"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.
I just became a member of a club known as the bumbling fools
Botching the game and the best things in life is the motto and the rule
So if you can open up your heart and hear me out just for the night
Baby I got something to prove to you
I've gotta show you I can do it right
Get out
Don't want to see you again
Maybe we can still be friends
I know that I'm gonna go and screw it up in the end
But that's okay cause I'm your average man
So I turned tail and ran
And I know you're not my biggest fan
But whatever you want me to
You know that I'm gonna do it now or do the best that I can
So if you can open up your heart and hear me out just one more time
Baby I've got something to say to you
I was wrong and the fault is mine
Baby you could do a whole lot better
But you could definitely do a whole lot worse
How can I even try to do better
If you won't give me a chance to be better first
Botching the game and the best things in life is the motto and the rule
So if you can open up your heart and hear me out just for the night
Baby I got something to prove to you
I've gotta show you I can do it right
Get out
Don't want to see you again
Maybe we can still be friends
I know that I'm gonna go and screw it up in the end
But that's okay cause I'm your average man
So I turned tail and ran
And I know you're not my biggest fan
But whatever you want me to
You know that I'm gonna do it now or do the best that I can
So if you can open up your heart and hear me out just one more time
Baby I've got something to say to you
I was wrong and the fault is mine
Baby you could do a whole lot better
But you could definitely do a whole lot worse
How can I even try to do better
If you won't give me a chance to be better first
Lyrics submitted by ShesMyAlcatraz
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