"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.
Extra time when you think it's all over
Live a life when you've rolled over and died
I don't feel pain
I don't travel this line
Levitate and feel the ground get closer
Ecstasy made every step a mile
When it becomes a waste
Why hold on for dear life
Wide pain in the blue white break up
All paths divide
Life has a way of opening up
All names travel with their owner
Tho' they've no space, they move all around
I see invisible movement in every town
Every cry is a separate emotion
Happenings are planned
And then they arrive
They go on with or without you there
Wide pain in the blue white break up
All paths divide
Life has a way of opening up
Wide pain in the blue white break up
All paths divide
Life has a way of opening up
Live a life when you've rolled over and died
I don't feel pain
I don't travel this line
Levitate and feel the ground get closer
Ecstasy made every step a mile
When it becomes a waste
Why hold on for dear life
Wide pain in the blue white break up
All paths divide
Life has a way of opening up
All names travel with their owner
Tho' they've no space, they move all around
I see invisible movement in every town
Every cry is a separate emotion
Happenings are planned
And then they arrive
They go on with or without you there
Wide pain in the blue white break up
All paths divide
Life has a way of opening up
Wide pain in the blue white break up
All paths divide
Life has a way of opening up
Lyrics submitted by davewah3
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Yeah, the song is amazing. In my opinion, the lyrics are about the new beginnings. Ending a relationship with anyone or anything gives your life a chance to open up, gives you a chance to start a relationship with something or someone that makes you happier.
I'd say that that the beginning lyrics about John's personal situation, 'relationship' with drugs and near death, and then in 2nd part of the song he puts his personal experience in use of a wider conclusion about breakups giving you a chance of creating new relationships.