"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.
Flattered that you think I warrant ugliness
Gutters drain West, mud made a mess of us
It's time to leave this place
I'd saw through your wrist to find a better trap that fits
I'd saw through your traps to find a better you
A part of you that lasts
I saw through your trap and into my own wrists
Saw we were through, red ribbons spill to blue
A sight to sore your eyes
I got this dress I'm hiking it around this waist of laughter
Slow dance alone with no one to the sound of four hands clapping
Congratulations to you both, I hope somewhere you're happy
If there's a moral to this story then I wish you'd show me
Hair in the blood, fly in the disappointment
Rubber, I'm glue, I'll write the book on you
It's sticking to my face
You need a little less than what you take for granted
This is the sip that's drinking back from you
Blacking out your eyes
You need a little more suppression of your appetites
This is your honeymoon, in separate rooms
It's neither sweet nor bright
I got this dress I'm hiking it around this waist of laughter
Slow dance alone with no one to the sound of four hands clapping
Congratulations to you both, I hope somewhere you're happy
If there's a moral to this story then I wish you'd show me
I made a word to give this state a name, this game a guess
I call it "sluttering" it means as little as your little test
You are your worst revenge, your very means, they have no ends
This is a story you won't tell the kids we'll never have
If you hear this song a hundred times it still won't be enough
Gutters drain West, mud made a mess of us
It's time to leave this place
I'd saw through your wrist to find a better trap that fits
I'd saw through your traps to find a better you
A part of you that lasts
I saw through your trap and into my own wrists
Saw we were through, red ribbons spill to blue
A sight to sore your eyes
I got this dress I'm hiking it around this waist of laughter
Slow dance alone with no one to the sound of four hands clapping
Congratulations to you both, I hope somewhere you're happy
If there's a moral to this story then I wish you'd show me
Hair in the blood, fly in the disappointment
Rubber, I'm glue, I'll write the book on you
It's sticking to my face
You need a little less than what you take for granted
This is the sip that's drinking back from you
Blacking out your eyes
You need a little more suppression of your appetites
This is your honeymoon, in separate rooms
It's neither sweet nor bright
I got this dress I'm hiking it around this waist of laughter
Slow dance alone with no one to the sound of four hands clapping
Congratulations to you both, I hope somewhere you're happy
If there's a moral to this story then I wish you'd show me
I made a word to give this state a name, this game a guess
I call it "sluttering" it means as little as your little test
You are your worst revenge, your very means, they have no ends
This is a story you won't tell the kids we'll never have
If you hear this song a hundred times it still won't be enough
Lyrics submitted by oofus, edited by LyricsFixer
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