"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.
She got down on hands and knees, one ear against the ground,
Holding her breath to hear something, but the dirt made not a sound tonight
Echoes of songs still lurk on distant foreign shores, where we
Danced just to please the gods that only ask for more, so it goes
But still we give ourselves to this
We can't spend our lives waiting to live
On cold nights
In a prayer for dawn
But the daylight
Isn't what she wants
The concrete
Calls my name again
I'm falling
Through the cracks I slip
The postcard says wish you were here
But I'd rather I was there, holding
On to the simple things before they disappear, that's what I meant
But that was then, and this is now
I'll make it up to you somehow
On cold nights
In a prayer for dawn
But the daylight
Isn't what she wants
The concrete
Calls my name again
I'm falling
Through the cracks I slip
Our destination, a feint smile,
Another station, another mile,
Another day gone, I swear that I will
Be there before dawn, so be there I will
She got down on hands and knees, one ear against the ground,
Holding her breath to hear something, anything at all
The dirt whispered, "Child, I'm coming home."
On cold nights
In a prayer for dawn
But the daylight
Isn't what she wants
The concrete
Calls my name again
I'm falling
Through the cracks I slip
Holding her breath to hear something, but the dirt made not a sound tonight
Echoes of songs still lurk on distant foreign shores, where we
Danced just to please the gods that only ask for more, so it goes
But still we give ourselves to this
We can't spend our lives waiting to live
On cold nights
In a prayer for dawn
But the daylight
Isn't what she wants
The concrete
Calls my name again
I'm falling
Through the cracks I slip
The postcard says wish you were here
But I'd rather I was there, holding
On to the simple things before they disappear, that's what I meant
But that was then, and this is now
I'll make it up to you somehow
On cold nights
In a prayer for dawn
But the daylight
Isn't what she wants
The concrete
Calls my name again
I'm falling
Through the cracks I slip
Our destination, a feint smile,
Another station, another mile,
Another day gone, I swear that I will
Be there before dawn, so be there I will
She got down on hands and knees, one ear against the ground,
Holding her breath to hear something, anything at all
The dirt whispered, "Child, I'm coming home."
On cold nights
In a prayer for dawn
But the daylight
Isn't what she wants
The concrete
Calls my name again
I'm falling
Through the cracks I slip
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Fast Car
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The bridge says: "A destination, a fading smile, another station, another mile. Another day gone, I swore I will be there before dawn, so be there I will.
As a whole I think this song is about a girl who has lost a loved one, and the process of moving on. In the begining she is completely under the effects of her loss but by the end she has gotten closure and can move on past her loss.