"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.
(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Fever dream high in the quiet of the night
You know that I caught it (oh yeah, you're right, I want it)
Bad, bad boy, shiny toy with a price
You know that I bought it (oh yeah, you're right, I want it)
Killing me slow, out the window
I'm always waiting for you to be waiting below
Devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes
What doesn't kill me makes me want you more
And it's new, the shape of your body
It's blue, the feeling I've got
And it's ooh-oh-oh
It's a cruel summer
It's cool, that's what I tell 'em
No rules in breakable heaven
But ooh, oh-oh
It's a cruel summer
With you
Hang your head low in the glow of the vending machine
I'm not dying (oh yeah, you're right, I want it)
We say that we'll just screw it up in these trying times
We're not trying (oh yeah, you're right, I want it)
So cut the headlights, summer's a knife
I'm always waiting for you just to cut to the bone
Devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes
And if I bleed, you'll be the last to know
Oh, it's new, the shape of your body
It's blue, the feeling I've got
And it's ooh-oh-oh
It's a cruel summer
It's cool, that's what I tell 'em
No rules in breakable heaven
But ooh-oh-oh
It's a cruel summer
With you
I'm drunk in the back of the car
And I cried like a baby coming home from the bar (oh)
Said, "I'm fine," but it wasn't true
I don't wanna keep secrets just to keep you
And I snuck in through the garden gate
Every night that summer just to seal my fate (oh)
And I scream, "For whatever it's worth
I love you, ain't that the worst thing you ever heard?"
He looks up, grinning like a devil
It's new, the shape of your body
It's blue, the feeling I've got
And it's ooh-oh-oh
It's a cruel summer
It's cool, that's what I tell 'em
No rules in breakable heaven
But ooh-oh-oh
It's a cruel summer
With you
I'm drunk in the back of the car
And I cried like a baby coming home from the bar (oh)
Said, "I'm fine," but it wasn't true
I don't wanna keep secrets just to keep you
And I snuck in through the garden gate
Every night that summer just to seal my fate (oh)
And I scream, "For whatever it's worth
I love you, ain't that the worst thing you ever heard?"
(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Fever dream high in the quiet of the night
You know that I caught it (oh yeah, you're right, I want it)
Bad, bad boy, shiny toy with a price
You know that I bought it (oh yeah, you're right, I want it)
Killing me slow, out the window
I'm always waiting for you to be waiting below
Devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes
What doesn't kill me makes me want you more
And it's new, the shape of your body
It's blue, the feeling I've got
And it's ooh-oh-oh
It's a cruel summer
It's cool, that's what I tell 'em
No rules in breakable heaven
But ooh, oh-oh
It's a cruel summer
With you
Hang your head low in the glow of the vending machine
I'm not dying (oh yeah, you're right, I want it)
We say that we'll just screw it up in these trying times
We're not trying (oh yeah, you're right, I want it)
So cut the headlights, summer's a knife
I'm always waiting for you just to cut to the bone
Devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes
And if I bleed, you'll be the last to know
Oh, it's new, the shape of your body
It's blue, the feeling I've got
And it's ooh-oh-oh
It's a cruel summer
It's cool, that's what I tell 'em
No rules in breakable heaven
But ooh-oh-oh
It's a cruel summer
With you
I'm drunk in the back of the car
And I cried like a baby coming home from the bar (oh)
Said, "I'm fine," but it wasn't true
I don't wanna keep secrets just to keep you
And I snuck in through the garden gate
Every night that summer just to seal my fate (oh)
And I scream, "For whatever it's worth
I love you, ain't that the worst thing you ever heard?"
He looks up, grinning like a devil
It's new, the shape of your body
It's blue, the feeling I've got
And it's ooh-oh-oh
It's a cruel summer
It's cool, that's what I tell 'em
No rules in breakable heaven
But ooh-oh-oh
It's a cruel summer
With you
I'm drunk in the back of the car
And I cried like a baby coming home from the bar (oh)
Said, "I'm fine," but it wasn't true
I don't wanna keep secrets just to keep you
And I snuck in through the garden gate
Every night that summer just to seal my fate (oh)
And I scream, "For whatever it's worth
I love you, ain't that the worst thing you ever heard?"
(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
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Fast Car
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Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
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