"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.
Sonny signed his name up for tomorrow and laughed with all his friends
At all the little men who borrows tunes they heard just yesterday
Davey got us down but we got away and drank to all the days
That we had whiled away just playing Robin Hood a little out of phase
And then the nightmares come and you get blown away
And up in your room, your walls are cold
You find your head is holding out for the welcome of a better day
And then the nightmares come and you get blown away
And up in your room, your walls are getting colder
Like you're getting on a roller coaster, you can't find the breaks
Stevie burned the sky when he flew away and left us things to say
When all the world was falling down around our shoulders, cold and gray
Harry carried on in his usual way and Minnie went inside
And came out once and we both cried and Minnie blew my head away
When you're giving everything away, everybody lets you pay
You're saving up for a better day, seeing things in a better way
When you know you've got to live, there's nothing you won't give
To hear the phone and not let it ring every Monday morning
Shughie found love and he almost cried, we laughed and wondered why
We love the sky and found the space and gazed out over Stevie's plane
At all the little men who borrows tunes they heard just yesterday
Davey got us down but we got away and drank to all the days
That we had whiled away just playing Robin Hood a little out of phase
And then the nightmares come and you get blown away
And up in your room, your walls are cold
You find your head is holding out for the welcome of a better day
And then the nightmares come and you get blown away
And up in your room, your walls are getting colder
Like you're getting on a roller coaster, you can't find the breaks
Stevie burned the sky when he flew away and left us things to say
When all the world was falling down around our shoulders, cold and gray
Harry carried on in his usual way and Minnie went inside
And came out once and we both cried and Minnie blew my head away
When you're giving everything away, everybody lets you pay
You're saving up for a better day, seeing things in a better way
When you know you've got to live, there's nothing you won't give
To hear the phone and not let it ring every Monday morning
Shughie found love and he almost cried, we laughed and wondered why
We love the sky and found the space and gazed out over Stevie's plane
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Fast Car
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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I'm not sure, but I think this song is about coping with the death of someone close to you. I'm probably wrong though.
@Code Monkey Simon confirmed at a gig it was a song about drinking.