"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.
The leafless tree looked like a brain
The birds within were all the thoughts and desires within me
Hoppin' around from branch to branch
Or snug in their nests listenin' in
An eagle came over the horizon
And shook the branches with its sight
The softer thoughts: starlings, finches, and wrens
The softer thoughts, they all took flight
The eagle looked clear through the brain tree
Emptying thoughts saved for me
Maybe I'll make this one my home, consolidate the nests of the tiny
Raise a family of might like me
Then something struck him, wings of bone
Sweet desires and soft thoughts were all gone
The eagle shrieked,
"I'm alone"
Well it was time to flee the tree
The eagle snuck up on the wind one talon at a time
Being Sky King of the sky
What did he have to fear?
All thoughts are prey to some beast
All thoughts are prey to some beast
All thoughts are prey to some beast
All thoughts are prey to some beast
All thoughts are prey to some beast
All thoughts are prey to some beast
Sweet desire and soft thoughts, return to me
Sweet desire and soft thoughts, return to me
Sweet desire and soft thoughts, return to me
Sweet desire and soft thoughts, return to me
Sweet desire and soft thoughts, return to me
Sweet desire and soft thoughts, return to me
Sweet desire and soft thoughts, return to me
Sweet desire and soft thoughts, return to me
The birds within were all the thoughts and desires within me
Hoppin' around from branch to branch
Or snug in their nests listenin' in
An eagle came over the horizon
And shook the branches with its sight
The softer thoughts: starlings, finches, and wrens
The softer thoughts, they all took flight
The eagle looked clear through the brain tree
Emptying thoughts saved for me
Maybe I'll make this one my home, consolidate the nests of the tiny
Raise a family of might like me
Then something struck him, wings of bone
Sweet desires and soft thoughts were all gone
The eagle shrieked,
"I'm alone"
Well it was time to flee the tree
The eagle snuck up on the wind one talon at a time
Being Sky King of the sky
What did he have to fear?
All thoughts are prey to some beast
All thoughts are prey to some beast
All thoughts are prey to some beast
All thoughts are prey to some beast
All thoughts are prey to some beast
All thoughts are prey to some beast
Sweet desire and soft thoughts, return to me
Sweet desire and soft thoughts, return to me
Sweet desire and soft thoughts, return to me
Sweet desire and soft thoughts, return to me
Sweet desire and soft thoughts, return to me
Sweet desire and soft thoughts, return to me
Sweet desire and soft thoughts, return to me
Sweet desire and soft thoughts, return to me
Lyrics submitted by askforgiveness, edited by smallwonderrobot
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who's the beast?