"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.
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These are the lyrics:
Flash your eyes or you'll be dead There's a skull inside your head Strobe lights dance across the floor Someone guides you to the door
Stars from fountains burn your eyes Amber jet trail lights the sky If you make it, you will find There's something new inside your mind
All I see from where I lie Are rainbow colors in the sky When the clouds begin to part White lightning strikes your heart
Faces flicker into smiles Standing still you've travelled miles Voices whisper from behind Close your eyes or you'll go blind
All I see from where I lie Are rainbow colors in the sky When the clouds begin to part White lightning strikes your heart
I am red & I am blue & I am purple, I am green I am gold & I am silver I am everything I am good & I am bad & I am happy, I am sad I am up & I am down & I am all around
Liquid flowing through your skin Leave your head or you'll give in To strange gifts from Medusa's hand Visions you don't understand
All I'll see from where I lie Are rainbow colors in the sky When the clouds begin to part White lightning strikes your heart