"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.
I'm far away and I'm feeling alone
I've got one week behind me, just six more to go
If i could see you I'd take off your clothes
And we'd lie in the garden and watch the weeds grow
The grass is so high
I can't see over
And the moon is so full
It's setting the stars all on fire
If they build the dam
Any higher
Their gonna back up the crick and
Set this whole place under water
The city is a million miles away
The city is a million miles away
I lie wake and think of you
The floods and fires might be coming through
But you would know just what to do
Yeah, you would know just what to do
I lie wake and think of you
The floods and fires might be coming through
But you would know just what to do
Yeah, you would know just what to do
I've got one week behind me, just six more to go
If i could see you I'd take off your clothes
And we'd lie in the garden and watch the weeds grow
The grass is so high
I can't see over
And the moon is so full
It's setting the stars all on fire
If they build the dam
Any higher
Their gonna back up the crick and
Set this whole place under water
The city is a million miles away
The city is a million miles away
I lie wake and think of you
The floods and fires might be coming through
But you would know just what to do
Yeah, you would know just what to do
I lie wake and think of you
The floods and fires might be coming through
But you would know just what to do
Yeah, you would know just what to do
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Ahh, daydreaming of a perfect world where you don't have to miss anyone and the weather is perfect and you yourself feel perfect, at peace.. incredibly calm. This song is so romantic. She sends a vibe of trust through the last verse.. must be important to the whole distance thing.