"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.
This big daddy
I wanna see my boy, anybody seen my boy?
Big dad comin' out
Yo man, he cut out with that D and the chick, man
He cut out with the D and the chick, man
I was a teenage zombie
What's Johnny doin' out on a Tuesday night
Johnny can't read, Johnny can't write
Johnny just don't understand
Johnny don't care about this world
As long as he can fuck his girl
And prove that he's a man
Johnny wastes his days eatin' 'ludes
He's a teenage vegetable
Gettin' high proves that he's cool
Johnny hates to think, he's ignorant
He's a mindless brainwashed pig
Ring a bell, he starts to drool
Degenerated, degenerated
And your minds have vegetated
Degenerated, degenerated
And your thoughts are constipated
He's got PCP in his veins
He's got a void in his brain
He's addicted to the TV
And when he's old, he's gonna have a son
Both grow old, deaf and dumb
What's to become of young Johnny?
I wanna see my boy, anybody seen my boy?
Big dad comin' out
Yo man, he cut out with that D and the chick, man
He cut out with the D and the chick, man
I was a teenage zombie
What's Johnny doin' out on a Tuesday night
Johnny can't read, Johnny can't write
Johnny just don't understand
Johnny don't care about this world
As long as he can fuck his girl
And prove that he's a man
Johnny wastes his days eatin' 'ludes
He's a teenage vegetable
Gettin' high proves that he's cool
Johnny hates to think, he's ignorant
He's a mindless brainwashed pig
Ring a bell, he starts to drool
Degenerated, degenerated
And your minds have vegetated
Degenerated, degenerated
And your thoughts are constipated
He's got PCP in his veins
He's got a void in his brain
He's addicted to the TV
And when he's old, he's gonna have a son
Both grow old, deaf and dumb
What's to become of young Johnny?
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fyi, you can get all 3 of their cds on newredarchive.com