"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.
She was out in the water, she was out in the rain,
She was singing a song, no-one else could hear her play.
She was shivering from the kindness of a boy she wasn't supposed to see
She was walking into water, she was drifting in the sea.
She was risking all the things she couldn't quite leave.
She was raised in the water, she was raised in the sky
"Maybe I'll sing you a line" he said from some distant star
"Honey I don't believe in majesty, or things that you compare,
Just want to be here now tasting the salty sea air,
Just want to be here now tasting the salty sea air."
She was out in the water, she was out in the rain,
Her bare heart soaked, her hands still stained,
From push-pull of another who could barely behave.
But his kisses touched like honey, too sticky to erase,
Yes his touches kissed like honey, too sticky to erase.
She was out in the water, she was out in the sky,
She was making a map addled by disaster and light.
She was drifting through the field of her little white lies,
Picking off petal by petal, but she can no longer hide.
And the ember of his eyes rolled out like the tide.
You held my hand on the way,
Reached out for what we could not say.
She was singing a song, no-one else could hear her play.
She was shivering from the kindness of a boy she wasn't supposed to see
She was walking into water, she was drifting in the sea.
She was risking all the things she couldn't quite leave.
She was raised in the water, she was raised in the sky
"Maybe I'll sing you a line" he said from some distant star
"Honey I don't believe in majesty, or things that you compare,
Just want to be here now tasting the salty sea air,
Just want to be here now tasting the salty sea air."
She was out in the water, she was out in the rain,
Her bare heart soaked, her hands still stained,
From push-pull of another who could barely behave.
But his kisses touched like honey, too sticky to erase,
Yes his touches kissed like honey, too sticky to erase.
She was out in the water, she was out in the sky,
She was making a map addled by disaster and light.
She was drifting through the field of her little white lies,
Picking off petal by petal, but she can no longer hide.
And the ember of his eyes rolled out like the tide.
You held my hand on the way,
Reached out for what we could not say.
Lyrics submitted by exile14
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