"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.
[Verse 1]
Hey, you
Yes, I'm talking to you
And what are you doing here?
And why you look so sad, man?
Brother, please come here
Let’s talk it, let it out
Dear, you have nothing to fear
Child, I'm the one that makes it, oh, so, so much better
[Chorus]
I feel your presence standing there up in my face
I feel the darkness haunting me with its embrace
I want to shed this, go to a place a different time
The plot unfolds, this meaning here I'll never find
[Verse 2]
Hey, man
What do we have here?
You’re looking so upset
You're making it quite clear
That you want nothing to change
'Cause you're so willing to hurt
Feel at home in the dark, boy
Everything you feel, child, won't make it better
[Chorus]
I feel your presence standing there up in my face
I feel the darkness haunting me with its embrace
I want to shed this, go to a place a different time
The plot unfolds, this meaning here I'll never find
[Bridge]
You ever hear that voice in your motherfucking head?
It goes
Looking at you, poking at you
Yelling at you, fucking with you
Looking at you, poking at you
Yelling at you, fucking with you
Looking at you, poking at you
Yelling at you, fucking with you
Looking at you, poking at you
Yelling at you, fucking with you
It's fucking with you
It's fucking with you
[Chorus]
I feel your presence standing there up in my face
I feel the darkness haunting me with its embrace
I want to shed this, go to a place a different time
The plot unfolds, this meaning here I’ll never find
Hey, you
Yes, I'm talking to you
And what are you doing here?
And why you look so sad, man?
Brother, please come here
Let’s talk it, let it out
Dear, you have nothing to fear
Child, I'm the one that makes it, oh, so, so much better
[Chorus]
I feel your presence standing there up in my face
I feel the darkness haunting me with its embrace
I want to shed this, go to a place a different time
The plot unfolds, this meaning here I'll never find
[Verse 2]
Hey, man
What do we have here?
You’re looking so upset
You're making it quite clear
That you want nothing to change
'Cause you're so willing to hurt
Feel at home in the dark, boy
Everything you feel, child, won't make it better
[Chorus]
I feel your presence standing there up in my face
I feel the darkness haunting me with its embrace
I want to shed this, go to a place a different time
The plot unfolds, this meaning here I'll never find
[Bridge]
You ever hear that voice in your motherfucking head?
It goes
Looking at you, poking at you
Yelling at you, fucking with you
Looking at you, poking at you
Yelling at you, fucking with you
Looking at you, poking at you
Yelling at you, fucking with you
Looking at you, poking at you
Yelling at you, fucking with you
It's fucking with you
It's fucking with you
[Chorus]
I feel your presence standing there up in my face
I feel the darkness haunting me with its embrace
I want to shed this, go to a place a different time
The plot unfolds, this meaning here I’ll never find
Lyrics submitted by Mellow_Harsher
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I think this is about wanting to gain control over your world after it's become overcome by darkness & pain. The need to be free from all the menacing thoughts & be of sound mind to feel yourself again.
I think this song has a very angry and resentful undertone behind the lyrics of the first couple verses. Almost as if talking to someone or something that would try to manipulate you. Though at the same time trying to be inviting, like a dark thought.
Especially the line: "I'm the one that makes it, oh so, so much better.", tempting you into giving in to dark thoughts as dealing with them is painful, reciting it almost sarcastically.
The chorus to me builds on this idea, of a presence of a feeling or a person that overshadows your thoughts, almost to the point of dominating, and wanting to not deal with it altogether.
Verse 2 goes even further into the depressive psychology, leveraging change as a healthy thing, and that you'd go out of your way to suffer rather than deal with the dark thoughts, going so far as to suggest that wanting to get away from it isn't going to help, easier to give up than continue struggling.
The bridge then gets to a point where the feeling or person you're dealing with overwhelms your thoughts and actions to a stressful breaking point, your own head effectively "poking" and "yelling" at you to see that these are actually dark thoughts that need dealing with, or to find a way out of the situation.
Then it moves to the final chorus, basically confirming that the thoughts are still there, almost tortured by never getting to the truth of how they felt, never finding a reason or opportunity to confront the truth.
The title pretty much gives it away, the ringmaster as a thought orfeeling or person that controls everything you think or feel.