"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.
You want a piece of my mind, there is no peace to find
This is all of your doubt repaid in kind
I am alone in crowded rooms, I am a ghost in forgotten tombs
Widow maker, you're no company to keep
'Cause you can fool some people, sometimes
But you can't fool the world for the rest of your life
You can fool some people, sometimes
But you can't fool the world
Nobody notices, nobody cares
The curtain falls to no one, no where
Nobody notices, nobody cares
As the curtain falls
Soulless, spineless
Cut from the beggar's cloth
You fill your skull with their shit 'til it runs from your mouth
Heartless, carcass
I've seen more life in dead men's eyes, I've heard more truths alone with the night
And I'd rather believe in nothing than believe in a fucking lie
I'd sooner fail one thousand times than regret I've never tried
'Cause you can fool some people, sometimes
But you can't fool the world for the rest of your life
You can fool some people, sometimes
But you can't fool the world
You can't fool us all
You howl at the world, but speak a dead language
You're selling your soul, but no one is buying
You pray to your gods of fashion and industry
Heads in the clouds, but you live on your fucking knees
Nobody notices, nobody cares
The curtain falls to no one, no where
Nobody notices, nobody cares
As the curtain fucking falls
Soulless, spineless
Cut from the beggar's cloth
You fill your skull with their shit 'til it runs from your mouth
Heartless, carcass
I've seen more life in dead men's eyes, I've heard more truths alone with the night
No peace to find
This is all of your doubt repaid in kind
I am alone in crowded rooms, I am a ghost in forgotten tombs
Widow maker, you're no company to keep
'Cause you can fool some people, sometimes
But you can't fool the world for the rest of your life
You can fool some people, sometimes
But you can't fool the world
Nobody notices, nobody cares
The curtain falls to no one, no where
Nobody notices, nobody cares
As the curtain falls
Soulless, spineless
Cut from the beggar's cloth
You fill your skull with their shit 'til it runs from your mouth
Heartless, carcass
I've seen more life in dead men's eyes, I've heard more truths alone with the night
And I'd rather believe in nothing than believe in a fucking lie
I'd sooner fail one thousand times than regret I've never tried
'Cause you can fool some people, sometimes
But you can't fool the world for the rest of your life
You can fool some people, sometimes
But you can't fool the world
You can't fool us all
You howl at the world, but speak a dead language
You're selling your soul, but no one is buying
You pray to your gods of fashion and industry
Heads in the clouds, but you live on your fucking knees
Nobody notices, nobody cares
The curtain falls to no one, no where
Nobody notices, nobody cares
As the curtain fucking falls
Soulless, spineless
Cut from the beggar's cloth
You fill your skull with their shit 'til it runs from your mouth
Heartless, carcass
I've seen more life in dead men's eyes, I've heard more truths alone with the night
No peace to find
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Fast Car
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Great version of a great song,
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