"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.
You said I was strong
It looks like you’re wrong
Some nights
I feel so small
I haven’t given up on someday
I can’t find my way
I’m just trying to find
A soft place to fall
A soft place to fall
You said you’d loved me
To have and to hold
A soft place to fall
If you really loved me
Then how could you go?
Like loves’ lonely highway
Keeps all winding
I’m fighting to make sense of it all
Like a cold empty, empty cavern
I’m a million miles from heaven
There’s no one home to call
And no soft place to fall
A soft place to fall
You said you’d loved me
To have and to hold
A soft place to fall
If you really loved me
Then how could you go?
And God’s knows I’ve prayed
At the end of each day
I go down on my knees
And I talk to the floor
I pull the covers up around me
I need angels surrounding
So much for love
A soft place to fall
You said you’d love me
To have and to hold
A soft place to fall
If you really loved me
Then how could you go?
And God knows I’ve prayed
At the end of each day
I go down on my knees
And I talk to the floor
And I’m lightening strikes
And just rips through the night
Cause I need a sign tonight
Or just a knock on my door
I’m just trying to find
A soft place to fall
It looks like you’re wrong
Some nights
I feel so small
I haven’t given up on someday
I can’t find my way
I’m just trying to find
A soft place to fall
A soft place to fall
You said you’d loved me
To have and to hold
A soft place to fall
If you really loved me
Then how could you go?
Like loves’ lonely highway
Keeps all winding
I’m fighting to make sense of it all
Like a cold empty, empty cavern
I’m a million miles from heaven
There’s no one home to call
And no soft place to fall
A soft place to fall
You said you’d loved me
To have and to hold
A soft place to fall
If you really loved me
Then how could you go?
And God’s knows I’ve prayed
At the end of each day
I go down on my knees
And I talk to the floor
I pull the covers up around me
I need angels surrounding
So much for love
A soft place to fall
You said you’d love me
To have and to hold
A soft place to fall
If you really loved me
Then how could you go?
And God knows I’ve prayed
At the end of each day
I go down on my knees
And I talk to the floor
And I’m lightening strikes
And just rips through the night
Cause I need a sign tonight
Or just a knock on my door
I’m just trying to find
A soft place to fall
Lyrics submitted by AngieMe0528
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Fast Car
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