"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.
The boss isn't looking
So I use my screen
For browsing an online music magazine
And there I see a thing
That I can't believe
There are still band logos made with Ogilvie
'Cause me
I'm something of a typeface connoisseur
I eat chicken wing dings with my font du jour (tofu chicken)
And I can spot your shitty fonts like a cheap toupee
And still blow you away
With my Arial display
And when it comes to fonts
I annihilate
And when I print my fonts
I always collate
Some are narrow and condensed
Others heavyweight
And I'm more gothic
Than any Copperplate
Hey, I've got that font
And a full directory of all the TrueType you could want
Hey, I've got that font
They used Alleycat to advertise that local restaurant
Hey, I've got that font
With bolds and italics from here to Vermont
Hey, I've got that font
Creepygirl and Rockwell, I'm a fuckin' font savant
There are so many fonts that I recognize
Zoom in all you want, they won't pixelize
'Cause I know the good shit from the replicas
I'll see you in Helvetica
And then a
Big fucking axe will cut off your hands
You used to be serif, but now you're sans
And I got plans to make that font
Used by Mickey D's
I'll trace it out with the blood
From where your hands used to be
I customized a font so each serif ends in a hook
But your custom font looks like gobbledygook
And that's not Eras Lite but Eras Medium that you mistook
And I'm more gothic
Than any Franklin Book
Hey, I've got that font
And a full directory of all the TrueType you could want
Hey, I've got that font
They used Alleycat to advertise that local restaurant
Hey, I've got that font
If there was a typeface army, then I'd be the commandant
Hey, I've got that font
I sell 'em to pay off my Mitsubishi Galant
Morpheus
Times New Roman
Ultraworld
Bookman Old Style
Garamond
Liquidism
Comic, Bloody, Impact
Verdana
Goudy Stout
Century Gothic, Bauhaus
Joystix
Buffy
Liquidism 2
Metal Lord
Courier New
So I use my screen
For browsing an online music magazine
And there I see a thing
That I can't believe
There are still band logos made with Ogilvie
'Cause me
I'm something of a typeface connoisseur
I eat chicken wing dings with my font du jour (tofu chicken)
And I can spot your shitty fonts like a cheap toupee
And still blow you away
With my Arial display
And when it comes to fonts
I annihilate
And when I print my fonts
I always collate
Some are narrow and condensed
Others heavyweight
And I'm more gothic
Than any Copperplate
Hey, I've got that font
And a full directory of all the TrueType you could want
Hey, I've got that font
They used Alleycat to advertise that local restaurant
Hey, I've got that font
With bolds and italics from here to Vermont
Hey, I've got that font
Creepygirl and Rockwell, I'm a fuckin' font savant
There are so many fonts that I recognize
Zoom in all you want, they won't pixelize
'Cause I know the good shit from the replicas
I'll see you in Helvetica
And then a
Big fucking axe will cut off your hands
You used to be serif, but now you're sans
And I got plans to make that font
Used by Mickey D's
I'll trace it out with the blood
From where your hands used to be
I customized a font so each serif ends in a hook
But your custom font looks like gobbledygook
And that's not Eras Lite but Eras Medium that you mistook
And I'm more gothic
Than any Franklin Book
Hey, I've got that font
And a full directory of all the TrueType you could want
Hey, I've got that font
They used Alleycat to advertise that local restaurant
Hey, I've got that font
If there was a typeface army, then I'd be the commandant
Hey, I've got that font
I sell 'em to pay off my Mitsubishi Galant
Morpheus
Times New Roman
Ultraworld
Bookman Old Style
Garamond
Liquidism
Comic, Bloody, Impact
Verdana
Goudy Stout
Century Gothic, Bauhaus
Joystix
Buffy
Liquidism 2
Metal Lord
Courier New
Lyrics submitted by BleedorBreathe
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Fast Car
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Page
Ed Sheeran
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