"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.
Whoever said that life would be easy
Never walked a mile in my shoes
Everyday a desire awaits me
There is nothing else I can do
But fight against all odds
Against the deadly soul
That's living in my heart
I won't give up, I won't give in
I won't give out or fall apart
This is the mountain I must climb
This is my time
And all at once the shadows disappear
I move around the side
And into the clear
The weight of the light
Weighing down on the glass
Makes it hard to tell if you're going
Or to tell if you're coming to pass
How do you tell if time has gone by?
And I don't want to believe anymore
No, I don't want to believe
And I don't want to see what I've already seen
Or be what I've been
And I don't want to be me anymore
And I don't want to be free
And I don't want to feel how I felt
When I use to believe
When I held back the light
And the ling heavy air
With it's touches of grace
Made the openings appear
Now I'm into the clear
Never walked a mile in my shoes
Everyday a desire awaits me
There is nothing else I can do
But fight against all odds
Against the deadly soul
That's living in my heart
I won't give up, I won't give in
I won't give out or fall apart
This is the mountain I must climb
This is my time
And all at once the shadows disappear
I move around the side
And into the clear
The weight of the light
Weighing down on the glass
Makes it hard to tell if you're going
Or to tell if you're coming to pass
How do you tell if time has gone by?
And I don't want to believe anymore
No, I don't want to believe
And I don't want to see what I've already seen
Or be what I've been
And I don't want to be me anymore
And I don't want to be free
And I don't want to feel how I felt
When I use to believe
When I held back the light
And the ling heavy air
With it's touches of grace
Made the openings appear
Now I'm into the clear
Lyrics submitted by uteinfullerton
Into The Clear Lyrics as written by Andrew F. Wilkes-krier
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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He also doesn't want to relive the bad times, and the depression he suffered during these times. He fought through it and doesn't want to go back.