"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.
You have your own life I know, but show up you should
I’m disappointed, my vision blurs alone on the curb
Eight weeks since and it’s still the same
“Something just came up, I’m so sorry”
And maybe I’ve got needs that you can’t cure
But I’m waiting by the phone until I’m sure
Love like statistics, I’ve got a head full of hell alone in my thoughts
Kill the subject; refine the joke, which ever prompts response
In the moments you laugh it’s still not enough
You miss me, you can’t mean that
And maybe you’ve got needs that I can’t cure
We sleep in separate houses
A Guarded head shapes the face and heart
So loss ain’t bad
I’m trading processing for sleep
So it don’t seem sad that I’m losing you
Blotch the face, blood vessels
Broken heart and canvas skin
Write it all out you won’t ever quite describe it
Loaned to father for weekends and given back without the interest
Trivialize memories, dumb it down to make it fit
Syllables, grammatical, read and rewrite for the reader
All the bitter nights in my room alone
They won’t know all my secret problems
Or the love that overcame us both
An untold twenty-two year story
So it’s one tale and then another, I was saying earlier
A Guarded head shapes the face and heart
So loss ain’t bad
I’m trading processing for sleep
So it don’t seem sad that I’m losing you
When are you coming home
I’m disappointed, my vision blurs alone on the curb
Eight weeks since and it’s still the same
“Something just came up, I’m so sorry”
And maybe I’ve got needs that you can’t cure
But I’m waiting by the phone until I’m sure
Love like statistics, I’ve got a head full of hell alone in my thoughts
Kill the subject; refine the joke, which ever prompts response
In the moments you laugh it’s still not enough
You miss me, you can’t mean that
And maybe you’ve got needs that I can’t cure
We sleep in separate houses
A Guarded head shapes the face and heart
So loss ain’t bad
I’m trading processing for sleep
So it don’t seem sad that I’m losing you
Blotch the face, blood vessels
Broken heart and canvas skin
Write it all out you won’t ever quite describe it
Loaned to father for weekends and given back without the interest
Trivialize memories, dumb it down to make it fit
Syllables, grammatical, read and rewrite for the reader
All the bitter nights in my room alone
They won’t know all my secret problems
Or the love that overcame us both
An untold twenty-two year story
So it’s one tale and then another, I was saying earlier
A Guarded head shapes the face and heart
So loss ain’t bad
I’m trading processing for sleep
So it don’t seem sad that I’m losing you
When are you coming home
Lyrics submitted by benerfritted
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Fast Car
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I've liesoned to this song for years, and every time i hear it i still think it's about a relationship with someone you never thought would leave your life comes to an end. It starts out with the guy realising maybe things arn't so great and then maybe she can't make everything better (maybe I’ve got needs that you can’t cure) and then at the end of the song she ends up leaving him, and he's left wondering "we are you coming home?"