"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.
A lie once heard...
We are innocent until proved guilty
But the truth absurd
We are poor until proved rich
But the scales of justice are fixed by lying pigs!
A plot of human terror unfolds behind the precinct door
To cage all the minorities, the immigrants, and poor
Next they hunt the handicap, disabled, blind and deaf
And what will all theses piggies do when there's no one left?
Swat police in riot gear are bombing us tonight
And all our civil liberties will die by morning's light
While crooked politicians lie and rig the ballot book
We whitewash fake democracy and paint another coat
We'll keep ya here to stay
You'll never get away
Your property ain't mine
Until your dying day
We'll crush your soul inside
There is no easy ride
The hotel's never free
...and the room are always occupied
Nice of you to join us welcome to the prison age
Financial quest for new frontiers to build a bigger cage
Surface population's growing all around the world
Capitols invests quick to cage these boys and girls
We'll bomb the police state
Assassinate the magistrate
We'll go to every town and
Burn them fucking prisons down!
We'll keep ya here to stay
You'll never get away
Your property and mine
Until your dying day
The court pretenders fake
The judge is on the take
And if you wanna find a cop
...You're gonna have to drag the lake!
We are innocent until proved guilty
But the truth absurd
We are poor until proved rich
But the scales of justice are fixed by lying pigs!
A plot of human terror unfolds behind the precinct door
To cage all the minorities, the immigrants, and poor
Next they hunt the handicap, disabled, blind and deaf
And what will all theses piggies do when there's no one left?
Swat police in riot gear are bombing us tonight
And all our civil liberties will die by morning's light
While crooked politicians lie and rig the ballot book
We whitewash fake democracy and paint another coat
We'll keep ya here to stay
You'll never get away
Your property ain't mine
Until your dying day
We'll crush your soul inside
There is no easy ride
The hotel's never free
...and the room are always occupied
Nice of you to join us welcome to the prison age
Financial quest for new frontiers to build a bigger cage
Surface population's growing all around the world
Capitols invests quick to cage these boys and girls
We'll bomb the police state
Assassinate the magistrate
We'll go to every town and
Burn them fucking prisons down!
We'll keep ya here to stay
You'll never get away
Your property and mine
Until your dying day
The court pretenders fake
The judge is on the take
And if you wanna find a cop
...You're gonna have to drag the lake!
Lyrics submitted by walken
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And you say we abolished slavery...