"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 trying to tell you something about my life
Maybe give me insight between black and white
The best thing you ever done for me
Is to help me take my life less seriously
It's only life afterall
Well darkness has a hunger that's insatiable
And lightness has a call that's hard to hear
I wrap my fear around me like a blanket
I sailed my ship of safety till I sank it
I'm crawling on your shore
I went to the doctor
I went to the mountains
I looked to the children
I drank from the fountains
There's more than one answer to these questions
Pointing me in a crooked line
The less I seek my source for some definitive
The closer I am to fine
The closer I am to fine
I went to see the doctor of philosophy
With a poster of Rasputin and a beard down to his knee
He never did marry or see a B-grade movie
He graded my performance
He said he could see through me
I spent four years prostrate to the higher mind
Got my paper and I was free
I went to the doctor
I went to the mountains
I looked to the children
I drank from the fountains
There's more than one answer to these questions
Pointing me in a crooked line
The less I seek my source for some definitive
The closer I am to fine
The closer I am to fine
I stopped by the bar at 3 a.m.
To seek solace in a bottle or possibly a friend
I woke up with a headache like my head against a board
Twice as cloudy as I'd been the night before
And I went in seeking clarity.
I went to the doctor
I went to the mountains
I looked to the children
I drank from the fountains
We go to the doctor
We go to the mountains
We look to the children
We drink from the fountains
Yeah, we go to the bible
We go through the workout
We read up on revival
And we stand up for the lookout
There's more than one answer to these questions
Pointing me in a crooked line
The less I seek my source for some definitive
The closer I am to fine
The closer I am to fine
The closer I am to fine
Maybe give me insight between black and white
The best thing you ever done for me
Is to help me take my life less seriously
It's only life afterall
Well darkness has a hunger that's insatiable
And lightness has a call that's hard to hear
I wrap my fear around me like a blanket
I sailed my ship of safety till I sank it
I'm crawling on your shore
I went to the doctor
I went to the mountains
I looked to the children
I drank from the fountains
There's more than one answer to these questions
Pointing me in a crooked line
The less I seek my source for some definitive
The closer I am to fine
The closer I am to fine
I went to see the doctor of philosophy
With a poster of Rasputin and a beard down to his knee
He never did marry or see a B-grade movie
He graded my performance
He said he could see through me
I spent four years prostrate to the higher mind
Got my paper and I was free
I went to the doctor
I went to the mountains
I looked to the children
I drank from the fountains
There's more than one answer to these questions
Pointing me in a crooked line
The less I seek my source for some definitive
The closer I am to fine
The closer I am to fine
I stopped by the bar at 3 a.m.
To seek solace in a bottle or possibly a friend
I woke up with a headache like my head against a board
Twice as cloudy as I'd been the night before
And I went in seeking clarity.
I went to the doctor
I went to the mountains
I looked to the children
I drank from the fountains
We go to the doctor
We go to the mountains
We look to the children
We drink from the fountains
Yeah, we go to the bible
We go through the workout
We read up on revival
And we stand up for the lookout
There's more than one answer to these questions
Pointing me in a crooked line
The less I seek my source for some definitive
The closer I am to fine
The closer I am to fine
The closer I am to fine
Lyrics submitted by Ice
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Fast Car
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Amazing
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Um, this is an Indigo Girls song...