"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.
Without the pretty pink ribbon
You'd end up just like me
Without the pretty pink ribbon
You'd float down to the sea
Without the pretty pink ribbon
You'd say just what you please
Without the sticky little kitten
Your ticket could never be free
Without the tight little denim
Your virtues would all go unknown
Without the room that you live in
Your cancer would eat to the bone
Your muscles would bulge underground
Your demons would all be around
Without the pretty pink ribbon
You'd end up just like me
Without the pretty pink ribbon
You'd end up just like me
Without the pretty pink ribbon
You'd burn all these dying leaves
Without the pretty pink ribbon
You'd lift this steaming herd
You would kill all the sick ones
You would bury them deep in the earth
Without the tight little denim
Your virtues would all go unknown
Without the room that you live in
Your cancers would eat to the bone
Your muscles would bulge underground
Your demons would all be around
Without the pretty pink ribbon
You'd end up just like me
You'd end up just like me
Without the pretty pink ribbon
You'd float down to the sea
Without the pretty pink ribbon
You'd say just what you please
Without the sticky little kitten
Your ticket could never be free
Without the tight little denim
Your virtues would all go unknown
Without the room that you live in
Your cancer would eat to the bone
Your muscles would bulge underground
Your demons would all be around
Without the pretty pink ribbon
You'd end up just like me
Without the pretty pink ribbon
You'd end up just like me
Without the pretty pink ribbon
You'd burn all these dying leaves
Without the pretty pink ribbon
You'd lift this steaming herd
You would kill all the sick ones
You would bury them deep in the earth
Without the tight little denim
Your virtues would all go unknown
Without the room that you live in
Your cancers would eat to the bone
Your muscles would bulge underground
Your demons would all be around
Without the pretty pink ribbon
You'd end up just like me
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Wu-Tang Clan
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Page
Ed Sheeran
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There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
I think that this song is about a woman that is as rotten to the core as the speaker but has outward beauty that lets her get away with it. Hope i didn't steal anyones ideas here, anyway, the cancer angle is interesting as well ;)