"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.
There's a young boy in the queue
Not much else for him to do
He's had a drink, he's had a few
Down the pub on Hope Street
Dear old lady, you're looking thin
Got a shopping bag with your life in
Your old man's going through the bins
So it goes on Hope Street
Rain on me come pouring down
Clean the dirt off this old town
Tell the sun to come around
And show his face on Hope Street
There's a fight right down the street
The betting shop has got him beat
Blew his money for the week
On a horse called Hope Street
No old faces out today
Someone took them all away
Cleaning up or so they say
The dirty face of Hope Street
Rain on me come pouring down...(X 2)
Everyday I look at you
Dressed up in your ties of blue
Saying there's not much you can do
To help the kids on Hope Street
You don't seem to even care
That it was you that put them there
You seem to think they like it there
Hanging out on Hope Street
Rain on me come pouring down...
Not much else for him to do
He's had a drink, he's had a few
Down the pub on Hope Street
Dear old lady, you're looking thin
Got a shopping bag with your life in
Your old man's going through the bins
So it goes on Hope Street
Rain on me come pouring down
Clean the dirt off this old town
Tell the sun to come around
And show his face on Hope Street
There's a fight right down the street
The betting shop has got him beat
Blew his money for the week
On a horse called Hope Street
No old faces out today
Someone took them all away
Cleaning up or so they say
The dirty face of Hope Street
Rain on me come pouring down...(X 2)
Everyday I look at you
Dressed up in your ties of blue
Saying there's not much you can do
To help the kids on Hope Street
You don't seem to even care
That it was you that put them there
You seem to think they like it there
Hanging out on Hope Street
Rain on me come pouring down...
Lyrics submitted by black_cow_of_death, edited by Flashiekins
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Not quite sure what its about but I read that there was once a TV show called hope street that was set in a youth crisis centre in new york. Apparantly in dealt with issues such as gang violence, incest and AIDS. The main character opened the centre when his son was gunned down in the street. I think the song may have been based on it.