"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.
You shut the gates at sunset
After that you can't get out
You can see the bigger picture
Find out what it's all about
You're open to the skyline
You won't wanna go back home
In a garden full of angels
You will never be alone
But oh, the road is long
The stones that you are walking on
Have gone
With the moonlight to guide you
Feel the joy of being alive
The day that you stop running
Is the day that you arrive
And the night that you got locked in
Was the time to decide
Stop chasing shadows, just enjoy the ride
If you close the door to your house
Don't let anybody in
It's a room that's full of nothing
All that underneath your skin
Face against the window
You can't watch it fade to gray
And you'll never catch the fickle wind
If you choose to stay
But oh, the road is long
The stones that you are walking on
Have gone
With the moonlight to guide you
Feel the joy of being alive
The day that you stop running
Is the day that you arrive
And the night that you got locked in
Was the time to decide
Stop chasing shadows, just enjoy the ride
Stop chasing shadows, just enjoy the ride
With the moonlight to guide you
Feel the joy of being alive
The day that you stop running
Is the day that you arrive
And the night that you got locked in
Was the time to decide
Stop chasing shadows, just enjoy the ride
With the moonlight to guide you
Feel the joy of being alive
The day that you stop running
Is the day that you arrive
And the night that you got locked in
Was the time to decide
Stop chasing shadows, just enjoy the ride
Stop chasing shadows, just enjoy the ride
Stop chasing shadows, just enjoy the ride
Stop chasing shadows, just enjoy the ride
Stop chasing shadows, just enjoy the ride
After that you can't get out
You can see the bigger picture
Find out what it's all about
You're open to the skyline
You won't wanna go back home
In a garden full of angels
You will never be alone
But oh, the road is long
The stones that you are walking on
Have gone
With the moonlight to guide you
Feel the joy of being alive
The day that you stop running
Is the day that you arrive
And the night that you got locked in
Was the time to decide
Stop chasing shadows, just enjoy the ride
If you close the door to your house
Don't let anybody in
It's a room that's full of nothing
All that underneath your skin
Face against the window
You can't watch it fade to gray
And you'll never catch the fickle wind
If you choose to stay
But oh, the road is long
The stones that you are walking on
Have gone
With the moonlight to guide you
Feel the joy of being alive
The day that you stop running
Is the day that you arrive
And the night that you got locked in
Was the time to decide
Stop chasing shadows, just enjoy the ride
Stop chasing shadows, just enjoy the ride
With the moonlight to guide you
Feel the joy of being alive
The day that you stop running
Is the day that you arrive
And the night that you got locked in
Was the time to decide
Stop chasing shadows, just enjoy the ride
With the moonlight to guide you
Feel the joy of being alive
The day that you stop running
Is the day that you arrive
And the night that you got locked in
Was the time to decide
Stop chasing shadows, just enjoy the ride
Stop chasing shadows, just enjoy the ride
Stop chasing shadows, just enjoy the ride
Stop chasing shadows, just enjoy the ride
Stop chasing shadows, just enjoy the ride
Lyrics submitted by calvin6, edited by BenceKodaj
Enjoy the Ride Lyrics as written by Paul Corfield Godfrey Judie Tzuke
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Peermusic Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
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To be absolutely precise, she spells her name Judie Tzuke - see tzuke.com/ for verification.