"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.
People tell me you've been talking
I hear you've got a big mouth
Saying things you know aren't true
What the hell are you talking about?
So, now we have a conundrum
And the problem is clearly you
This is the part where it gets ugly
And the solution; getting rid of you
You'll never be safe in the shadows
I'll be waiting in the dark
With a shovel and a bag full of lime
I'll say the devil made me do it
I look who's talking and I see
A big nothing looking back at me
Mine is just to do or die, it's not to reason why
I can't let sleeping dogs that lie, lie
Don't you think I have friends besides you?
You called me out, you couldn't resist
I'll never stop until I find you
That's when you're gonna cease to exist
How stupid do you have to be?
To think the trail of evidence that you've left
Won't boomerang back in your face
To your moth-eaten brain by meth
Like the wolf that does not howl
Concealed and ready to attack
It's time to pay with your flesh
And you'll never stop me
I look who's talking and I see
A big nothing looking back at me
Mine is just to do or die, it's not to reason why
I can't let sleeping dogs that lie, lie
The dogs that bark the loudest are the dogs that have no teeth
I look who's talking and I see
A big nothing looking back at me
Mine is just to do or die, it's not to reason why
I can't let sleeping dogs that lie, lie
Look at you!
Look who's talking, a big nothing looking back at me
Would you look at you?
Look who's talking, a big nothing, that's all I see
Won't you look at you?
Look who's talking, a big nothing, it's what you mean to me
Oh, but you're never gonna be anything anyway
Now roll over and play dead
I hear you've got a big mouth
Saying things you know aren't true
What the hell are you talking about?
So, now we have a conundrum
And the problem is clearly you
This is the part where it gets ugly
And the solution; getting rid of you
You'll never be safe in the shadows
I'll be waiting in the dark
With a shovel and a bag full of lime
I'll say the devil made me do it
I look who's talking and I see
A big nothing looking back at me
Mine is just to do or die, it's not to reason why
I can't let sleeping dogs that lie, lie
Don't you think I have friends besides you?
You called me out, you couldn't resist
I'll never stop until I find you
That's when you're gonna cease to exist
How stupid do you have to be?
To think the trail of evidence that you've left
Won't boomerang back in your face
To your moth-eaten brain by meth
Like the wolf that does not howl
Concealed and ready to attack
It's time to pay with your flesh
And you'll never stop me
I look who's talking and I see
A big nothing looking back at me
Mine is just to do or die, it's not to reason why
I can't let sleeping dogs that lie, lie
The dogs that bark the loudest are the dogs that have no teeth
I look who's talking and I see
A big nothing looking back at me
Mine is just to do or die, it's not to reason why
I can't let sleeping dogs that lie, lie
Look at you!
Look who's talking, a big nothing looking back at me
Would you look at you?
Look who's talking, a big nothing, that's all I see
Won't you look at you?
Look who's talking, a big nothing, it's what you mean to me
Oh, but you're never gonna be anything anyway
Now roll over and play dead
Lyrics submitted by post-human
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Fast Car
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@albert1056 At least in this song (which certainly raises it above tunes like 'Something that I'm Not') Dave mentions 'your moth-eaten brain by meth' which at least means those of us who don't do meth are obvious not the one/s he is referring to! Phew! :)