"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.
Shes a formal princess
From the moment she wakes up to rinse her face
All the way to when she lays to sleep, in space
She creeps through life
Energy she uses exclusively
To keep all of these people in their place
If only she would understand her
If she understood, how good, or am
Or maybe, find the root of the problem
With a plan, is it plausible
Cant be the princess, carries the pride
Of a deity, sexy little goddess
Fashionably modest, obviously falsified, honestly doubtless
Lotus, of course ive noticed the imaginary roses
Made it impossible not to focus
Hopeless, ill never get my point across that bay
Hopeless, tried and denied at least once a day
I dont need your advice
What i need is some shade to keep the sunlight out of my eyes
From the moment she wakes up to rinse her face
All the way to when she lays to sleep, in space
She creeps through life
Energy she uses exclusively
To keep all of these people in their place
If only she would understand her
If she understood, how good, or am
Or maybe, find the root of the problem
With a plan, is it plausible
Cant be the princess, carries the pride
Of a deity, sexy little goddess
Fashionably modest, obviously falsified, honestly doubtless
Lotus, of course ive noticed the imaginary roses
Made it impossible not to focus
Hopeless, ill never get my point across that bay
Hopeless, tried and denied at least once a day
I dont need your advice
What i need is some shade to keep the sunlight out of my eyes
Lyrics submitted by Mellow_Harsher
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