"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'm climbing up the walls
I'm trying to get a look I can't see
Pushing away hands that grab
At what they could never be
Oh I can almost touch it
Climbing up the walls
They're trying to get under my skin
Oh I am just a boy
So easy to sway
They can't see
Just go ahead and try it
It's just like TV
Everything I could ever be
Is out of my hands
It's out of my hands
I'm climbing up the walls
I'm trying to catch a breath
I can't speak
Oh everyone is shouting
But what are they to me
When I can almost touch it
And you just want to have it all
It's just like TV
Everything I could ever be
Is out of my hands
It's out of my hands (x2)
You found an easy way in
Go find another easy way out (x4)
It's just like TV
Everything I could ever be
Is out of my hands
It's out of my hands
It's out of my hands
It's out of my hands
I'm trying to get a look I can't see
Pushing away hands that grab
At what they could never be
Oh I can almost touch it
Climbing up the walls
They're trying to get under my skin
Oh I am just a boy
So easy to sway
They can't see
Just go ahead and try it
It's just like TV
Everything I could ever be
Is out of my hands
It's out of my hands
I'm climbing up the walls
I'm trying to catch a breath
I can't speak
Oh everyone is shouting
But what are they to me
When I can almost touch it
And you just want to have it all
It's just like TV
Everything I could ever be
Is out of my hands
It's out of my hands (x2)
You found an easy way in
Go find another easy way out (x4)
It's just like TV
Everything I could ever be
Is out of my hands
It's out of my hands
It's out of my hands
It's out of my hands
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Just Like TV Lyrics as written by Jim Collins Chuck Jones
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
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Fast Car
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Great version of a great song,
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