"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.
lonely boy, where do we go
I'm stuck believing on the other side
stuck on my own
run fast, retreating
for a place to hide
safety in things i'm dumb for thinking
'cuz a piece of plastic
is nothing more than a piece of plastic
empty streets under my feet
how did we get so far
from the gentle beat
of hearts that cling
held fast together in the dying day
oh you are swimming inside the magic hour
oh and when you wet your skin
you can suck up all you need to know
you can suck up all you need to know, oh oh
picture me, how will you picture me when i am dead?
all fast and free, built in a fantasy, blocks in my head
a legacy, do these things dissipate in the years unread?
i've felt pain just like a knife, and then the time it left me
oh i'm just trying to do my best
i'm not afraid of life, i'm afraid of death
build my love in the things i say
you've gotta lift your face to the breaking day
oh i'm just trying to do my best
i'm not afraid of life, i'm afraid of death
build my love in the things i say
you've gotta lift your face to the breaking day
so i ran and i jumped and i flew till i came to the center of an earth so cold
and the wind picked me up and took me straight to the belly of the fears i hold
and i ran and i ran and i ran and i ran
and then then i came right back
threw my arms around you,
you were dressed in black,
i'm so glad i found you
for you burned my stuff,
objects all around you
do we outlast things,
memories and sounds
or do we fade like this
with the body down into the ground
the flash and the soil that we love so much
i always wanted to return
return to the body where i was born
i always wanted to return
and i ran and i ran and i ran
oh i'm just trying to do my best
i'm not afraid of life, i'm afraid of death
build my love in the things i say
you've gotta lift your face to the breaking day
oh i'm just trying to do my best
i'm not afraid of life, i'm afraid of death
build my love in the things i say
you've gotta lift your face to the breaking day
because in time it leaves you,
it leaves you like blood, red blood
it leaves you like blood, red blood
it leaves you like blood, red blood
it leaves you like blood, red blood
I'm stuck believing on the other side
stuck on my own
run fast, retreating
for a place to hide
safety in things i'm dumb for thinking
'cuz a piece of plastic
is nothing more than a piece of plastic
empty streets under my feet
how did we get so far
from the gentle beat
of hearts that cling
held fast together in the dying day
oh you are swimming inside the magic hour
oh and when you wet your skin
you can suck up all you need to know
you can suck up all you need to know, oh oh
picture me, how will you picture me when i am dead?
all fast and free, built in a fantasy, blocks in my head
a legacy, do these things dissipate in the years unread?
i've felt pain just like a knife, and then the time it left me
oh i'm just trying to do my best
i'm not afraid of life, i'm afraid of death
build my love in the things i say
you've gotta lift your face to the breaking day
oh i'm just trying to do my best
i'm not afraid of life, i'm afraid of death
build my love in the things i say
you've gotta lift your face to the breaking day
so i ran and i jumped and i flew till i came to the center of an earth so cold
and the wind picked me up and took me straight to the belly of the fears i hold
and i ran and i ran and i ran and i ran
and then then i came right back
threw my arms around you,
you were dressed in black,
i'm so glad i found you
for you burned my stuff,
objects all around you
do we outlast things,
memories and sounds
or do we fade like this
with the body down into the ground
the flash and the soil that we love so much
i always wanted to return
return to the body where i was born
i always wanted to return
and i ran and i ran and i ran
oh i'm just trying to do my best
i'm not afraid of life, i'm afraid of death
build my love in the things i say
you've gotta lift your face to the breaking day
oh i'm just trying to do my best
i'm not afraid of life, i'm afraid of death
build my love in the things i say
you've gotta lift your face to the breaking day
because in time it leaves you,
it leaves you like blood, red blood
it leaves you like blood, red blood
it leaves you like blood, red blood
it leaves you like blood, red blood
Lyrics submitted by gloryosity
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well...i think that this...well most of the cd i havnt figured out steven yet, but the rest of the cd is about the lead singer and them leaving a girl or beloved behind to go to the city (or college) i think this because that is exactly what i am going through and the similarities between the song and my life are erie.
@eways123 Steven could go with your analysis too, since I think it's about thinking back on himself as a child. So when going to college or another city, he is leaving behind a loved one and his old self