"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.
Down down, buried beneath
I feel like I'm running out of time, running out of time
Down down, make me believe
I want you to show me I'm alive, show me I'm alive
I have seen the slow disaster
Wreckage of my life
Silence before and nothing after
Echoing inside, I confess
I lied for this
I died for this
Down, down, buried beneath (down, down)
I feel like I'm running out of time, running out of time
Down, down, make me believe (down, down)
I want you to show me I'm alive, show me I'm alive
Life, life, life
I am just a sole survivor
Of self inflicted wounds
Shadows hide the dying embers
Burning out too soon
I lied for this
I died for this
Down, down, buried beneath (down, down)
I feel like I'm running out of time, running out of time
Down, down, make me believe (down, down)
I want you to show me I'm alive, show me I'm alive
Show me, show me down
Show me, show me down
Down, down
Buried
Down, down, buried beneath (down, down)
I feel like I'm running out of time, running out of time
Down, down, make me believe (down, down)
I want you to show me I'm alive, show me I'm alive
I lied for this (down, down, buried beneath)
I died for this (down, down buried beneath)
Down, down, buried beneath (down, down)
I feel like I'm running out of time, show me I'm alive
Lyrics submitted by EternalTearsOfSorrow
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Fast Car
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
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Yo La Tengo
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Great version of a great song,
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I tried to post the correct lyrics, it wouldn't let me so here they are;
Down down, buried beneath I feel like I'm running out of time, running out of time Down down, make me believe I want you to show me I'm alive, show me I'm alive
I have seen the slow disaster Wreckage of my life Silence before and nothing after Echoing inside, I confess
I lied for this I died for this
Down, down, buried beneath (down, down) I feel like I'm running out of time, running out of time Down, down, make me believe (down, down) I want you to show me I'm alive, show me I'm alive
Life, life, life
I am just a sole survivor Of self inflicted wounds Shadows hide the dying embers Burning out too soon
I lied for this I died for this
Down, down, buried beneath (down, down) I feel like I'm running out of time, running out of time Down, down, make me believe (down, down) I want you to show me I'm alive, show me I'm alive
Show me, show me down Show me, show me down Down, down Buried
Down, down, buried beneath (down, down) I feel like I'm running out of time, running out of time Down, down, make me believe (down, down) I want you to show me I'm alive, show me I'm alive
I lied for this (down, down, buried beneath) I died for this (down, down buried beneath) Down, down, buried beneath (down, down) I feel like I'm running out of time, show me I'm alive