"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.
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Fast Car
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I love the original Tubular Bells, and Tubular Bells 2003 wins because John Cleese announces the instruments. Tubular Bells III is quite good. The Orchestral Tubular Bells is outstanding, not as good as the original, but still has some great moments. Tubular Bells II, however, not so good. The little girl / mommy conversation in the second half is... yeah, I didn't like it. "What's that, Mommy?" "I don't know." It's avant garde to say the least, especially when the monster voice is groaning before and after the lines, but it just took me completely out of the song and made me aware that I was listening to a song again, whereas the other arrangements all kept me in a state of suspended belief for the entire time.