"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 did the best you could
That’s all there ever is
You always said I would
Never quite get over this
You meant it like a joke
But you sounded so sure
And anyway, I hoped
I wouldn’t hear it anymore
I love to hear you laugh,
a sweet and airy sound
It catches on your breath
and lifts my feet up off the ground
But oh, I’ve seen you cry
A secret, darkened blush
You hold it all in tight
or you will lose it in the rush
CHORUS:
It took a thousand lies
To make these shadows in your eyes
It’d take a thousand lives
to make it right
Sings out of you like prayer
on soft and sailing songs
It comes from God knows where
it’s pushing you along
But it feels in you like cold
That’s how it’s always been
You’re scared of getting old
in this same thick and wintered skin
CHORUS
That’s all there ever is
You always said I would
Never quite get over this
You meant it like a joke
But you sounded so sure
And anyway, I hoped
I wouldn’t hear it anymore
I love to hear you laugh,
a sweet and airy sound
It catches on your breath
and lifts my feet up off the ground
But oh, I’ve seen you cry
A secret, darkened blush
You hold it all in tight
or you will lose it in the rush
CHORUS:
It took a thousand lies
To make these shadows in your eyes
It’d take a thousand lives
to make it right
Sings out of you like prayer
on soft and sailing songs
It comes from God knows where
it’s pushing you along
But it feels in you like cold
That’s how it’s always been
You’re scared of getting old
in this same thick and wintered skin
CHORUS
Lyrics submitted by annalouise
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