"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.
Well, I woke up this morning, stumbled out of my rack.
I opened up the paper to the page in the back.
It only took me a minute for my finger to find
my daily dose of destiny under my sigh.
My eyes just about popped out-a my head.
It said,"The starts are stacked against you, girl. Get back in bed."
I feel lucky,
I feel lucky, Yeah.
No Professor Doom gonna stand in my way.
Mm, I feel lucky today.
Well, I strolled down to the corner, gave my numbers to the clerk.
The pot's eleven million, so I called in sick to work.
I bought a pack of Camels, a burrito and a Barq's
crossed against the light made a beeline for the park.
The sky began to thunder, the wind began to moan.
I heard a voice above me sayin', "Girl, you'd better get back home."
I feel lucky,
I feel lucky, yeah.
No tropical depression gonna steal my sun away.
Mm, I feel lucky today.
Now Eleven million later, I was sittin' at the bar.
I bought the house a double, then the waitress a new car.
Dwight Yoakim's in the corner, try'n' to catch my eye.
Lyle Lovett's right beside me with his hand upon my thigh.
The moral of this story, it's simple but it's true:
Hey, the stars might lie, but the numbers never do.
I feel lucky,
I feel lucky, yeah.
Hey Dwight, hey Lyle, boys, you don't have to fight.
Hot dog, I feel lucky tonight.
I feel lucky,
I feel lucky.
Think I'll flip a coin I'm a winner either way.
Mmmmm I feel lucky today
I opened up the paper to the page in the back.
It only took me a minute for my finger to find
my daily dose of destiny under my sigh.
My eyes just about popped out-a my head.
It said,"The starts are stacked against you, girl. Get back in bed."
I feel lucky,
I feel lucky, Yeah.
No Professor Doom gonna stand in my way.
Mm, I feel lucky today.
Well, I strolled down to the corner, gave my numbers to the clerk.
The pot's eleven million, so I called in sick to work.
I bought a pack of Camels, a burrito and a Barq's
crossed against the light made a beeline for the park.
The sky began to thunder, the wind began to moan.
I heard a voice above me sayin', "Girl, you'd better get back home."
I feel lucky,
I feel lucky, yeah.
No tropical depression gonna steal my sun away.
Mm, I feel lucky today.
Now Eleven million later, I was sittin' at the bar.
I bought the house a double, then the waitress a new car.
Dwight Yoakim's in the corner, try'n' to catch my eye.
Lyle Lovett's right beside me with his hand upon my thigh.
The moral of this story, it's simple but it's true:
Hey, the stars might lie, but the numbers never do.
I feel lucky,
I feel lucky, yeah.
Hey Dwight, hey Lyle, boys, you don't have to fight.
Hot dog, I feel lucky tonight.
I feel lucky,
I feel lucky.
Think I'll flip a coin I'm a winner either way.
Mmmmm I feel lucky today
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I beg to differ, ladies--back when you both were still toddlers around 1986 or so, Dwight Yoakam and Lyle Lovett were the best and most talented of a small but rapidly growing group of new country artists (including Mary Chapin Carpenter, BTW!) who drew upon old school c&w music as a main influence. However the new school of country music also injected anything from '60s folk, traditional bluegrass, and even '80s style alternative rock, thus bringing a fresh new sound to a stale & pretty burnt out c&w scene that had been repelling old school country fans my folks' age or older since the late '70s. These "new country" artists (a few others being Randy Travis and even kd lang) brought back listeners to country radio and video stations and even brought in many new listeners who weren't even into country music at the time--my younger sister and I were among the newly converted: sister Denise used to favor top-40 pop music while yours truly was a diehard indie/punk/alternative devotee since its early days in the late '70s. All it took was a few videos of Dwight Yoakam she happened to run across while channel-surfing to not only start listening to country music but also have a mad crush on a singer who wore cowboy boots, tight denim Wranglers, and a ten-gallon Stetson hat--enough for a 16 yr old kid in High School to fantasize about running off to Bakersfield, CA and marrying Dwight Yoakam if he'd have her, LOL. Meanwhile I started liking Dwight Yoakam's music through my star-struck sister's obsession with him; soon after, I picked up on other "new country" artists like MC Carpenter, Lyle Lovett, and Lucinda Williams who were crossover artists getting airplay on college radio, some rock as well as alternative music stations, and even started to get their videos shown on VH1, MuchMusic, and once in a while, good ol' MTV. When I moved from the Boston area to Portland, OR back in 1990, other than the nearby Seattle grunge scene, Portland was a really dry area for anything I used to listen to back East. However country music was and still is very popular in this area so I gave in and threw myself into not only listening to the newer country music but also learned to enjoy my folks and grandparents old school country favorites like George Jones, Johnny Cash, and Patsy Cline. My musical tastes nowadays run anywhere from Cake, the Decemberists, Throwing Muses, the Ramones, Gang of 4, as well as the late Buck Owens, the Dixie Chicks, and Merle Haggard. Sometimes I even listen to jazz and blues, but it's mainly because my cat likes it for background noise or if I'm away from the house for awhile, LOL. BTW, I definitely wouldn't kick Dwight Yoakam nor Lyle Lovett out of my bed (grin)...