"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.
Searching for something
A million miles and a ways to go
Ending up wondering
Moments I think I know
The answer seems to elude me
Searching for something
A million miles and a ways to go
Sifting through nothing
The sand you cannot hold
Destination nowhere ooh
Destination nowhere ooh
Ooh-eeh-ooh
Bro' I had a dream man and it was buried in lore
That I was sailing on the seas and I was out to explore
And it was lucid in a way homey I didn't need oars uh-uh
I had a feeling I'd been there before yo
I hit shore it was shrouded in mist
And in the distance coming in view a primordial forest
A people then approached waving their hands
They were speaking in a tongue I could not understand
They led me though at last to a beautiful fire
And it deepened in a way I forgot I admired
What emerged was more than the wholeness within
I'd seen the men who had been me the beasts I had been
Searching for something
A million miles and a ways to go
Sifting through nothing
The sand you cannot hold
Destination nowhere ooh
Destination nowhere ooh
Ooh-eeh-ooh-eeh-ooh
I show them how the rattle valley started to shake
Anxiety was filling me and was this all a mistake?
An elder fell to the ground marking the dirt
He was drawing up a map defining sky and the earth
He pointed to the east, north, west and the south
And then he pointed to the heavens and we started to shout
The women in the front at once began to chant
While the men beat on drums and the elder man danced
Come on yeah it'll be alright
And we're gonna take a ride
I don't know if we'll come back
Come on yeah it'll be alright
And we're gonna take a ride
I don't know if we'll come back
Come on yeah it'll be alright
And we're gonna take a ride
I don't know if we'll come back
Come on yeah it'll be alright
We're gonna take a ride
I don't know if we'll come back
A million miles and a ways to go
Ending up wondering
Moments I think I know
The answer seems to elude me
Searching for something
A million miles and a ways to go
Sifting through nothing
The sand you cannot hold
Destination nowhere ooh
Destination nowhere ooh
Ooh-eeh-ooh
Bro' I had a dream man and it was buried in lore
That I was sailing on the seas and I was out to explore
And it was lucid in a way homey I didn't need oars uh-uh
I had a feeling I'd been there before yo
I hit shore it was shrouded in mist
And in the distance coming in view a primordial forest
A people then approached waving their hands
They were speaking in a tongue I could not understand
They led me though at last to a beautiful fire
And it deepened in a way I forgot I admired
What emerged was more than the wholeness within
I'd seen the men who had been me the beasts I had been
Searching for something
A million miles and a ways to go
Sifting through nothing
The sand you cannot hold
Destination nowhere ooh
Destination nowhere ooh
Ooh-eeh-ooh-eeh-ooh
I show them how the rattle valley started to shake
Anxiety was filling me and was this all a mistake?
An elder fell to the ground marking the dirt
He was drawing up a map defining sky and the earth
He pointed to the east, north, west and the south
And then he pointed to the heavens and we started to shout
The women in the front at once began to chant
While the men beat on drums and the elder man danced
Come on yeah it'll be alright
And we're gonna take a ride
I don't know if we'll come back
Come on yeah it'll be alright
And we're gonna take a ride
I don't know if we'll come back
Come on yeah it'll be alright
And we're gonna take a ride
I don't know if we'll come back
Come on yeah it'll be alright
We're gonna take a ride
I don't know if we'll come back
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Cajun Girl
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Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Amazing
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I think there is some "Inner Light Spectrum" influence in there as well.....especially with SA's vocals.