"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.
This is now, since and then
And this is where we unendingly
Forever stand
And then I saw your smile,
The origin of the sun
Which cracks the stone
Of which we gods are made
Now that I saw your smile
I'd step out from this stump
This is where we unendingly forever stand
E' come impazzire in un mare dorato
[Translation:]
(It feels like going crazy in a golden sea)
Running from light
Dive in the wonders of twilight
Like children of dusk
On the run from the day
Do you remember the exspanse of desks and th
Smell of the first days?
Tears dense and in plenty,
While far behind, the world punished you
Against the wall
For noting but just being
Now, that after all this years
I'm no longer sure
If you had really existed,
Or if I just invented you
Tell me what's left to trust
I face that place again
But this time in depth of the self
And I'm weaker without your sad smile, the
Same as mine
Sometimes the sight of the town through
The rain fills the pit of
A failure of life
when the sight of the town
Through the rain
Fills the pit of a life that has failed
This is now, since and than
And this is where we unendingly
Forever stand
And this is where we unendingly
Forever stand
And then I saw your smile,
The origin of the sun
Which cracks the stone
Of which we gods are made
Now that I saw your smile
I'd step out from this stump
This is where we unendingly forever stand
E' come impazzire in un mare dorato
[Translation:]
(It feels like going crazy in a golden sea)
Running from light
Dive in the wonders of twilight
Like children of dusk
On the run from the day
Do you remember the exspanse of desks and th
Smell of the first days?
Tears dense and in plenty,
While far behind, the world punished you
Against the wall
For noting but just being
Now, that after all this years
I'm no longer sure
If you had really existed,
Or if I just invented you
Tell me what's left to trust
I face that place again
But this time in depth of the self
And I'm weaker without your sad smile, the
Same as mine
Sometimes the sight of the town through
The rain fills the pit of
A failure of life
when the sight of the town
Through the rain
Fills the pit of a life that has failed
This is now, since and than
And this is where we unendingly
Forever stand
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Fast Car
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i agree with you guys one of the best bands ever