"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.
Take, take a look at the sky
Sometimes your heaven seems to far away
Take, take a look under here
Where deprivation turns into decay
I've stood under this rain, felt it seep into my brain
I've shut my eyes and crawled around this mud
I'm scared of growin' old, I shiver when I'm cold
Don't you think I bleed the same blood?
I, I could've been you, you could've been me
One small change that shapes your destiny
If you want the proof, cut me and you'll see
I could've been you, you could've been me
Wait, wait before you turn off
Maybe there's a chance we can relate
Wait, everybody turns on
Why deny a fact that's so innate?
It's not so easy anymore, the way you used to keep score
Not so black and white, the color of your sin
Take a walk inside my shoes, a path I didn't choose
Spend the night inside of my skin
I, I could've been you, you could've been me
One small change that shapes your destiny
If you want the proof, cut me and you'll see
I could've been you, you could've been me
Change is turning into fear, fear is melting into hate
With hate you justify your crime, a crime compassion can erase
Erase
Erase
Touch, touch what I feel
And know I believe everything I say
So go, go if you must
Remember one thing as you walk away:
I, I could've been you, you could've been me
One small change that shapes your destiny
If you want the proof, cut me and you'll see
I could've been you, you could've been me
Sometimes your heaven seems to far away
Take, take a look under here
Where deprivation turns into decay
I've stood under this rain, felt it seep into my brain
I've shut my eyes and crawled around this mud
I'm scared of growin' old, I shiver when I'm cold
Don't you think I bleed the same blood?
I, I could've been you, you could've been me
One small change that shapes your destiny
If you want the proof, cut me and you'll see
I could've been you, you could've been me
Wait, wait before you turn off
Maybe there's a chance we can relate
Wait, everybody turns on
Why deny a fact that's so innate?
It's not so easy anymore, the way you used to keep score
Not so black and white, the color of your sin
Take a walk inside my shoes, a path I didn't choose
Spend the night inside of my skin
I, I could've been you, you could've been me
One small change that shapes your destiny
If you want the proof, cut me and you'll see
I could've been you, you could've been me
Change is turning into fear, fear is melting into hate
With hate you justify your crime, a crime compassion can erase
Erase
Erase
Touch, touch what I feel
And know I believe everything I say
So go, go if you must
Remember one thing as you walk away:
I, I could've been you, you could've been me
One small change that shapes your destiny
If you want the proof, cut me and you'll see
I could've been you, you could've been me
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Fast Car
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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I'm surprised no one has commented on this one yet. This song is clearly related to someone who is unaceppting of gays and lesbians and she's trying to explain and connect with this person and tell them she's a human being too for god's sake :)!
@singing4every1-I agree. I think she’s, like so many of us, is saying we’re not so different. Were it not for the “one small thing that shaped your destiny” I could have been you, you could have been me. People, human beings! Homophobic people seem to always be concerned with what gay people do behind closed doors. Why? I’m not peeking in their windows! lol