"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.
Bring back, bring back, bring back that Leroy Brown, yeah!
Bring back, bring back, gotta ring that Leroy Brown, yeah!
Bet your bottom dollar bill you're a playboy, yeah, yeah!
Daddy cool, with a ninety dollar smile (oh yeah)
Took my money out of gratitude
And he get right out of town
Well, I gotta getty up steady up, shoot him down
Gotta hit that latitude, babe
Bring back, bring back, bring back that Leroy Brown, yeah!
Bring back, bring back, gotta ring that Leroy Brown, yeah!
Big, bad Leroy Brown - he got no common sense
No, no, he got no brains, but he sure gotta lot of style
Can't stand no more in this, here, jail
I gotta rid myself of this sentence
Gotta get out of the heat, step into the shade
Gotta get me there dead or alive, babe
Woo, woo, big, bad Leroy
Woo, woo, woo, woo
Big, bad Leroy Brown
Bring back, bring back, bring back that Leroy Brown, yeah!
Bring back, bring back, gotta bring back Leroy Brown, yeah!
Big mama Lulu Belle - she had a nervous breakdown
She had a nervous breakdown
Leroy's taken her honey child away
But she met him down at the station, ooo-hoo
Put a shotgun to his head, and, unless I be mistaken
This is what she said
Big bad big boy, big bad Leroy Brown
I'm gonna get that cutie pie
Bring back, bring back, bring back that Leroy Brown, yeah!
Big bad caused a mighty fine sensation, yeah, yeah!
Gone and got himself elected President
We want Leroy for President
Next time you gotta hit a bitty baddy weather
This time like a shimmy shammy leather
He's a big boy, bad boy Leroy
I don't care where you get him from
Bring that big, bad Leroy back
Want him back
Bring back, bring back, gotta ring that Leroy Brown, yeah!
Bet your bottom dollar bill you're a playboy, yeah, yeah!
Daddy cool, with a ninety dollar smile (oh yeah)
Took my money out of gratitude
And he get right out of town
Well, I gotta getty up steady up, shoot him down
Gotta hit that latitude, babe
Bring back, bring back, bring back that Leroy Brown, yeah!
Bring back, bring back, gotta ring that Leroy Brown, yeah!
Big, bad Leroy Brown - he got no common sense
No, no, he got no brains, but he sure gotta lot of style
Can't stand no more in this, here, jail
I gotta rid myself of this sentence
Gotta get out of the heat, step into the shade
Gotta get me there dead or alive, babe
Woo, woo, big, bad Leroy
Woo, woo, woo, woo
Big, bad Leroy Brown
Bring back, bring back, bring back that Leroy Brown, yeah!
Bring back, bring back, gotta bring back Leroy Brown, yeah!
Big mama Lulu Belle - she had a nervous breakdown
She had a nervous breakdown
Leroy's taken her honey child away
But she met him down at the station, ooo-hoo
Put a shotgun to his head, and, unless I be mistaken
This is what she said
Big bad big boy, big bad Leroy Brown
I'm gonna get that cutie pie
Bring back, bring back, bring back that Leroy Brown, yeah!
Big bad caused a mighty fine sensation, yeah, yeah!
Gone and got himself elected President
We want Leroy for President
Next time you gotta hit a bitty baddy weather
This time like a shimmy shammy leather
He's a big boy, bad boy Leroy
I don't care where you get him from
Bring that big, bad Leroy back
Want him back
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I don't know who he is exactly, but if you look up 'Bad, Bad Leroy Brown' by Frank Sinatra then that might give you some idea.