"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.
Sometimes I want to swing by
To check on her, see how her week is going
But you disapprove
Other times I'll call up
He picks up and makes me feel like I'm intruding
You get to wake her every day
And we divide up National Holidays
This month is highlighted yellow with one box of blue
Last weekend I watched her in
A game I never knew that she played
But she led the team
Afterwards I picked up
A schedule so that I could come the next week secretly
You get to wake her every day
And we divide up National Holidays
This month is highlighted yellow with one box of blue
It didn't help things the last time I complained
Don't want to upset her, I try to explain
But you of all people should walk one year in these shoes
Can we at least be civil to one another?
She only has one father and one mother
Years ago you told me how
You could not imagine life without our little baby
Wouldn't it tear you up too
If you could only see her one day out of thirty?
To check on her, see how her week is going
But you disapprove
Other times I'll call up
He picks up and makes me feel like I'm intruding
You get to wake her every day
And we divide up National Holidays
This month is highlighted yellow with one box of blue
Last weekend I watched her in
A game I never knew that she played
But she led the team
Afterwards I picked up
A schedule so that I could come the next week secretly
You get to wake her every day
And we divide up National Holidays
This month is highlighted yellow with one box of blue
It didn't help things the last time I complained
Don't want to upset her, I try to explain
But you of all people should walk one year in these shoes
Can we at least be civil to one another?
She only has one father and one mother
Years ago you told me how
You could not imagine life without our little baby
Wouldn't it tear you up too
If you could only see her one day out of thirty?
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