"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.
I am a leader but you will not follow me
I am no preacher for I'm full of blasphemy
See you in hell boys
See you in hell boys
Hey!
Well I knew angels who'd been dancing with some devils
And like my landlord was a man most insincere
I know that I am hunted for old payments
But I know that I feel safety when I'm here
For workers in black shoes that shine won't come in
With their ladies in gowns that last a month
I guess the old provincials were such scourges
I was fooled at a cutthroat's table so was shunned, so was shunned
So things got better, things got lost
I knew what I had come for but I couldn't pay the cost
Less power to the people, more power to the boss
And things got better, so I was lost
I am a leader but you will not follow me
I ain't no preacher for I'm full of blasphemy
See you in hell boys
See you in hell boys
Now many songs've been written of the barstool
Of drowning folks in pitchers full of beer
But I assure you every turn I made I choose it
But I know that I feel safety when I'm here
I've had enough of your taxman and your puppets
And now the only word I trust is the one that's mine
We'll carry on pushing stones and counting sand
I'll be here, beaten down but still alive
So things got better, I was lost
I knew what I had come for but I couldn't pay the cost
Less power to the people, more power to the boss
And things got better, so I was lost
I am a leader but you will not follow me
I ain't no preacher for I'm full of blasphemy
See you in hell boys
See you in hell
Hey!
Yes barman, I will surely have another
This one's for an old fool, yeah he still walks on his own
I don't ever let them tell me I have nothing
I stopped searching, I sat down; it was here I found my home
I am a leader but you will not follow me
I ain't no preacher for I'm full of blasphemy
See you in hell boys
See you in hell boys
I am no preacher for I'm full of blasphemy
See you in hell boys
See you in hell boys
Hey!
Well I knew angels who'd been dancing with some devils
And like my landlord was a man most insincere
I know that I am hunted for old payments
But I know that I feel safety when I'm here
For workers in black shoes that shine won't come in
With their ladies in gowns that last a month
I guess the old provincials were such scourges
I was fooled at a cutthroat's table so was shunned, so was shunned
So things got better, things got lost
I knew what I had come for but I couldn't pay the cost
Less power to the people, more power to the boss
And things got better, so I was lost
I am a leader but you will not follow me
I ain't no preacher for I'm full of blasphemy
See you in hell boys
See you in hell boys
Now many songs've been written of the barstool
Of drowning folks in pitchers full of beer
But I assure you every turn I made I choose it
But I know that I feel safety when I'm here
I've had enough of your taxman and your puppets
And now the only word I trust is the one that's mine
We'll carry on pushing stones and counting sand
I'll be here, beaten down but still alive
So things got better, I was lost
I knew what I had come for but I couldn't pay the cost
Less power to the people, more power to the boss
And things got better, so I was lost
I am a leader but you will not follow me
I ain't no preacher for I'm full of blasphemy
See you in hell boys
See you in hell
Hey!
Yes barman, I will surely have another
This one's for an old fool, yeah he still walks on his own
I don't ever let them tell me I have nothing
I stopped searching, I sat down; it was here I found my home
I am a leader but you will not follow me
I ain't no preacher for I'm full of blasphemy
See you in hell boys
See you in hell boys
Lyrics submitted by Fitzburgh
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