"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.
Aren't you going to come along?
Aren't you going to fight?
Aren't you going to hold your hands up to the light?
If you feel an emptiness, if you want to hide
Think about the blood that's pumping keeping you alive
We've got it all worked out, the plans all made
If we believe in the fight then we're all saved
It's gonna hurt for a while but it would anyway
Let us stand resolute with our voices raised
We have a right to insist to be free and brave
If that should cease to exist I'd throw my heart away
It's a long long way to the promised land
So try where you are, do what you can
You belong to what you understand
So teach yourself how to demand the monument that you deserve
For rising up in a beaten down world
Aren't you going to come along?
Aren't you going to fight?
Aren't you going to hold your hands up to the light?
If you feel an emptiness, if you want to hide
Think about the blood that's pumping keeping you alive
Aren't you going to fight?
Aren't you going to hold your hands up to the light?
If you feel an emptiness, if you want to hide
Think about the blood that's pumping keeping you alive
We've got it all worked out, the plans all made
If we believe in the fight then we're all saved
It's gonna hurt for a while but it would anyway
Let us stand resolute with our voices raised
We have a right to insist to be free and brave
If that should cease to exist I'd throw my heart away
It's a long long way to the promised land
So try where you are, do what you can
You belong to what you understand
So teach yourself how to demand the monument that you deserve
For rising up in a beaten down world
Aren't you going to come along?
Aren't you going to fight?
Aren't you going to hold your hands up to the light?
If you feel an emptiness, if you want to hide
Think about the blood that's pumping keeping you alive
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I like the Black Cat Orchestra version better. Her voice seems more raw.