"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.
Standing on the edge of the cliff, I start to slip.
Don't mind if I slide off.
Now I feel my mood start to lift,
I find my grip and the screaming fades away below.
I grab myself and spin me around I start to sprint.
I climb down to steadier ground.
If I can bushwhack it on back to the shack
Behind those hills I'll find the world is finally still.
Run through pale dark woods to that Sugar Shack
Breathe warm steam and hide in that old Sugar Shack.
Boiling heat, maple steam frozen snow then it flows.
When you leave, maple trees wait till spring to go again.
A mosaic of lies I tried to arrange in ways that shelter the blame.
I though I might have made off clear with all of the loot.
I plucked and ate all the fruit.
Then I started hearing the yells
And shattering plates drowned out by your slithering stares.
I was followed and chased and caught
And tied up by the hay right until I made my escape.
Run through pale dark woods to that Sugar Shack
Breathe warm steam and hide in that old Sugar Shack.
Don't mind if I slide off.
Now I feel my mood start to lift,
I find my grip and the screaming fades away below.
I grab myself and spin me around I start to sprint.
I climb down to steadier ground.
If I can bushwhack it on back to the shack
Behind those hills I'll find the world is finally still.
Run through pale dark woods to that Sugar Shack
Breathe warm steam and hide in that old Sugar Shack.
Boiling heat, maple steam frozen snow then it flows.
When you leave, maple trees wait till spring to go again.
A mosaic of lies I tried to arrange in ways that shelter the blame.
I though I might have made off clear with all of the loot.
I plucked and ate all the fruit.
Then I started hearing the yells
And shattering plates drowned out by your slithering stares.
I was followed and chased and caught
And tied up by the hay right until I made my escape.
Run through pale dark woods to that Sugar Shack
Breathe warm steam and hide in that old Sugar Shack.
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Fast Car
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Uhh...we need to have a talk. You’ve been spending way too much, all your time at the Sugar Shack. You try to avoid the question but your behavior is negatively effecting the band in the following ways. You’ve said yourself that you can’t go through a whole tour freebasing before every show. You are too old for this shit. It stared out as fun but you have lost yourself in that warm satiated place. What are you hiding from? It feels nice in there but can’t you hear the screams? There’s a lot to run away from but you’ll drown in that hay