"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 laid the blanket there on the shoreline
And saw the water shine with the moon
What kind of fool would fail to notice
The best thing shining was you
Oh I laughed kinda nervous
And felt you move closer
Felt the world unwind
Once was a stranger, not quite a lover
But steadily crossing the line
Carry me far away
Don’t hold back, I won’t break
Leave the ghosts behind
All I know, wrong or right
Just the thought of this night
Will get me every time, every time
Well the voice in my head said, what are you doing
I thought, not listening to you
You see I’m taking a chance
Thinking about flying over the blue
And it’s crazy to be this out of practice
And have it all come so naturally
Don’t you love knocking logic right off its axis
And watch it float far out to sea
Carry me far away
Don’t hold back, I won’t break
Leave the ghosts behind
All I know, wrong or right
Just the thought of this night
Will get me every time
Every time, every time
Every time, every time
So now here I am, reading my fortune
In the worn lines of your hand
I see a lost unwanted orphan
Headed right for the Promised Land
Carry me far away
I won’t, I won’t break
Carry me far away
Don’t hold back, I won’t break
Leave the ghosts behind
All I know, wrong or right
Just the thought of this night
Will get me every time, every time
Will get me every time, every time
And saw the water shine with the moon
What kind of fool would fail to notice
The best thing shining was you
Oh I laughed kinda nervous
And felt you move closer
Felt the world unwind
Once was a stranger, not quite a lover
But steadily crossing the line
Carry me far away
Don’t hold back, I won’t break
Leave the ghosts behind
All I know, wrong or right
Just the thought of this night
Will get me every time, every time
Well the voice in my head said, what are you doing
I thought, not listening to you
You see I’m taking a chance
Thinking about flying over the blue
And it’s crazy to be this out of practice
And have it all come so naturally
Don’t you love knocking logic right off its axis
And watch it float far out to sea
Carry me far away
Don’t hold back, I won’t break
Leave the ghosts behind
All I know, wrong or right
Just the thought of this night
Will get me every time
Every time, every time
Every time, every time
So now here I am, reading my fortune
In the worn lines of your hand
I see a lost unwanted orphan
Headed right for the Promised Land
Carry me far away
I won’t, I won’t break
Carry me far away
Don’t hold back, I won’t break
Leave the ghosts behind
All I know, wrong or right
Just the thought of this night
Will get me every time, every time
Will get me every time, every time
Lyrics submitted by sweetkakes419
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Fast Car
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"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
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"Some and now none of you"
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