to go. What you posted doesn't make any sense.<br /> <br /> Also, it wasn't the club manager who told him to play that funky music. They started out gaining a lot of fans with their rock songs, but during the disco era they performed at a club with a largely black audience and the patrons started calling for them to play some funky music. In the dressing room, the drummer told lead singer Rob Parissi to "play that funky music, white boy." Parissi wrote down the phrase on a bar napkin that night and wrote the song afterwards.