"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.
Here comes Cokey Joe looking to make it snow
I wish I didn't know what I know
And that why you were hired, hired
Don't do your job and you'll be fired, fired
You can't get tired after hours, hours
They're building high and silver towers, towers
They congregate here after hours, hours
They telling lies
That's how rumors get started and destinies die
Tick-tock, six o'clock, where did the time go?
You can't go blind blowing your load
And that's why God's a liar, liar
You're underage you need a buyer, buyer
We'll take you higher after hours, hours
They getting nice on whiskey sours, sours
They telling secrets after hours, hours
Destroying time
That's how organs shut down and brain cells die
Here it comes, Sam is back, and a boom-crash-thud
He's going to need a transfusion of blood
You know the ladies holler yes, yes
Another system under stress, stress
Forget about it lose that dress, dress
Awww, give me a hug
This is how the young girls dress in my club
After hours, hours
Eternal life and Satan's powers, powers
You'll live forever after hours, hours
Now you know why
The sun ain't the real reason vampires die
I wish I didn't know what I know
And that why you were hired, hired
Don't do your job and you'll be fired, fired
You can't get tired after hours, hours
They're building high and silver towers, towers
They congregate here after hours, hours
They telling lies
That's how rumors get started and destinies die
Tick-tock, six o'clock, where did the time go?
You can't go blind blowing your load
And that's why God's a liar, liar
You're underage you need a buyer, buyer
We'll take you higher after hours, hours
They getting nice on whiskey sours, sours
They telling secrets after hours, hours
Destroying time
That's how organs shut down and brain cells die
Here it comes, Sam is back, and a boom-crash-thud
He's going to need a transfusion of blood
You know the ladies holler yes, yes
Another system under stress, stress
Forget about it lose that dress, dress
Awww, give me a hug
This is how the young girls dress in my club
After hours, hours
Eternal life and Satan's powers, powers
You'll live forever after hours, hours
Now you know why
The sun ain't the real reason vampires die
Lyrics submitted by badmartialarts
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Fast Car
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I have no idea what the first line to the third stanza is saying, I can hear the 'and a boom-crash-thud' part at the end but can't decipher the beginning. :/
I think you got it about right, but it is difficult.
<i>"You can't go blind blowing your load/And that's why God's a liar"</i> is a quick refutation of the old wives' tale that "masturbation makes you go blind."
The rest--it sounds like fresh meat getting a quick and dirty introduction to the night life and/or the underworld.
Cokey Joe seems to be a recurring name in various old films, including Boris Karloff in Young Donovan's Kid. The song goes from a minimum wage job to immortality by meeting Satan at the dance club. Is that narrative in reference to something else? I think with this one I'll stick with the direct meaning.