"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.
Why I have a choice between the bat or the belt
Each time I hear about the hand you've been dealt
Spare me confessions, it's confession you sell
Maybe I'll fall behind, I don't mind 'cause I'll catch up
Want a song that's indelible, like manimal
I hope you never see me wind up
Will I be happy on the back of the shelf?
Will you be happy when we're sharing a cell?
Spare me the questions since you know me so well
Someday you'll realize I get shy and I choke up
Want a song that's indelible, like manimal
I hope you never see me wind up
What is wrong with this animal?
I'm terrible
I hope you never see me wind up
Farewell, my sweet paramania
Farewell, my sweet paramania
My only promise is that I'll never tell
Keep you at a distance from the things that I felt
I'll bite the bullet, take the beating until
I take it all back anyway
What was I supposed to say?
Want a song that's indelible, like manimal
I hope you never see me wind up
What is wrong with this animal?
I'm terrible
I hope you never see me wind up
Each time I hear about the hand you've been dealt
Spare me confessions, it's confession you sell
Maybe I'll fall behind, I don't mind 'cause I'll catch up
Want a song that's indelible, like manimal
I hope you never see me wind up
Will I be happy on the back of the shelf?
Will you be happy when we're sharing a cell?
Spare me the questions since you know me so well
Someday you'll realize I get shy and I choke up
Want a song that's indelible, like manimal
I hope you never see me wind up
What is wrong with this animal?
I'm terrible
I hope you never see me wind up
Farewell, my sweet paramania
Farewell, my sweet paramania
My only promise is that I'll never tell
Keep you at a distance from the things that I felt
I'll bite the bullet, take the beating until
I take it all back anyway
What was I supposed to say?
Want a song that's indelible, like manimal
I hope you never see me wind up
What is wrong with this animal?
I'm terrible
I hope you never see me wind up
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I think it's about fighting the urge to wind up and lose it, for fear of hurting someone else