"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.
Oxygen and Ryan and Jane
Blue star, and green thing
And Ryan
Them and me we walked
Out among the Catalina
Oxygen for our brains, and the mellow stuff for our bodies
Hook me up with a quadrant, and I'll hook you up the same
Then you and me we'll walk out among the Catalina
Blue star, and green thing
And Ryan
Them and me we walked
Out among the Catalina
Oxygen for our brains, and the mellow stuff for our bodies
Hook me up with a quadrant, and I'll hook you up the same
Then you and me we'll walk out among the Catalina
Lyrics submitted by PortolaGirl
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Fast Car
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