"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 guess you never knew, dear boy, what you had found
I guess you never knew, dear boy, that she was just the cutest thing around
I guess you never knew what you had found, dear boy
I guess you never saw, dear boy that love was there
And maybe when you look too hard, dear boy, you never do become aware
I guess you never did become aware, dear boy
When I stepped in, my heart was down and out
But her love came through and brought me 'round
Got me up and about
When I stepped in, my heart was down and out
But her love came through and brought me 'round
Got me up and about
I hope you never know, dear boy, how much you missed
And even when you fall in love, dear boy
It won't be half as good as this
I hope you never know how much you missed
Dear boy, how much you missed, dear boy
I guess you never knew, dear boy, that she was just the cutest thing around
I guess you never knew what you had found, dear boy
I guess you never saw, dear boy that love was there
And maybe when you look too hard, dear boy, you never do become aware
I guess you never did become aware, dear boy
When I stepped in, my heart was down and out
But her love came through and brought me 'round
Got me up and about
When I stepped in, my heart was down and out
But her love came through and brought me 'round
Got me up and about
I hope you never know, dear boy, how much you missed
And even when you fall in love, dear boy
It won't be half as good as this
I hope you never know how much you missed
Dear boy, how much you missed, dear boy
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
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John Lennon thought it was tha affair he had with Yoko while he was married to Cynthia. Especially the line - I guess you never knew, Dear boy, what you had found, I guess you never knew, Dear boy, that she was just the cutest thing around.