"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.
Hard time is never long enough
To keep my head afloat
and my feet are stuck in the mud again
I’m getting old and my money's been spent
Tryin’ hard was never good enough
I’ve got a lot to learn
and she’s walkin’ right out the door again
I’m torn in two and I don’t see the end
You can always buy a new lie
When yours is finally over
Either way you'll find a new life
When yours is finally over
Don’t think I ever changed at all, my dear
And you'll see when I'm right
and here's when I'm wrong, but still
I kick myself in the face once again
Sometimes I think that I can kill the world
If just for a day
but I'd just be stuck with myself again
And I don't think I wanna be my only friend
You can always buy a new lie
When yours is finally over
Either way you'll find a new life
When yours is finally over
To keep my head afloat
and my feet are stuck in the mud again
I’m getting old and my money's been spent
Tryin’ hard was never good enough
I’ve got a lot to learn
and she’s walkin’ right out the door again
I’m torn in two and I don’t see the end
You can always buy a new lie
When yours is finally over
Either way you'll find a new life
When yours is finally over
Don’t think I ever changed at all, my dear
And you'll see when I'm right
and here's when I'm wrong, but still
I kick myself in the face once again
Sometimes I think that I can kill the world
If just for a day
but I'd just be stuck with myself again
And I don't think I wanna be my only friend
You can always buy a new lie
When yours is finally over
Either way you'll find a new life
When yours is finally over
Lyrics submitted by BrazilianFan
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Fast Car
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Great song, would have been great on Tiny Music...it'll be released in the "deluxe" version of their new album