"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.
Your sorry eyes, they cut through bone
They make it hard to leave you alone
Leave you here wearing your wounds
Waving your guns at somebody new
Baby, you're lost
Baby, you're lost
Baby, you're a lost cause
There's too many people you used to know
They see you coming, they see you go
They know your secrets and you know theirs
This town is crazy, nobody cares
Baby, you're lost
Baby, you're lost
Baby, you're a lost cause
I'm tired of fighting
I'm tired of fighting
Fighting for a lost cause
There's a place where you are going
You ain't never been before
No one laughing at your back now
No one standing at your door
That's what you thought love was for
Baby, you're lost
Baby, you're lost
Baby, you're a lost cause
I'm tired of fighting
I'm tired of fighting
Fighting for a lost cause
They make it hard to leave you alone
Leave you here wearing your wounds
Waving your guns at somebody new
Baby, you're lost
Baby, you're lost
Baby, you're a lost cause
There's too many people you used to know
They see you coming, they see you go
They know your secrets and you know theirs
This town is crazy, nobody cares
Baby, you're lost
Baby, you're lost
Baby, you're a lost cause
I'm tired of fighting
I'm tired of fighting
Fighting for a lost cause
There's a place where you are going
You ain't never been before
No one laughing at your back now
No one standing at your door
That's what you thought love was for
Baby, you're lost
Baby, you're lost
Baby, you're a lost cause
I'm tired of fighting
I'm tired of fighting
Fighting for a lost cause
Lyrics submitted by I Shoot Starz, edited by MuuCowOfDeath, guydeboredom
Lost Cause Lyrics as written by Beck David Hansen
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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My interpretation of this song is that the girl he was with is crazy or chronically depressed or something like that. I think he's tried to help her for a very long time, but when someone won't help themselves there's really nothing you can do. Which is why I think he's decided to leave her; he knows he can never stop her drowning in insanity("I'm tired of fighting...fighting for a lost cause"). He knows that she's a lost cause and there's nothing he can do for her. "Wearing your wounds" is a line that is a bit obvious in my interpretation; she's a cutter and therefore has psysical wounds as well as emotional. I think he really loves her, and we see that in the first line. She looks very pitiful and he finds it hard to leave her, but he needs to get out of the relationship. I think the two first lines in the last verse: "There's a place where you are going you ain't ever been before" might refer to death. He thinks she won't be able to cope for much longer and predicts that she will commit suicide. I don't know, that's just my unterpretation...