"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.
Winds of Odin guide us
Over violent seas, the silent grave
Gods of thunder
Roaring, crackling power
In flashing light, they pound the night
Rising winds and howling fury
Towering shadows crashing down
As we awaken and behold
The crystal seas (and ships of gold)
To the colored winds our sails arise
The distant shore before us lies
Winds of Odin whisper
Over silent waves, no trace remains
We have found a new horizon
Far beyond the stars that shine above
Thrashing wings Valkyries rising
To the hollowed halls of Valhalla
Valhalla
(Valhalla)
Valhalla
Valhalla
(Valhalla)
Valhalla
Over violent seas, the silent grave
Gods of thunder
Roaring, crackling power
In flashing light, they pound the night
Rising winds and howling fury
Towering shadows crashing down
As we awaken and behold
The crystal seas (and ships of gold)
To the colored winds our sails arise
The distant shore before us lies
Winds of Odin whisper
Over silent waves, no trace remains
We have found a new horizon
Far beyond the stars that shine above
Thrashing wings Valkyries rising
To the hollowed halls of Valhalla
Valhalla
(Valhalla)
Valhalla
Valhalla
(Valhalla)
Valhalla
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Fast Car
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