"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.
How about a mega-store
Full of guns to start a war
We're selling toys for fatal games
We'll take the credit not the blame
When they shoot the neighbors
Shoot the daughters
Shoot the sisters
Shoot the mutha's
It's a billion dollar industry
All in the name of liberty
Guns 'are' us
Guns 'are' us, big boys buy big toys at
Guns 'are' us
Guns 'are' us
Living out the fantasy
Buy a dozen get, one free
Radar-guided, laser speed
Devastation guaranteed
Then they shoot the neighbors
Shoot the daughters
Shoot the brothers
Shoot the dog
It's a billion dollar industry
A constitutional guaranty
Guns 'are' us
Guns 'are' us, big boys buy big toys at
Guns 'are' us, get a free magazine with your M-16
Guns 'are' us, it's a one-day-sale
Gunned down in the neighborhood
In the name of brotherhood
Black or white ain't worth a dime
Cut 'em down in zero time
It's shoot to kill, they shoot to kill
It's a human thrill just to shoot to kill
When they shoot the neighbors
Shoot the daughters
Shoot the sisters
Shoot the mutha's
It's a billion dollar industry
All in the name of liberty
Guns 'are' us
Guns 'are' us, a final mega-blow-out-sale at
Guns 'are' us, get your armor-piercing son of a bitch at
Guns 'are' us, we accept your cash or credit card
Full of guns to start a war
We're selling toys for fatal games
We'll take the credit not the blame
When they shoot the neighbors
Shoot the daughters
Shoot the sisters
Shoot the mutha's
It's a billion dollar industry
All in the name of liberty
Guns 'are' us
Guns 'are' us, big boys buy big toys at
Guns 'are' us
Guns 'are' us
Living out the fantasy
Buy a dozen get, one free
Radar-guided, laser speed
Devastation guaranteed
Then they shoot the neighbors
Shoot the daughters
Shoot the brothers
Shoot the dog
It's a billion dollar industry
A constitutional guaranty
Guns 'are' us
Guns 'are' us, big boys buy big toys at
Guns 'are' us, get a free magazine with your M-16
Guns 'are' us, it's a one-day-sale
Gunned down in the neighborhood
In the name of brotherhood
Black or white ain't worth a dime
Cut 'em down in zero time
It's shoot to kill, they shoot to kill
It's a human thrill just to shoot to kill
When they shoot the neighbors
Shoot the daughters
Shoot the sisters
Shoot the mutha's
It's a billion dollar industry
All in the name of liberty
Guns 'are' us
Guns 'are' us, a final mega-blow-out-sale at
Guns 'are' us, get your armor-piercing son of a bitch at
Guns 'are' us, we accept your cash or credit card
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