"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.
There ain't no colors in the sky
Anymore
And I don't feel much like singing
Can't see what for
And there ain't no comfort in this life
Anymore
All that I can see that's ahead of me seems like
Such a chore
Maybe something will happen to make it all better
Better
Maybe something will come along and make me happy
Happy
There ain't no fun in living anymore
And I don't feel much like living
Can't see what for
There ain't no life left in me
I feel a bit funny
Like a ghost
With nowhere to go
My hope has gone and left me
A desperate man
There's no spunk left in me
I feel so hollow in me
So empty, so empty
So empty, so empty
A big chunk of what I was has gone
And left me a desperate man
Now I'm a desperate man
I'm lonely, scared
Sad, sorry man
And I just can't see no colors in the sky
Anymore
There's color there I'm sure, but it ain't mine
And it's made me blind
A desperate man
Desperate
I'm a desperate man
Anymore
And I don't feel much like singing
Can't see what for
And there ain't no comfort in this life
Anymore
All that I can see that's ahead of me seems like
Such a chore
Maybe something will happen to make it all better
Better
Maybe something will come along and make me happy
Happy
There ain't no fun in living anymore
And I don't feel much like living
Can't see what for
There ain't no life left in me
I feel a bit funny
Like a ghost
With nowhere to go
My hope has gone and left me
A desperate man
There's no spunk left in me
I feel so hollow in me
So empty, so empty
So empty, so empty
A big chunk of what I was has gone
And left me a desperate man
Now I'm a desperate man
I'm lonely, scared
Sad, sorry man
And I just can't see no colors in the sky
Anymore
There's color there I'm sure, but it ain't mine
And it's made me blind
A desperate man
Desperate
I'm a desperate man
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Fast Car
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makes me sad.