"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.
Oh, we could blame it on our hands
They lifted the drink to our mouths so we drank it
Or we could blame it on our bodies
They say, we like the way we feel when we get touched
You've got your fingers snared in my veins
I think it's time you pulled them out
And I don't care about the flesh it'll tear
It isn't flesh that I'm worried about
We held a match to keep our sight on the path
But the flame gave up and we lost it
And I've knelt for the last three years
Trying to find it back with the blackened matchstick
Today I'm not afraid of failure
The past is a flower
The future, the snow
I wasn't ever close to perfect
But I never let you go
You let your doubt like a river lead you on and on and on
And you will never get back to save what you had
Hear me promise
I will bury your problems in me
So sleep soundly
I held your heart in my fingers
Now it's gone, it's gone, it's gone and you will never admit
That you bid the wind blow the flames out
And buried the coals in the sea
You tricked me
You came back and you brought floods
Wearing a necklace made of hearts that you'd dragged through the mud
And I guess I wasn't quite sure what to say to you
But then I saw mine, almost reached out to grab it
Said, darling, you're the only one on earth I want to have it
But now I'm not so sure that was true
After the hell you put it through
But there was no sharp pain this time
Just the ghost of your presence compressing my chest like a vine
An unshakable absensce
Like most of my insides crawled out of my mouth and went west
But that's fine
We cast our hearts in plaster
We imagined our bodies were fashioned of stone
But they chipped at the brick and the mortar
We found out that we're only layers of skin hiding bone
And our bones are like chains, old and rusted in the rain
They're going to snap when the weight shifts
You moved like a fire through the forest
Your hands were as red as the skin on your lips
You'd been flirting with distance, princess
I tasted its spit in your kiss
Oh mistress, know
Today I will bury the flames of your failure
The past is a liar
The future, a whore
I'll lay your bones into the earth and you will haunt my head no more
Oh, we could blame it on our hands
Oh, we could blame it on our hands
But it was our mouths that opened up to swallow
(Oh, we could blame it on our hands)
And our heads that commanded us drink
But as I buried your flames in the dirt
I watched the smoke pull your ghost from the grave
And I fear they'll only lie in wait
Until we are face to face again
Just when I said, I'm moving, I'm moving on
I felt them come to life again and again and again and again
There are fires
That tear through valleys and make dust from grass
There are fires
There are wires
Bound in blue light, they pull us to the past
There are wires
We are tired
We should have known from the start that this thing wouldn't last
We are tired
They lifted the drink to our mouths so we drank it
Or we could blame it on our bodies
They say, we like the way we feel when we get touched
You've got your fingers snared in my veins
I think it's time you pulled them out
And I don't care about the flesh it'll tear
It isn't flesh that I'm worried about
We held a match to keep our sight on the path
But the flame gave up and we lost it
And I've knelt for the last three years
Trying to find it back with the blackened matchstick
Today I'm not afraid of failure
The past is a flower
The future, the snow
I wasn't ever close to perfect
But I never let you go
You let your doubt like a river lead you on and on and on
And you will never get back to save what you had
Hear me promise
I will bury your problems in me
So sleep soundly
I held your heart in my fingers
Now it's gone, it's gone, it's gone and you will never admit
That you bid the wind blow the flames out
And buried the coals in the sea
You tricked me
You came back and you brought floods
Wearing a necklace made of hearts that you'd dragged through the mud
And I guess I wasn't quite sure what to say to you
But then I saw mine, almost reached out to grab it
Said, darling, you're the only one on earth I want to have it
But now I'm not so sure that was true
After the hell you put it through
But there was no sharp pain this time
Just the ghost of your presence compressing my chest like a vine
An unshakable absensce
Like most of my insides crawled out of my mouth and went west
But that's fine
We cast our hearts in plaster
We imagined our bodies were fashioned of stone
But they chipped at the brick and the mortar
We found out that we're only layers of skin hiding bone
And our bones are like chains, old and rusted in the rain
They're going to snap when the weight shifts
You moved like a fire through the forest
Your hands were as red as the skin on your lips
You'd been flirting with distance, princess
I tasted its spit in your kiss
Oh mistress, know
Today I will bury the flames of your failure
The past is a liar
The future, a whore
I'll lay your bones into the earth and you will haunt my head no more
Oh, we could blame it on our hands
Oh, we could blame it on our hands
But it was our mouths that opened up to swallow
(Oh, we could blame it on our hands)
And our heads that commanded us drink
But as I buried your flames in the dirt
I watched the smoke pull your ghost from the grave
And I fear they'll only lie in wait
Until we are face to face again
Just when I said, I'm moving, I'm moving on
I felt them come to life again and again and again and again
There are fires
That tear through valleys and make dust from grass
There are fires
There are wires
Bound in blue light, they pull us to the past
There are wires
We are tired
We should have known from the start that this thing wouldn't last
We are tired
Lyrics submitted by eltroyo11, edited by ChipperSpiff, TheGianaJinx, 8bitsinger
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Fast Car
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I'm guessing it's related to a night of cheating with alcohol involved.