"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.
My whole saturday and sunday too
I was thinking about ways not to lose
But lay down my weapons is what I've done
Too late to hide, feet too soft to run
But people say I'm the luckiest man
Yeah they say
Running is useless and fighting is foolish
You're not gonna win but still you're the luckiest man you're up against
Too many horses and mysterious forces
What you don't know is you are the luckiest man
You're the luckiest man
I don't talk to the devil when he calls my name
But sometimes when I'm losing it all seems the same
And when I fall I'm back up again
Just to slip on the same mistakes and slide right back in
But people say I'm the luckiest man
Yeah they say,
Running is useless and fighting is foolish
You're not gonna win but still you're the luckiest man you're up against
Too many horses and mysterious forces
What you don't know is you are the luckiest man
You're the luckiest man
Try to keep my faith and keep my mind
Hate to lose either one when the whip cracks behind
And I can't help but mourning just a little each night
People say everything is gonna be alright
They say I'm the luckiest man
Yeah they say,
That running is useless and fighting is foolish
You're not gonna win but still you're the luckiest man you're up against
And too many horses and mysterious forces
What you don't know is you are the luckiest man
You're the luckiest man
You're the luckiest man
I was thinking about ways not to lose
But lay down my weapons is what I've done
Too late to hide, feet too soft to run
But people say I'm the luckiest man
Yeah they say
Running is useless and fighting is foolish
You're not gonna win but still you're the luckiest man you're up against
Too many horses and mysterious forces
What you don't know is you are the luckiest man
You're the luckiest man
I don't talk to the devil when he calls my name
But sometimes when I'm losing it all seems the same
And when I fall I'm back up again
Just to slip on the same mistakes and slide right back in
But people say I'm the luckiest man
Yeah they say,
Running is useless and fighting is foolish
You're not gonna win but still you're the luckiest man you're up against
Too many horses and mysterious forces
What you don't know is you are the luckiest man
You're the luckiest man
Try to keep my faith and keep my mind
Hate to lose either one when the whip cracks behind
And I can't help but mourning just a little each night
People say everything is gonna be alright
They say I'm the luckiest man
Yeah they say,
That running is useless and fighting is foolish
You're not gonna win but still you're the luckiest man you're up against
And too many horses and mysterious forces
What you don't know is you are the luckiest man
You're the luckiest man
You're the luckiest man
Lyrics submitted by alyssawolf, edited by jeff101102
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Fast Car
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Great version of a great song,
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I think this is about someone who battles depression. People say he's the luckiest man, maybe because they are either encouraging him or to them, his life seems quite nice. But to himself he's constantly thinking of ways not to lose. He doubts himself a lot. He is almost jovial about how people says he's the luckiest man. If you, as most people have, gone through depression you know no one quite "gets it" and it can even be laughable at times.