"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 caught a glimpse of past and future but I did not understand.
Darkness and light, blindness and sight, not everything is so black and white.
CHORUS
Separate the truth from lies with the stories written between the lines
Only you can tell the wrong from right
The more you look the more you find
Close your eyes and drift away where the lights are taking you no one can say.
In the depths of the your mind, looking for a sign written in between the lines
With canyons stretched below us, the stars will be our guide
We'll tear the mountains from the sea and fall into the sky
We'll drift into the airwaves between the earth and moon, where satellites are sending visions down into your room
CHORUS
Darkness and light, blindness and sight, not everything is so black and white.
CHORUS
Separate the truth from lies with the stories written between the lines
Only you can tell the wrong from right
The more you look the more you find
Close your eyes and drift away where the lights are taking you no one can say.
In the depths of the your mind, looking for a sign written in between the lines
With canyons stretched below us, the stars will be our guide
We'll tear the mountains from the sea and fall into the sky
We'll drift into the airwaves between the earth and moon, where satellites are sending visions down into your room
CHORUS
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Fast Car
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