"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.
Just a reflection
Just a glimpse, just a little reminder
Of all the what abouts
And all the might have co-co-could have beens
Another day, some other way
But not another reason to continue
And now you're one of us, the wretched (the wretched)
The hopes and prays
The better days
The far aways
Forget it (forget it, forget it)
It didn't turn out the way you wanted it to
It didn't turn out the way you wanted it to, did it?
It didn't turn out the way you wanted it to
It didn't turn out the way you wanted it to, did it?
Now you know
This is what it feels like
Now you know
This is what it feels like
The clouds will part and the sky cracks open
And God himself will reach his fucking arm through
Just to push you down, just to hold you down
Stuck in this hole with the shit and the piss
And it's hard to believe it could come down to this
Back at the beginning
Sinking, spinning
And in the end we still pretend
The time we spend, not knowing when
You're finally free and you could be
But it didn't turn out the way you wanted it to
It didn't turn out quite the way that you wanted it
Now you know
This is what it feels like
Now you know
This is what it feels like
Now you know (now you know)
This is what it feels like (this is what it feels like)
Now you know (now you know)
This is what it feels like (you can try to stop it but it keeps on coming)
(You can try to stop it but)
Just a glimpse, just a little reminder
Of all the what abouts
And all the might have co-co-could have beens
Another day, some other way
But not another reason to continue
And now you're one of us, the wretched (the wretched)
The hopes and prays
The better days
The far aways
Forget it (forget it, forget it)
It didn't turn out the way you wanted it to
It didn't turn out the way you wanted it to, did it?
It didn't turn out the way you wanted it to
It didn't turn out the way you wanted it to, did it?
Now you know
This is what it feels like
Now you know
This is what it feels like
The clouds will part and the sky cracks open
And God himself will reach his fucking arm through
Just to push you down, just to hold you down
Stuck in this hole with the shit and the piss
And it's hard to believe it could come down to this
Back at the beginning
Sinking, spinning
And in the end we still pretend
The time we spend, not knowing when
You're finally free and you could be
But it didn't turn out the way you wanted it to
It didn't turn out quite the way that you wanted it
Now you know
This is what it feels like
Now you know
This is what it feels like
Now you know (now you know)
This is what it feels like (this is what it feels like)
Now you know (now you know)
This is what it feels like (you can try to stop it but it keeps on coming)
(You can try to stop it but)
Lyrics submitted by thewhitepony33
The Wretched Lyrics as written by Trent Reznor
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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