"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.
Open your eyes, love.
All alone...
Open your eyes, love.
Weeping...
I know that she was wrong
but life is moving on, so
Get it together, ‘cause now anger is your pleasure
And the pleasure is the tether that fed you for too long
Now you’re thinking that you’re better
‘cause you think it made you strong, but
What you don’t get
Is the colour of regret is the thing that made you sweat
When you tried to paint a picture of life in the future
When the present’s too wet
With the tears that you wept long ago, fuelling the fire still
Keeping your head turned around in the past
Float in the present with the role that you cast
For her as the villain
And you, who came in last
It’s time to wake up
Open your eyes, love
‘Cause you’ve been sleeping
It’s getting hard to bear, watching you all alone
I know your heart is broken
And you’ve been weeping
But I’ve been waiting here patiently for too long
I know that she was wrong
and life is moving on
And the anger that you feed keeps you feeling justified
But turning a blind eye to the one who you survived with
And kept you sane through the heartache and the pain
What you don’t get
Is the color of regret is the thing that made you sweat
When you tried to paint a picture of life in the future
When the present’s too wet
With the tears that you wept long ago, fueling the fire still
Keeping your head turned around in the past
Float in the present with the role that you cast
For her as the villain
And you, who came in last
It’s time to wake up
Open your eyes, love
‘Cause you’ve been sleeping
It’s getting hard to bear, watching you all alone
I know your heart is broken
And you’ve been weeping
But I’ve been waiting here patiently for too long
You are my pain, love
You are my sorrow
Can’t you see we’re the same?
You got me crying
And now my heart is breaking
‘Cause I’ve been weeping
And I’ve been waiting here silently for too long
You come close, when you’re in pain
Do you feel better, babe?
Then you go, ‘cause you’re afraid
You’ll fall in love again
You’ll fall in love again
You’ll fall in love again
Open your eyes, love
You got me crying
(x5)
‘Cause I’ve been sitting here patiently for too long
All alone...
Open your eyes, love.
Weeping...
I know that she was wrong
but life is moving on, so
Get it together, ‘cause now anger is your pleasure
And the pleasure is the tether that fed you for too long
Now you’re thinking that you’re better
‘cause you think it made you strong, but
What you don’t get
Is the colour of regret is the thing that made you sweat
When you tried to paint a picture of life in the future
When the present’s too wet
With the tears that you wept long ago, fuelling the fire still
Keeping your head turned around in the past
Float in the present with the role that you cast
For her as the villain
And you, who came in last
It’s time to wake up
Open your eyes, love
‘Cause you’ve been sleeping
It’s getting hard to bear, watching you all alone
I know your heart is broken
And you’ve been weeping
But I’ve been waiting here patiently for too long
I know that she was wrong
and life is moving on
And the anger that you feed keeps you feeling justified
But turning a blind eye to the one who you survived with
And kept you sane through the heartache and the pain
What you don’t get
Is the color of regret is the thing that made you sweat
When you tried to paint a picture of life in the future
When the present’s too wet
With the tears that you wept long ago, fueling the fire still
Keeping your head turned around in the past
Float in the present with the role that you cast
For her as the villain
And you, who came in last
It’s time to wake up
Open your eyes, love
‘Cause you’ve been sleeping
It’s getting hard to bear, watching you all alone
I know your heart is broken
And you’ve been weeping
But I’ve been waiting here patiently for too long
You are my pain, love
You are my sorrow
Can’t you see we’re the same?
You got me crying
And now my heart is breaking
‘Cause I’ve been weeping
And I’ve been waiting here silently for too long
You come close, when you’re in pain
Do you feel better, babe?
Then you go, ‘cause you’re afraid
You’ll fall in love again
You’ll fall in love again
You’ll fall in love again
Open your eyes, love
You got me crying
(x5)
‘Cause I’ve been sitting here patiently for too long
Lyrics submitted by noor117414
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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To me this sounds like the answer to the earlier SVIIB song ILU - which begins with "There's so many things I wish I knew how to say, in a way that you'd understand, but I can't."
Well, after a couple of years' thought on the matter (this song was written in 2012), Alejandra has now been able to articulate all those things that she wanted to say to Ben, but couldn't get the words out at the time.
Interestingly within the song, the person that Ali refers to as "she" and the person that she refers to as "I" appear to be the same - both aspects of herself, but with the one referred to as "she" being the ex-lover and the one referred to as "I" being the current friend.