"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.
When you come around
I can still be found in another world
Pick a number or a name
It's my favorite game in another world
Hey man, what was that we said
I'm going deaf
I chase the widely open spaces
Built in my head
Can't make out what you say
Won't pretend to even care in another world
When it all gets bad
Everything turns off in another world
Hey man, what was that we said
I'm going deaf
I chase the widely open spaces
Built in my head
And the shadow of the adversary's
Filled and I shall play
Pass the plate and let us pray
Because it's only a trick of the light
I can still be found in another world
Pick a number or a name
It's my favorite game in another world
Hey man, what was that we said
I'm going deaf
I chase the widely open spaces
Built in my head
Can't make out what you say
Won't pretend to even care in another world
When it all gets bad
Everything turns off in another world
Hey man, what was that we said
I'm going deaf
I chase the widely open spaces
Built in my head
And the shadow of the adversary's
Filled and I shall play
Pass the plate and let us pray
Because it's only a trick of the light
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings, edited by Mellow_Harsher
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