"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 can't get better
I want the best though
If I'm running out of lifetime
You should just say so
Five hundred peaced up people
I don't care what they write
I want no courtship in their plight
They say I'm not a teacher
I know the reasons why
I can explain another time
Don't ask me why the people
Oh tell me why
Cry, count then bellow
As time fades my birthstone
Yeah I had to wait our lifetime
For you to say so
Don't you listen to your heart?
There was a summertime
There's really nothing now
I always wondered how to rid myself of doubt
Haven't really been forced in a while
Try telling my underside
I always wondered how to rid myself of doubt
I want the best though
If I'm running out of lifetime
You should just say so
Five hundred peaced up people
I don't care what they write
I want no courtship in their plight
They say I'm not a teacher
I know the reasons why
I can explain another time
Don't ask me why the people
Oh tell me why
Cry, count then bellow
As time fades my birthstone
Yeah I had to wait our lifetime
For you to say so
Don't you listen to your heart?
There was a summertime
There's really nothing now
I always wondered how to rid myself of doubt
Haven't really been forced in a while
Try telling my underside
I always wondered how to rid myself of doubt
Lyrics submitted by BL88
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