"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.
Rumors heard from a little black bird
The edges of a prophecy
The pieces I have learned
Said the daughter of the reaper
Has been searching for the keeper
And I fear she'll let me burn
Locked tight up in the tower on top
Of the domain of humanity
The godhood that I've earned
When you're holding on to majesty
You'd fear the hunt, a travesty
That balance may return
When you're sinful to the bone unholy
And you've claimed yourself a throne
Like me wield power of your own
Making godhunter's gonna hunt you down
If you're something more than flesh
Ascended and you've taken on the rest
To end it then she'll find you in a dream
Tormented godhunter's gonna hunt you down
Fear confined to the depths of my mind
For what could be such a threat to me
The conqueror of time
Yet the whispers of a reckoning
Have kept the spirit's beckoning
To look upon my crime blood and war
When the world is no more
She's been watching for a century
With hatred, and with scorn
If you know the hunter's coming
Then you hide or keep on running
'Cause she's slain the gods before
When you're sinful to the bone unholy
And you've claimed yourself a throne
Like me wield power of your own
Making godhunter's gonna hunt you down
If you're something more than flesh
Ascended and you've taken on the rest
To end it then she'll find you in a dream
Tormented godhunter's gonna hunt you down
Don't let her see your power in the daylight
Don't let her see it when
You bring the storm
To the master of the eldritch she's
A growing bed of thorns
Dark cults, leaders of the night
Tell the tales of a fright
From a ghost of the future days
A holy crusade on the gods decayed
To end our violent ways
Lost kings, fallen in the mist
Made their names on a list
And the hunt was carried through
A price for the past when your name is last
And the hunter comes for you
Of all the free she has none left but me
And my loyal knights have passed with time
A god and a throne, locked up all alone
In the kingdom I called mine
Dreams of a being from the watcher unseen
Now he warned me she'll come to take his due
"The hate in your head
She has more" he said
"The godhunter wait's for you"
When you're sinful to the bone unholy
And you've claimed yourself a throne
Like me wield power of your own
Making godhunter's gonna hunt you down
If you're something more than flesh
Ascended and you've taken on the rest
To end it then she'll find you in a dream
Tormented godhunter's gonna hunt you down
The edges of a prophecy
The pieces I have learned
Said the daughter of the reaper
Has been searching for the keeper
And I fear she'll let me burn
Locked tight up in the tower on top
Of the domain of humanity
The godhood that I've earned
When you're holding on to majesty
You'd fear the hunt, a travesty
That balance may return
When you're sinful to the bone unholy
And you've claimed yourself a throne
Like me wield power of your own
Making godhunter's gonna hunt you down
If you're something more than flesh
Ascended and you've taken on the rest
To end it then she'll find you in a dream
Tormented godhunter's gonna hunt you down
Fear confined to the depths of my mind
For what could be such a threat to me
The conqueror of time
Yet the whispers of a reckoning
Have kept the spirit's beckoning
To look upon my crime blood and war
When the world is no more
She's been watching for a century
With hatred, and with scorn
If you know the hunter's coming
Then you hide or keep on running
'Cause she's slain the gods before
When you're sinful to the bone unholy
And you've claimed yourself a throne
Like me wield power of your own
Making godhunter's gonna hunt you down
If you're something more than flesh
Ascended and you've taken on the rest
To end it then she'll find you in a dream
Tormented godhunter's gonna hunt you down
Don't let her see your power in the daylight
Don't let her see it when
You bring the storm
To the master of the eldritch she's
A growing bed of thorns
Dark cults, leaders of the night
Tell the tales of a fright
From a ghost of the future days
A holy crusade on the gods decayed
To end our violent ways
Lost kings, fallen in the mist
Made their names on a list
And the hunt was carried through
A price for the past when your name is last
And the hunter comes for you
Of all the free she has none left but me
And my loyal knights have passed with time
A god and a throne, locked up all alone
In the kingdom I called mine
Dreams of a being from the watcher unseen
Now he warned me she'll come to take his due
"The hate in your head
She has more" he said
"The godhunter wait's for you"
When you're sinful to the bone unholy
And you've claimed yourself a throne
Like me wield power of your own
Making godhunter's gonna hunt you down
If you're something more than flesh
Ascended and you've taken on the rest
To end it then she'll find you in a dream
Tormented godhunter's gonna hunt you down
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Fast Car
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@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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Amazing
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