"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.
Note:written by Bruce McCabe
performed by Jonny Lang
Look at the man with the smile on his face
Looks like he’s always feelin’ good
Sometimes you might want to take his place
and sometimes I think that you would
When the sun is goin’ down
and there is no place to hide
Even in the brightest light
you might lean toward the darker side
Look at the people, they learn how to lie so easy
They learn how to lie to get what they need
and after they got what they needed
It turns into a simple case of greed
When they no longer feel ashamed
and they’ve lost all sense of pride
Misery loves company
and it’s lonely on the darker side
And when the party is over
and the music has died
You’ll be dancin’ to the music, baby
somewhere on the darker side
Somewhere on the darker side
performed by Jonny Lang
Look at the man with the smile on his face
Looks like he’s always feelin’ good
Sometimes you might want to take his place
and sometimes I think that you would
When the sun is goin’ down
and there is no place to hide
Even in the brightest light
you might lean toward the darker side
Look at the people, they learn how to lie so easy
They learn how to lie to get what they need
and after they got what they needed
It turns into a simple case of greed
When they no longer feel ashamed
and they’ve lost all sense of pride
Misery loves company
and it’s lonely on the darker side
And when the party is over
and the music has died
You’ll be dancin’ to the music, baby
somewhere on the darker side
Somewhere on the darker side
Lyrics submitted by james_logan
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Fast Car
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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I thought this was kind of the opposite of "Lie to Me." I think this song is saying that people deceive themselves so much that they eventually stop noticing that they're doing it. That's when they cross over to the "darker side." It's a natural thing to do, "even in the brightest light." Sort of a grass is always greener thing. But it's still a bad place to be.