"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.
you've got no self-esteem, and you think you're so mistreated.
you can't stand your face, and you cannot,
cannot believe that you cannot control your fate
[chorus]
this isn't what you wanted
someone to break you down every motherfucking day
it's not the life you wanted
someone to break you, someone to make you
bruises on your face, i guess you fell down the steps again
and that's such a shame, cause you let it,
you let it happen over and over again
[repeat chorus]
it's just another day, the last day he touches you again.
but that's the price he'll pay.
you pull the trigger, it all goes away in one determind flash
[repeat chorus]
[b-verse]
pay!! close you eyes, you better, hold em' tight, you'll never,
don't keep telling yourself it''ll be alright, don't keep telling yourself it'll be alright.
[solo]
[repeat b verse]
you can't stand your face, and you cannot,
cannot believe that you cannot control your fate
[chorus]
this isn't what you wanted
someone to break you down every motherfucking day
it's not the life you wanted
someone to break you, someone to make you
bruises on your face, i guess you fell down the steps again
and that's such a shame, cause you let it,
you let it happen over and over again
[repeat chorus]
it's just another day, the last day he touches you again.
but that's the price he'll pay.
you pull the trigger, it all goes away in one determind flash
[repeat chorus]
[b-verse]
pay!! close you eyes, you better, hold em' tight, you'll never,
don't keep telling yourself it''ll be alright, don't keep telling yourself it'll be alright.
[solo]
[repeat b verse]
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The "determined flash" part reminds me of The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails "A lifetime of fucking things up fixed, in one, determined flash." I wonder if it's a coincidence?