"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.
I can't believe it
The way you look sometimes
Like a trampled flag on a city street
Oh yeah
And I don't want it
The things you're offering me
Symbolized barcode, quick I.D
Oh yeah
'Cause I'm a twenty-first century digital boy
I don't know how to live but I got a lot of toys
My daddy's a lazy middle-class intellectual
My mommy's on Valium, so ineffectual
Ain't life a mystery, yeah?
I can't explain it
The things you're're saying to me
It's going yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Oh yeah
'Cause I'm a twenty-first century digital boy
I don't know how to read but I got a lot of toys
My daddy's a lazy middle-class intellectual
My mommy's on Valium, so ineffectual, oh
Ain't life a mystery, yeah?
Tried to tell you about no control
But now I really don't know
And then you told me how bad you had to suffer
Is that really all you have to offer?
'Cause I'm a twenty-first century digital boy
I don't know how to live but I got a lot of toys
My daddy's a lazy middle-class intellectual
My mommy's on Valium, so ineffectual, yeah
(Twenty-first century digital boy) cats, sports, iron claw
(Twenty-first century digital boy) neurosurgeon screams for more
(Twenty-first century digital boy) innocents raped with napalm fire
(Twenty-first century digital boy) everything I want, I really need
Ain't life a mystery, yeah?
The way you look sometimes
Like a trampled flag on a city street
Oh yeah
And I don't want it
The things you're offering me
Symbolized barcode, quick I.D
Oh yeah
'Cause I'm a twenty-first century digital boy
I don't know how to live but I got a lot of toys
My daddy's a lazy middle-class intellectual
My mommy's on Valium, so ineffectual
Ain't life a mystery, yeah?
I can't explain it
The things you're're saying to me
It's going yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Oh yeah
'Cause I'm a twenty-first century digital boy
I don't know how to read but I got a lot of toys
My daddy's a lazy middle-class intellectual
My mommy's on Valium, so ineffectual, oh
Ain't life a mystery, yeah?
Tried to tell you about no control
But now I really don't know
And then you told me how bad you had to suffer
Is that really all you have to offer?
'Cause I'm a twenty-first century digital boy
I don't know how to live but I got a lot of toys
My daddy's a lazy middle-class intellectual
My mommy's on Valium, so ineffectual, yeah
(Twenty-first century digital boy) cats, sports, iron claw
(Twenty-first century digital boy) neurosurgeon screams for more
(Twenty-first century digital boy) innocents raped with napalm fire
(Twenty-first century digital boy) everything I want, I really need
Ain't life a mystery, yeah?
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
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Yo La Tengo
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Great version of a great song,
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Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
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Popular culture in affluent areas of Europe and American and other countries is used as a distraction from the world's real problems and we're all being taught to turn a blind eye to them and watch Newlyweds instead or something.