"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.
Through the driving rain
I have lost the words
To piece us back together
To tell you how it hurts
Cause lately we've been breaking
All we've built so far
And I'm tired of sitting waiting
Alone in the dark
There's still a way to make it right
We'll find the strength this time
And pull back this veil
Turn night into day
Don't you know you're standing in the way of the light?
Pour oil on these flames
Speed up my heart again
Don't you know you're standing in the way of the light?
Round we go in circles
Does it have to be this hard?
We can stop the fighting
If you let down your guard
There's still a way to make it right
We'll find the strength this time
And pull back this veil
Turn night into day
Don't you know you're standing in the way of the light?
Pour oil on these flames
Speed up my heart again
Don't you know you're standing in the way of the light?
So come on, come on, come on
We've been living in the shadows too long
So come on, come on, come on
Just pull back this veil
Turn night into day
Don't you know you're standing in the way of the light?
Pour oil on these flames
Speed up my heart again
Don't you know you're standing in the way of the light?
(Come on, come on, come on...)
Pull back this veil
Turn night into day
Don't you know you're standing in the way of the light?
Pour oil on these flames
Speed up my heart again
Don't you know you're standing in the way of the light?
You're standing in the way of the light
I have lost the words
To piece us back together
To tell you how it hurts
Cause lately we've been breaking
All we've built so far
And I'm tired of sitting waiting
Alone in the dark
There's still a way to make it right
We'll find the strength this time
And pull back this veil
Turn night into day
Don't you know you're standing in the way of the light?
Pour oil on these flames
Speed up my heart again
Don't you know you're standing in the way of the light?
Round we go in circles
Does it have to be this hard?
We can stop the fighting
If you let down your guard
There's still a way to make it right
We'll find the strength this time
And pull back this veil
Turn night into day
Don't you know you're standing in the way of the light?
Pour oil on these flames
Speed up my heart again
Don't you know you're standing in the way of the light?
So come on, come on, come on
We've been living in the shadows too long
So come on, come on, come on
Just pull back this veil
Turn night into day
Don't you know you're standing in the way of the light?
Pour oil on these flames
Speed up my heart again
Don't you know you're standing in the way of the light?
(Come on, come on, come on...)
Pull back this veil
Turn night into day
Don't you know you're standing in the way of the light?
Pour oil on these flames
Speed up my heart again
Don't you know you're standing in the way of the light?
You're standing in the way of the light
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