"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.
This is the dumbest movie that I've ever seen
The outcome is predictable
And the casting is so obvious and transparent
Acting transparent politicians
And without your vote, well, the election's going to happen
I know it burns in your stomach to feel so cheated
It burns in your stomach to feel there's nothing you can do about it
So we laugh together in the same cynical way
We'll talk about it in the same beaten down way
And nothing changes
These are the same choices that we've always had
It's the same rhetoric
It's the same campaign promises
Oh, you don't have to buy what they're selling
But with or without your vote, one of these candidates will take office
And everybody's praying to go numb
Everybody's got the same excuses
There's nothing they can do about it
So we laugh together in the same cynical way
And talk about it in the same beaten down way
We laugh together in the same cynical way
We talk about it in the same beaten down way
And nothing changes
Nothing ever changes
The outcome is predictable
And the casting is so obvious and transparent
Acting transparent politicians
And without your vote, well, the election's going to happen
I know it burns in your stomach to feel so cheated
It burns in your stomach to feel there's nothing you can do about it
So we laugh together in the same cynical way
We'll talk about it in the same beaten down way
And nothing changes
These are the same choices that we've always had
It's the same rhetoric
It's the same campaign promises
Oh, you don't have to buy what they're selling
But with or without your vote, one of these candidates will take office
And everybody's praying to go numb
Everybody's got the same excuses
There's nothing they can do about it
So we laugh together in the same cynical way
And talk about it in the same beaten down way
We laugh together in the same cynical way
We talk about it in the same beaten down way
And nothing changes
Nothing ever changes
Lyrics submitted by Mellow_Harsher
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This song pretty much sums up how fucked up US government is