"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.
Are you lonesome tonight, do you miss me tonight
Are you sorry we drifted apart
Does your memory stray to a bright summer day
When I held you and called you sweetheart
Do the chairs in your parlor seem empty and bare
Do you gaze at your doorstep and picture me there
Is your heart filled with pain, shall I come back again
Tell me dear, are you lonesome tonight
I wonder if you're lonesome tonight
You know that someone said the world's a stage and each must play a part
And fate had me playin' In Love with you as my sweetheart
Act one was where we met, I loved you at first glance
You read your lines so cleverly and never missed a cue; then came act two
You seemed to change, you acted strange and why I've never known
Honey you lied when you said you loved me and I had no cause to doubt you
But I'd rather go on hearing your lies than to have to go on living without you
Now the stage is bare and I'm standing there with emptiness all around
And if you won't come back to me, they can bring the curtain down
Is your heart filled with pain, could I come back again
Tell me dear, are you lonesome tonight
Are you sorry we drifted apart
Does your memory stray to a bright summer day
When I held you and called you sweetheart
Do the chairs in your parlor seem empty and bare
Do you gaze at your doorstep and picture me there
Is your heart filled with pain, shall I come back again
Tell me dear, are you lonesome tonight
I wonder if you're lonesome tonight
You know that someone said the world's a stage and each must play a part
And fate had me playin' In Love with you as my sweetheart
Act one was where we met, I loved you at first glance
You read your lines so cleverly and never missed a cue; then came act two
You seemed to change, you acted strange and why I've never known
Honey you lied when you said you loved me and I had no cause to doubt you
But I'd rather go on hearing your lies than to have to go on living without you
Now the stage is bare and I'm standing there with emptiness all around
And if you won't come back to me, they can bring the curtain down
Is your heart filled with pain, could I come back again
Tell me dear, are you lonesome tonight
Lyrics submitted by Mellow_Harsher
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