"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.
Last night we went out to the orchard in the snow
There in the constellations, a big dipper far below
We walked through the blackness, felt the endless space around
And you bent down on your knee and picked an apple from the ground
Out past the forest where the Saint Lawrence lies
We heard the cargo ships go pushing through the ice
You turned when we heard them, your breath hung in the air
And you said, "Just 'cause we can't see them doesn't mean that they're not there
But I'm not afraid of what I can't see
Don't need a reason, don't need to believe"
We climbed up a latter that leaned against the hay
And out in the distance saw the highway far away
The headlights all sparkled, blending into the sky above
Where the moon was coming up, and I knew that's all there was
But I'm not afraid of all that space
'Cause everything I need is written on your face
Over by the barn in the dark, we heard the geese
They carried our boots past the naked little trees
We smelled the cold bark in the air and the sweetness of
The fruit on the ground, and the wood smoke above
There in the constellations, a big dipper far below
We walked through the blackness, felt the endless space around
And you bent down on your knee and picked an apple from the ground
Out past the forest where the Saint Lawrence lies
We heard the cargo ships go pushing through the ice
You turned when we heard them, your breath hung in the air
And you said, "Just 'cause we can't see them doesn't mean that they're not there
But I'm not afraid of what I can't see
Don't need a reason, don't need to believe"
We climbed up a latter that leaned against the hay
And out in the distance saw the highway far away
The headlights all sparkled, blending into the sky above
Where the moon was coming up, and I knew that's all there was
But I'm not afraid of all that space
'Cause everything I need is written on your face
Over by the barn in the dark, we heard the geese
They carried our boots past the naked little trees
We smelled the cold bark in the air and the sweetness of
The fruit on the ground, and the wood smoke above
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Fast Car
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I agree with invisispider, there is that loss of innocence present here, but there is also the sense of acceptance of not knowing what's ahead. The "blackness" and the allusion to the constellations (possibly connecting back to Orion and his fate) give the impression that the narrator is not sheltered anymore, and even though fall is fading into winter, there is the comfort of knowing that someone is plunging through the darkness with him, not knowing what will happen ("not afraid of all that space...everything I need is written on your face"). The simplicity of the phrases evoke a quiet warmth ("wood smoke," "naked little trees," "a ladder that leaned against the hay") and the instrumentation, with the delicate guitar part, adds to this image.
There's no sense of urgency, just the wish to take life as it comes.
Lovely tune.