"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.
In this culture I am just the meat for vultures to pick until
My beauty shows for your glossy covers and in the classy circles smother
Have I nothing more to give And I would rather starve than lose this body
I would rather starve than lose your acceptance I need your love I just need someone's approval
To put me back again
Is this skin all you want
Are aesthetics all you need
Is this where I stand
My eyes will always show my empty soul
As you divert you eyes to my body
(It's nothing to you, but it matters to me)
I'm nothing to you but this shell that you see
Rotting flesh for your eyes
Wilting beauty for every goddamn girl to compare to
Dear god, why can't I be
Dear god, why can't I be more like him, more like her
More or less like you
My beauty shows for your glossy covers and in the classy circles smother
Have I nothing more to give And I would rather starve than lose this body
I would rather starve than lose your acceptance I need your love I just need someone's approval
To put me back again
Is this skin all you want
Are aesthetics all you need
Is this where I stand
My eyes will always show my empty soul
As you divert you eyes to my body
(It's nothing to you, but it matters to me)
I'm nothing to you but this shell that you see
Rotting flesh for your eyes
Wilting beauty for every goddamn girl to compare to
Dear god, why can't I be
Dear god, why can't I be more like him, more like her
More or less like you
Lyrics submitted by dragonflower44
Cadence Lyrics as written by Darrell Hyde Charles W. Istvan
Lyrics © Reservoir Media Management, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I think it goes a little deeper than the above. The subject of the song battles anorexia "i would rather starve than lose this body/your acceptance" to keep up with the appearance that the others expect them to have. "rotting flesh" and "wilting beauty" point at this as well, as the human body will deterioate with lack of food. The song pretty much describes the plight of many young people who develop eating disorders trying to live up to the high standard of beauty in today's society.