"Fast Car" by Luke Combs (Tracy Chapman cover)(partial repost), Monday, February 26, 2024

In 1988, Tracy Chapman's first single "Fast Car" rose to Number 6 on Billboard's Hot 100. Her performance at Wembley Stadium in Nelson Mandela's 7oth birthday tribute helped to kick-start the singer's career. At the time Mandela was still serving time in prison, and the tribute concert gave a strong message to world against South African apartheid. Chapman produced a string of hits in the late '80s and early '90s, but she is best known for today's song, "Fast Car." Last year, “Fast Car” took another ride on Billboard’s Hot 100, this time all the way to number 2. But this time, Luke Combs, a country singer with no previous pop crossover hits was the song’s driver. Combs’ cover of “Fast Car” was just one of the massive country songs of last year. In fact, it was another country hit, Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night,” that kept “Fast Car” from sliding into the top spot.

I GOT A JOB THAT PAYS ALL OUR BILLS. Last year, one of the albums I listened to most was Tracy Chapman’s self-titled debut album. The album is quite musically diverse with folk and pop, even an A cappella storytelling track, the tragic “Behind the Wall.” Years before I got into Chapman’s music, I remember reading either Malcolm Gladwell or Chuck Klosterman talking about how the singer's genre-bending worked against her in terms of longevity as an artist. I wish I could find the quote—it’s probably on my dead Kindle. Sadly, American music audiences expected certain musical styles from people of color. In a 1988 Rolling Stone interview, Chapman discussed with writer Steve Pond her musical influences and whether or not she embraced being a folk singer, a genre most associated with white singer-songwriters. She said:

I think what comes to people’s minds is the Anglo-American

tradition of the folk singer, and they don’t think about the black

roots of folk music. So in that sense, no, I don’t. My influences and

my background are different. In some ways, it’s a combination of

the black and white folk traditions.

Even today, music is still somewhat segregated, though there are now a few mainstream Country singers of color. “Fast Car” has been covered many times, but Luke Combs’ version was the force that brought the song back to the chart.

SPEED SO FAST, IT FELT LIKE I WAS DRUNK. Last year, Country music seemed to be the mouthpiece of a vocal conservative population. Last year, four country songs topped Billboard’s Hot 100. Only 1975 had more country songs top the list, five total. All of the four country songs or the artists performing those songs to top the Hot 100 were controversial, ranging from Zach Bryan’s verbal harassment of a police officer and arrest to Jason Aldean’s minefield of racist gaslighting encoded in “Try That in a Small Town.” Combs’ “Fast Car” wasn’t a number-one hit, nor was it enshrined with controversy. It did spark some interesting conversations brought to light by the Black Opry, a website dedicated to raising awareness of black artists in Country music. However, Chapman herself has endorsed Combs’ cover and even performed with him in a touching moment at the 2024 Grammys. Chapman, as the sole writer of “Fast Car,” made an estimated $500,000 last year alone from her classic. Chapman is an enigmatic artist who has avoided the spotlight and rarely interprets her own songs. An endorsement and a performance seem to be the highest approval the reclusive singer-songwriter could give. When I first heard Luke Combs’ version of “Fast Car,” I thought it made sense that the song would be a Country hit, though as I listened to Combs singing Chapman’s lyrics, I wondered how a white male could insert himself into the song’s narrative. Who is the speaker? Who is the listener? Chapman’s version parallels the speaker’s lover with her “old man” whom the speaker “quit school” to take care of, though presumably leaves for a better life with a lover who “sees more of the bar than [that person’s] kids.” New York Times Popcast critic Jon Caramanica interviewed former Rolling Stone writer Steve Pond who gave his reaction to Combs’ version: “It’s a great song, and he knows it. That’s why he doesn’t do anything with it. . . . Is there a reason for his version to exist? Not really. . . But it turns out the reason for it to exist is that moment at the Grammys.” I ask the question too. The song has been covered hundreds of times; why the Combs’ version? Why not the Boyce Avenue version? The Combs’ version seemed to hit at just the right time to resonate with the overworked and the underpaid. Will Chapman’s prophetic words of “Talkin’ Bout a Revolution” resonate next?

Grammys Performance: