"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.
One day in the year of the fox
Came a time remembered well
When the strong young man of the rising sun
Heard the tolling of the great black bell
One day in the year of the fox
When the bell began to ring
Meant the time had cometh for one to go
To the temple of the king
There in the middle of the circle he stands
Searching, seeking
With just one touch of his trembling hand
The answer will be found
Daylight waits while the old man sings
Heaven help me
And then like the rush of a thousand wings
It shines upon the one
And the day had just begun
One day in the year of the fox came a time remembered well
When the strong young man of the rising sun
Heard the tolling of the great black bell
One day in the year of the fox
When the bell began to sing
It meant the time had cometh for one to go
To the temple of the king
There in the middle of the people he stands
Seeing, feeling
With just a wave of a strong right hand
He's gone
To the temple of the king
Far from the circle at the edge of the world
He's hoping, wondering
Thinking back from the stories he's heard
Of what he's going to see
There in middle of the circle it lies
Heaven help me
Then all could see by the shine in his eyes
The answer had been found
Back with the people in the circle he stands
Giving, feeling
With just one touch of a strong right hand
They know
Of the temple and the king
Came a time remembered well
When the strong young man of the rising sun
Heard the tolling of the great black bell
One day in the year of the fox
When the bell began to ring
Meant the time had cometh for one to go
To the temple of the king
There in the middle of the circle he stands
Searching, seeking
With just one touch of his trembling hand
The answer will be found
Daylight waits while the old man sings
Heaven help me
And then like the rush of a thousand wings
It shines upon the one
And the day had just begun
One day in the year of the fox came a time remembered well
When the strong young man of the rising sun
Heard the tolling of the great black bell
One day in the year of the fox
When the bell began to sing
It meant the time had cometh for one to go
To the temple of the king
There in the middle of the people he stands
Seeing, feeling
With just a wave of a strong right hand
He's gone
To the temple of the king
Far from the circle at the edge of the world
He's hoping, wondering
Thinking back from the stories he's heard
Of what he's going to see
There in middle of the circle it lies
Heaven help me
Then all could see by the shine in his eyes
The answer had been found
Back with the people in the circle he stands
Giving, feeling
With just one touch of a strong right hand
They know
Of the temple and the king
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i believe the temple of the king is within him. and would agree with isen in saying that the answer he seeks is inside him as well in 'the temple'.