"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'm leaving tonight
Down the same dirt road
A million times
I've driven just to get home
And I ain't ever looking back
For nothing
Headed for the coast
Looking for the high life
Everybody knows
It's nothing but a good time
And I sold everything I had
For something
I can't seem to find
So this is the life they talk about
This is the I can't live without
When the real world crashes down
Oh if they could see me now
When all the dreams are all your own
Turn to nightmares all alone
It hits you right between the eyes
This is the life
This is the life
These four walls feel more like a prison
Instead of pure highs
I couldn't wait to live in
So I just drink myself to sleep
Again
Can't escape my mind
This ain't like a movie
It's getting hard to hide
The more it's doin' to me
Don't know how long I can keep
I'm going
Crazy all the time
So this is the life they talk about
This is the life I can't live without
When the real world crashes down
Oh if they could see me now
When all the dreams are all your own
Turn to nightmares all alone
It hits you right between the eyes
This is the life
This is the life
Nothings ever what it seems
Maybe that grass ain't so green
Nothings ever out of reach
When you're seventeen
So this is the life they talked about
This is the I can't live without
When the real world crashes down
Oh if they could see me now
When all the dreams are all your own
Turn to nightmares all alone
It hits you right between the eyes
And this is the life
This is the life
Yeah
Down the same dirt road
A million times
I've driven just to get home
And I ain't ever looking back
For nothing
Headed for the coast
Looking for the high life
Everybody knows
It's nothing but a good time
And I sold everything I had
For something
I can't seem to find
So this is the life they talk about
This is the I can't live without
When the real world crashes down
Oh if they could see me now
When all the dreams are all your own
Turn to nightmares all alone
It hits you right between the eyes
This is the life
This is the life
These four walls feel more like a prison
Instead of pure highs
I couldn't wait to live in
So I just drink myself to sleep
Again
Can't escape my mind
This ain't like a movie
It's getting hard to hide
The more it's doin' to me
Don't know how long I can keep
I'm going
Crazy all the time
So this is the life they talk about
This is the life I can't live without
When the real world crashes down
Oh if they could see me now
When all the dreams are all your own
Turn to nightmares all alone
It hits you right between the eyes
This is the life
This is the life
Nothings ever what it seems
Maybe that grass ain't so green
Nothings ever out of reach
When you're seventeen
So this is the life they talked about
This is the I can't live without
When the real world crashes down
Oh if they could see me now
When all the dreams are all your own
Turn to nightmares all alone
It hits you right between the eyes
And this is the life
This is the life
Yeah
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Fast Car
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This is my favorite song on the new cd. To me, it's about growing up and realizing that life's not all you thought it would be. You're told that if you work hard you can accomplish your dreams, and I think this song is about getting everything you wanted and it not being what you thought it would be.
He says "Headed for the coast Looking for the high life Everybody knows It's nothing but a good time And I sold everything I had For something I can't seem to find" That's saying he went to look for what everyone has been talking about and he can't seem to find it.
Then it says "this is the life they talk about? this is the I can't live without"...I think that's said sarcastically, like "this is it?". This song hits hard for me, to get to where you've been going and being disappointed. Idk, just my take on it.