"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.
Life we’ve forsaken
Not out of spite but out of honesty
Lips sealed, our tongues tied
The secret’s safer than you or me
This isn’t how it should end
Or should it end at all?
Cuz every now and again
I’ll wait for you to call
I’ll wait all my life for you
Cuz if this was meant to me, then it’s all I can do
I already know it’s true
If you still have a heart to steal, then I’ll steal it from you
Stolen devotion
A poor excuse to avoid your eyes
Broken, unspoken
Promises all amount to lies
So where do I go from here?
We’d said our last goodbyes
A broken smile left to roam these night skies
Did you ever think that we could really survive
For the last two years,
You buried us alive
And all the softest sighs
All the lover's pleas
They’re just a postscript now
Wrapped in parenthesis
Not out of spite but out of honesty
Lips sealed, our tongues tied
The secret’s safer than you or me
This isn’t how it should end
Or should it end at all?
Cuz every now and again
I’ll wait for you to call
I’ll wait all my life for you
Cuz if this was meant to me, then it’s all I can do
I already know it’s true
If you still have a heart to steal, then I’ll steal it from you
Stolen devotion
A poor excuse to avoid your eyes
Broken, unspoken
Promises all amount to lies
So where do I go from here?
We’d said our last goodbyes
A broken smile left to roam these night skies
Did you ever think that we could really survive
For the last two years,
You buried us alive
And all the softest sighs
All the lover's pleas
They’re just a postscript now
Wrapped in parenthesis
Lyrics submitted by constant
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Fast Car
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if anyone still reads this. this song means a lot to me and i relate alot
the seal secret bit thing; to me, my relationship with her was a secret to a majority of friends, only closer friends knew anything ever happened between us.
end at all; id say it was coming since that argument with. all started when we had an argument, about her and one of her best friends who happened to ruin another relationship of my friends. he was spending a lot of time with her, and we could hardly manage a "hi" or wave to each other at school.
wait for you to call; used to text and call each other every weekend at the very least, now nothing ever comes to my phone, and i DO keep looking at my phone every now or then in hope.
stolen devotion; that from above kind of leads into this bit. not enough time spent with each other, her with another guy for so long, any bf would get jealous
broken, unspoken; i never really got around to telling her how much i loved her, always waitinf ro the "perfect moment". but when i think back, there were heaps of opportunities. lots of regrets there of not saying things i should have and wanted to. and it hurts
avoiding her eyes; i havnt talked to her in a week, only waved once to her since and got a wave back since the break up. she doesnt even look at me when we walk past. barred.
last butnot least the lasting bit; may not seem like much, but another close friend told us we'd last, and we failed. everytime i walk past my desk with the christmas card on top, makes me think back to the beginning where everything was good. i know i sound a bit obsessive.
this song really means a lot to me, every single word. thanks