"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've built a union of defeat
to the guard the falling of my dreams
and you can take it all away
but there's so little left to seize
i try my best to overcome
i must have tried a million times
so much is standing in my way
it holds my hand while i decline
what's gotten into me?
this was everything I had wanted but now I'm alone and angry
and if you still care for me
you were everything I had lived for but now I'm afraid and lonely
I sit alone and contemplate
All the parameters of truth
I wonder why they're not so clear
they were so striking in my youth
My empire crashing to the floor
i've always felt a bit condemned
I'm lying naked in details
Being exposed for what I am
what's gotten into me?
this was everything I had wanted but now I'm alone and angry
and if you still care for me
you were everything I had lived for but now I'm afraid and lonely
i've built a union of defeat
to the guard the falling of my dreams
and you can take it all away
but there's so little left to seize
I feel the minutes counting down
when I can kiss goodbye the past
what I portray as eminence
we surely know is my collapse
what's gotten into me?
this was everything I had wanted but now I'm alone and angry
and if you still care for me
you were everything I had lived for but now I'm afraid and lonely
to the guard the falling of my dreams
and you can take it all away
but there's so little left to seize
i try my best to overcome
i must have tried a million times
so much is standing in my way
it holds my hand while i decline
what's gotten into me?
this was everything I had wanted but now I'm alone and angry
and if you still care for me
you were everything I had lived for but now I'm afraid and lonely
I sit alone and contemplate
All the parameters of truth
I wonder why they're not so clear
they were so striking in my youth
My empire crashing to the floor
i've always felt a bit condemned
I'm lying naked in details
Being exposed for what I am
what's gotten into me?
this was everything I had wanted but now I'm alone and angry
and if you still care for me
you were everything I had lived for but now I'm afraid and lonely
i've built a union of defeat
to the guard the falling of my dreams
and you can take it all away
but there's so little left to seize
I feel the minutes counting down
when I can kiss goodbye the past
what I portray as eminence
we surely know is my collapse
what's gotten into me?
this was everything I had wanted but now I'm alone and angry
and if you still care for me
you were everything I had lived for but now I'm afraid and lonely
Lyrics submitted by Roxc
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Silent Planet
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Just A Little Lovin'
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