"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.
Na na na na na na na na na
Na na na na na na na na na
If you could feel what I feel
If I could make you see
If you could need like I need
I'd be the air that you breathe
You go straight to my head as I lie in my bed
I just can't win
I can't help the state I'm in
It's only love so why is falling in it
The one thing that you can't do
It's only love then why am I hurting from it
It's only love if you're hurting too
Na na na na na na na na na
Na na na na na na na na na
If you could share my wildest thoughts
Meet me in my mind
If you could want the way that I want
You'd want me all the time
You go straight to my head when I lie in my bed
I just can't win
I can't stop the state I'm in
It's only love so why is falling in it
The one thing that you can't do
It's only love then why am I hurting from it
It's only love if you're hurting too
Every dream I dream has got you in
And every minute with you means everything
I wanna take you there where you've never been
In my dreams
You go straight to my head as I lie in my bed
I just can't win
I can't help the state I'm in
It's only love so why is falling in it
The one thing that you can't do
It's only love so why am I hurting from it
It's only love if you're hurting too
Na na na na na na na na na
It's only love if you're hurting too
Na na na na na na na na na
It's only love if you're hurting too
Na na na na na na na na na
If you could feel what I feel
If I could make you see
If you could need like I need
I'd be the air that you breathe
You go straight to my head as I lie in my bed
I just can't win
I can't help the state I'm in
It's only love so why is falling in it
The one thing that you can't do
It's only love then why am I hurting from it
It's only love if you're hurting too
Na na na na na na na na na
Na na na na na na na na na
If you could share my wildest thoughts
Meet me in my mind
If you could want the way that I want
You'd want me all the time
You go straight to my head when I lie in my bed
I just can't win
I can't stop the state I'm in
It's only love so why is falling in it
The one thing that you can't do
It's only love then why am I hurting from it
It's only love if you're hurting too
Every dream I dream has got you in
And every minute with you means everything
I wanna take you there where you've never been
In my dreams
You go straight to my head as I lie in my bed
I just can't win
I can't help the state I'm in
It's only love so why is falling in it
The one thing that you can't do
It's only love so why am I hurting from it
It's only love if you're hurting too
Na na na na na na na na na
It's only love if you're hurting too
Na na na na na na na na na
It's only love if you're hurting too
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