"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.
Running faster than I ever have
Evading sharks of the sky
Death trap and I kill again
Dig through my own hives
Shelter from sky
Talon of raptor
Force-fed glass giant moth
Reaping fields of the flesh
Heavy hand thwart the scheme
Of the dominant nymph
Omen she brings
Carried on weathered wings
Fly reptile
Leather wings
Bones hollow
Petrified
Running faster than I ever have
Evading sharks of the sky
The earth's ashing floats
What is good for man
Cast us out into the known
Evading sharks of the sky
Death trap and I kill again
Dig through my own hives
Shelter from sky
Talon of raptor
Force-fed glass giant moth
Reaping fields of the flesh
Heavy hand thwart the scheme
Of the dominant nymph
Omen she brings
Carried on weathered wings
Fly reptile
Leather wings
Bones hollow
Petrified
Running faster than I ever have
Evading sharks of the sky
The earth's ashing floats
What is good for man
Cast us out into the known
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Hahaha, right.. and what about the flying sharks, are these the equivalents of European compact cars?