"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.
He's another year older, he's another year wiser
But now he's all fucked up on tranquilizers
He walks across the street and doesn't look either way
Lights flash, a head hits the dash
The car crash ends with a deafening blast
And the fire rains ash on what used to be...
A perfect little boy
Whose mother always loved him
She cries herself to sleep now
As his father's face grows thin
Their perfect little angel just threw away his life
Who were they to know he wouldn't make it past twenty-five
She walks the back streets all alone
With a used up credit card and a broken cell phone
She only called when she wanted something anyway
The lights go out, she starts to shout
A hand claspes tightly over her mouth
This becomes the first night without what used to be...
A perfect little girl
Whose mother always loved her
And though her father wasn't around
She always knew it was for the better
But still she chose to throw away her life
Who would have known she'd die at twenty-five
Take this life from me
Take this misery
Send me an angel
I need a savior
Someone to love me when I'm gone
Because life is here and then it's not
When everything's right, why is everything wrong
Are these material possesions all that we've got
Alone now I will choke for redemption
Speak sorrows in whispers
Live in the moment just to stay alive
When the darkness takes over then I'll say my good-byes...
But now he's all fucked up on tranquilizers
He walks across the street and doesn't look either way
Lights flash, a head hits the dash
The car crash ends with a deafening blast
And the fire rains ash on what used to be...
A perfect little boy
Whose mother always loved him
She cries herself to sleep now
As his father's face grows thin
Their perfect little angel just threw away his life
Who were they to know he wouldn't make it past twenty-five
She walks the back streets all alone
With a used up credit card and a broken cell phone
She only called when she wanted something anyway
The lights go out, she starts to shout
A hand claspes tightly over her mouth
This becomes the first night without what used to be...
A perfect little girl
Whose mother always loved her
And though her father wasn't around
She always knew it was for the better
But still she chose to throw away her life
Who would have known she'd die at twenty-five
Take this life from me
Take this misery
Send me an angel
I need a savior
Someone to love me when I'm gone
Because life is here and then it's not
When everything's right, why is everything wrong
Are these material possesions all that we've got
Alone now I will choke for redemption
Speak sorrows in whispers
Live in the moment just to stay alive
When the darkness takes over then I'll say my good-byes...
Lyrics submitted by NothingFinal
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Fast Car
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