"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.
Four in the morning on October the third
The year you disappeared
The ash on the road is still quite warm
Reading the map in the map light
And the engine is old and the tyres are worn
Driving and searching through the long dry ocean
Weaving deep in a bed of abandoned desire
I'll be threading this wheel from hand to hand till you're found
Or the Landrover breaks down
Tranquility Bay ...
Saline levels normal ...
Nocturnal visibility average to good ...
Three in the morning on October the fourth
The year you disappeared
The canyons are watching me with your eyes
Craters like scars from a quarrel
And the petrol is low and my mouth is dry
Driving and searching through the long dry ocean
Weaving deep in a bed of abandoned desire
I'll be threading this wheel from hand to hand till you're found
Or the Landrover breaks down
The arc of buggy tracks in moondust ...
Your face glowing in its frame in the dash ...
Alimentation and oxygen supplies critical ...
Life functions now endangered, unpredictable ...
Strange emotional pattern recorded at 300 and again towards dawn ...
Foreboding ...
Log discontinued
Driving and searching through the long dry ocean
Weaving deep in a bed of abandoned desire
I'll be threading this wheel from hand to hand till you're found
Or the Landrover hits
Sunday airports
The face of the waters
Service stations
Unrepeatable offers
Trial by jury
The god of the crossroads
Furnished quarters
Unfaithful lovers
Sunday airports
The face of the waters
Service stations
Unrepeatable offers
Trial by jury
The god of the crossroads
Furnished quarters
Unfaithful lovers
The year you disappeared
The ash on the road is still quite warm
Reading the map in the map light
And the engine is old and the tyres are worn
Driving and searching through the long dry ocean
Weaving deep in a bed of abandoned desire
I'll be threading this wheel from hand to hand till you're found
Or the Landrover breaks down
Tranquility Bay ...
Saline levels normal ...
Nocturnal visibility average to good ...
Three in the morning on October the fourth
The year you disappeared
The canyons are watching me with your eyes
Craters like scars from a quarrel
And the petrol is low and my mouth is dry
Driving and searching through the long dry ocean
Weaving deep in a bed of abandoned desire
I'll be threading this wheel from hand to hand till you're found
Or the Landrover breaks down
The arc of buggy tracks in moondust ...
Your face glowing in its frame in the dash ...
Alimentation and oxygen supplies critical ...
Life functions now endangered, unpredictable ...
Strange emotional pattern recorded at 300 and again towards dawn ...
Foreboding ...
Log discontinued
Driving and searching through the long dry ocean
Weaving deep in a bed of abandoned desire
I'll be threading this wheel from hand to hand till you're found
Or the Landrover hits
Sunday airports
The face of the waters
Service stations
Unrepeatable offers
Trial by jury
The god of the crossroads
Furnished quarters
Unfaithful lovers
Sunday airports
The face of the waters
Service stations
Unrepeatable offers
Trial by jury
The god of the crossroads
Furnished quarters
Unfaithful lovers
Lyrics submitted by Mellow_Harsher
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