"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'm too old to get divorced
Better stay the course
'Cause before long
I'll be wakin' up tired every day
And I'm too old to make new friends
Better make amends
Time to empty out the junk drawer
For those kind of words I used to say
So I make my case
On scented stationary
Sad and sweet,
Like a canary with a cold
Did I break my promise?
I've just been so nervous
I think I lost a hair
For every lie I told
But I hate to think that this might be
The last thing that I say to you
I still could run away with you
If you'll meet me in a dream
And I'm so silly since I met you, honey
I sing myself to sleep
You have made an old man happy,
Josephine
And I remember Central Park
You were waiting for the carousel to start
Side-saddle so you wouldn't tear your homemade skirt
You had a ponytail and a pink t-shirt
And I remember visiting
The dorm on 57th Street
Where the other girls on the Frisbee team
Thought I was your dad
And it's safe to say that this might be
The hardest thing I'll ever do
Perhaps one day I'll send for you
Assuming I'm alive
And all those pretty things
We told each other,
We meant them at the time
Now we need them more than ever
But I hate to think that this might be
The last thing that I say to you
I still could run away with you
If you'll meet me in a dream
And I'm so silly since I met you, honey
I sing myself to sleep
You have made an old man happy,
Josephine
Bless your heart for who you are,
My Josephine
Better stay the course
'Cause before long
I'll be wakin' up tired every day
And I'm too old to make new friends
Better make amends
Time to empty out the junk drawer
For those kind of words I used to say
So I make my case
On scented stationary
Sad and sweet,
Like a canary with a cold
Did I break my promise?
I've just been so nervous
I think I lost a hair
For every lie I told
But I hate to think that this might be
The last thing that I say to you
I still could run away with you
If you'll meet me in a dream
And I'm so silly since I met you, honey
I sing myself to sleep
You have made an old man happy,
Josephine
And I remember Central Park
You were waiting for the carousel to start
Side-saddle so you wouldn't tear your homemade skirt
You had a ponytail and a pink t-shirt
And I remember visiting
The dorm on 57th Street
Where the other girls on the Frisbee team
Thought I was your dad
And it's safe to say that this might be
The hardest thing I'll ever do
Perhaps one day I'll send for you
Assuming I'm alive
And all those pretty things
We told each other,
We meant them at the time
Now we need them more than ever
But I hate to think that this might be
The last thing that I say to you
I still could run away with you
If you'll meet me in a dream
And I'm so silly since I met you, honey
I sing myself to sleep
You have made an old man happy,
Josephine
Bless your heart for who you are,
My Josephine
Lyrics submitted by concreteblues
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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