"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.
Can't stand the news, it's always the same old song
Another corporate scandal, another story of bad gone wrong,
Another corporate bailout, another piece of the pie;
It's the best democracy money can buy
They rigged the elections and only millionaires can play
And you've got to be cynical, you've got to look into the camera and say,
"I'm serving the public," when you know it's a corporate lie,
But it's the best democracy money can buy
Yeah there they go, fighting for oil
'Cause there the profits lie: beneath that foreign soil
And they don't know what they'll do when the wells run dry,
But it's the best democracy money can buy
They're filling the prisons, their latest industry,
Which lines their pockets and helps us all be free
'Cause you gotta do something with the unemployed if they won't move to Shanghai
And it's the best democracy money can buy
They're patenting life, selling our genes,
They would patent oxygen if they had the means
They'll patent their drugs, and some will get you high
And it's the best democracy money can buy
But we've got two parties, maybe someday we'll have three
Maybe Tweedledumber, Tweedledum and Tweedledee
But one thing's fairly certain: it won't be you or I
'Cause it's the best democracy money can buy
And when it's finished and they've finally achieved
The most corporate dollar-ocracy that could ever be believed
The Martians will come to visit our graves, and when they go back to the sky
They'll say it was the best democracy money could buy
Another corporate scandal, another story of bad gone wrong,
Another corporate bailout, another piece of the pie;
It's the best democracy money can buy
They rigged the elections and only millionaires can play
And you've got to be cynical, you've got to look into the camera and say,
"I'm serving the public," when you know it's a corporate lie,
But it's the best democracy money can buy
Yeah there they go, fighting for oil
'Cause there the profits lie: beneath that foreign soil
And they don't know what they'll do when the wells run dry,
But it's the best democracy money can buy
They're filling the prisons, their latest industry,
Which lines their pockets and helps us all be free
'Cause you gotta do something with the unemployed if they won't move to Shanghai
And it's the best democracy money can buy
They're patenting life, selling our genes,
They would patent oxygen if they had the means
They'll patent their drugs, and some will get you high
And it's the best democracy money can buy
But we've got two parties, maybe someday we'll have three
Maybe Tweedledumber, Tweedledum and Tweedledee
But one thing's fairly certain: it won't be you or I
'Cause it's the best democracy money can buy
And when it's finished and they've finally achieved
The most corporate dollar-ocracy that could ever be believed
The Martians will come to visit our graves, and when they go back to the sky
They'll say it was the best democracy money could buy
Lyrics submitted by concreteblues
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