"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.
Gonna stay out of New York
There's something there that drives me crazy
Gonna stay out of New York
There's something there that bleeds me dry
It gets so bad that I stop breathin'
And then the sun don't wanna shine
There's something wrong with New York
It's a prison without walls
No I won't go back there
I just don't like that place at all
You might call it sophistication
But I say time is runnin' out
I won't go back to New York
There's a darkness all around
No, I just can't handle it
You know that place is gettin' me down
You can say it's sophistication
But I say time is runnin' out
There's something there that drives me crazy
Gonna stay out of New York
There's something there that bleeds me dry
It gets so bad that I stop breathin'
And then the sun don't wanna shine
There's something wrong with New York
It's a prison without walls
No I won't go back there
I just don't like that place at all
You might call it sophistication
But I say time is runnin' out
I won't go back to New York
There's a darkness all around
No, I just can't handle it
You know that place is gettin' me down
You can say it's sophistication
But I say time is runnin' out
Lyrics submitted by oofus
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