"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.
Gotta find a way
Yeah, I cant wait another day
Ain't nothing gonna change
If we stay 'round here
Gotta do what it takes
'Cause it's all in our hands
We all make mistakes
Yeah, but it's never too late
To start again, take another breath
And say another prayer
Then fly away from here
Anywhere, yeah, I don't care
We just fly away from here
Our hopes and dreams are out there somewhere
Won't let time pass us by
We'll just fly, yeah
If this life
It seems harder now
It ain't no never mind
You got me by your side
And anytime you want
Yeah, we could catch a train and find a better place
Yeah, 'cause we won't let nothing, or no-one, keep getting us down
Maybe you and I
Could pack our bags and hit the sky
Then fly away from here
Anywhere, yeah, I don't care
We just fly away from here
Our hopes and dreams are out there somewhere
Won't let time pass us by
We'll just fly
Do you see a bluer sky now
You can have a better life now
Open your eyes
'Cause no one here can ever stop us
They can try but we won't let them
No way
Maybe you and I
Could pack our bags and say goodbye
Then fly away from here
Anywhere, honey, I don't care
We just fly away from here
Our hopes and dreams are out there somewhere
Fly away from here
Yeah, anywhere
Honey, I don't, I don't, I don't
Yeah, we just fly away
Yeah, I cant wait another day
Ain't nothing gonna change
If we stay 'round here
Gotta do what it takes
'Cause it's all in our hands
We all make mistakes
Yeah, but it's never too late
To start again, take another breath
And say another prayer
Then fly away from here
Anywhere, yeah, I don't care
We just fly away from here
Our hopes and dreams are out there somewhere
Won't let time pass us by
We'll just fly, yeah
If this life
It seems harder now
It ain't no never mind
You got me by your side
And anytime you want
Yeah, we could catch a train and find a better place
Yeah, 'cause we won't let nothing, or no-one, keep getting us down
Maybe you and I
Could pack our bags and hit the sky
Then fly away from here
Anywhere, yeah, I don't care
We just fly away from here
Our hopes and dreams are out there somewhere
Won't let time pass us by
We'll just fly
Do you see a bluer sky now
You can have a better life now
Open your eyes
'Cause no one here can ever stop us
They can try but we won't let them
No way
Maybe you and I
Could pack our bags and say goodbye
Then fly away from here
Anywhere, honey, I don't care
We just fly away from here
Our hopes and dreams are out there somewhere
Fly away from here
Yeah, anywhere
Honey, I don't, I don't, I don't
Yeah, we just fly away
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Fast Car
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"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
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This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
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this is my grad song haha