"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.
Oh, baby don't you want to go?
Oh, baby don't you want to go?
Back to the land of California
To my sweet home Chicago
Oh, baby don't you want to go?
Oh, baby don't you want to go?
Back to the land of California
To my sweet home Chicago
Now one and one is two
Two and two is four
I'm heavy loaded, baby
I'm booked, I gotta go
Cryin' baby
Honey don't you want to go?
Back to the land of California
To my sweet home Chicago
Now two and two is four
Four and two is six
You gonna keep monkeyin' round with your friend-boy, you gonna get your
Business all in a trick
But I'm cryin' baby
Honey don't you wanna go?
Back to the land of California
To my sweet home Chicago
Now six and two is eight
Eight and two is ten
Friend-boy, she trick you one time
She sure gonna do it again
But I'm cryin' hey, hey
Baby don't you want to go?
To the land of California
To my sweet home Chicago
I'm goin' to California
From there to Des Moines Iowa
Somebody will tell me that you
Need my help someday, cryin'
Hey, hey
Baby don't you want to go?
Back to the land of California
To my sweet home Chicago
Oh, baby don't you want to go?
Back to the land of California
To my sweet home Chicago
Oh, baby don't you want to go?
Oh, baby don't you want to go?
Back to the land of California
To my sweet home Chicago
Now one and one is two
Two and two is four
I'm heavy loaded, baby
I'm booked, I gotta go
Cryin' baby
Honey don't you want to go?
Back to the land of California
To my sweet home Chicago
Now two and two is four
Four and two is six
You gonna keep monkeyin' round with your friend-boy, you gonna get your
Business all in a trick
But I'm cryin' baby
Honey don't you wanna go?
Back to the land of California
To my sweet home Chicago
Now six and two is eight
Eight and two is ten
Friend-boy, she trick you one time
She sure gonna do it again
But I'm cryin' hey, hey
Baby don't you want to go?
To the land of California
To my sweet home Chicago
I'm goin' to California
From there to Des Moines Iowa
Somebody will tell me that you
Need my help someday, cryin'
Hey, hey
Baby don't you want to go?
Back to the land of California
To my sweet home Chicago
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
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Chicago actually lies in Illinois, not in California. This probably means Robert had not yet been to Chicago prior to the recording of this song. But it i think California could also be a metaphor, 'the land of california' could be an alternative way of saying: 'that place of great riches'.
Oh yeah check out this great site with a lot of lyrics and information about blues songs and blues in general: blueslyrics.tripod.com