"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.
I hear a song,
Drifting on the horizon
The melody is so sweet, so sweet
Who composed the tune?
It lifts my heart higher
I sit down to retire
And hear what it has to say
Love is here,
I don't want to lose it no
The tune it was so inspiring,
It kept my body rising,
Absorption taking place
The melody so lovely,
The tune it was so subtle
The world's a wonderful place
I see him now,
The clouds begin to disperse
To reveal a wonderful presence,
A presence full of love
He is so lovely,
Standing there looking after me
Seeing just how I feel,
The presence of love itself
Dumb, dumb dumb, duh duh dumb
Drifting on the horizon
The melody is so sweet, so sweet
Who composed the tune?
It lifts my heart higher
I sit down to retire
And hear what it has to say
Love is here,
I don't want to lose it no
The tune it was so inspiring,
It kept my body rising,
Absorption taking place
The melody so lovely,
The tune it was so subtle
The world's a wonderful place
I see him now,
The clouds begin to disperse
To reveal a wonderful presence,
A presence full of love
He is so lovely,
Standing there looking after me
Seeing just how I feel,
The presence of love itself
Dumb, dumb dumb, duh duh dumb
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Fast Car
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Basically, she hears this "tune" that is drawing her to a certain person. She is unsure of what this all means at first, but then she finds out that it means that the certain person is her love. When the "clouds disperse," she discovers who has sought her out with the "tune" and she is standing there, looking at the man she is in love with. Or something like that, but I think you get my point. It's a beautiful song.