"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.
Put your hand in the paintbox and choose
Which one says the most about you
I would have to pick the deepest shade
The saddest shade of blue
But red is colour I'd choose
Red is colour I'd choose
I set my soul long ago and far away
Oh it's written down so deep it can never fade away
Though so many years have come and gone
Through my life one thing has stayed
An eternal light that shines clean through the grey
Red is colour I'd choose
Deepest red on a sky of deepest blue
It don't matter now if I should win
If I should win or lose
'cause red is colour I'd choose
If I waste my time away waiting just for you
I don't care what others say
'cause baby I just love, love what you do
Red is colour I'd choose
Deepest red on a sky of deepest blue
It don't matter now if I should win
If I should win or lose
'cause red is colour I'd choose
Which one says the most about you
I would have to pick the deepest shade
The saddest shade of blue
But red is colour I'd choose
Red is colour I'd choose
I set my soul long ago and far away
Oh it's written down so deep it can never fade away
Though so many years have come and gone
Through my life one thing has stayed
An eternal light that shines clean through the grey
Red is colour I'd choose
Deepest red on a sky of deepest blue
It don't matter now if I should win
If I should win or lose
'cause red is colour I'd choose
If I waste my time away waiting just for you
I don't care what others say
'cause baby I just love, love what you do
Red is colour I'd choose
Deepest red on a sky of deepest blue
It don't matter now if I should win
If I should win or lose
'cause red is colour I'd choose
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Fast Car
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