Song Musings

Happy Hump Day and welcome to another edition of my weekly feature, which takes a closer look at songs I’ve only mentioned in passing or not covered at all to date. On March 30, singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman turned 60, something I would have completely missed, had it not been for fellow blogger Dave who pens the excellent A Sound Day and posted about the happy occasion. Not surprisingly, he also included my pick this week: Fast Car, a song that was instant love the moment I heard it for the first time!

Fast Car appeared in April 1988 on Chapman’s eponymous debut album and like all other tracks on this gem was solely written by her. It also became Chapman’s first single and biggest hit, topping the charts in Canada, Belgium, Ireland, The Netherlands and Portugal. In the U.S., it peaked at no. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, while in the UK it climbed to no. 5. The song also hit certification thresholds in various markets, most notably in the UK where it reached 4x Platinum last month (2.4 million certified sold units).

Not only only did Chapman’s expressive, relatively low voice grab my attention right away, but I also immediately loved the acoustic guitar part. Together with Talkin’ about a Revolution, the second single that also received lots of radio play back in Germany at the time, it made me buy the album on CD and subsequently a companion songbook for guitar. That’s when I fully realized how great the lyrics of these two songs are, as well as the other tracks on the album.

Fast Car tells the tale of a woman who likes to escape her dreadful life and tries to convince her unemployed and unsupportive partner to come with her to build a better future, recalling a time when he made her feel great while they were driving in his car. Thematically, it reminds me of The Animals‘ 1965 hit single We Gotta Get Out of This Place co-written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. Here’s a clip of Chapman playing the song at the June 11, 1988 Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute at London’s Wembley Stadium – an impromptu performance that changed her career trajectory, as explained further down in this post.

At the 1989 Grammy Awards, Chapman won Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for Fast Car. The song was also nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. In Rolling Stone’s 2004 inaugural list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, Fast Car was ranked at no. 167. In the most recent February 2024 revision, the song came in at no. 71, matching its position in the September 2021 update. Fast Car also made Pitchfork’s August 2015 list of The 200 Best Songs of the 1980s at no. 86.

SecondHandSongs lists close to 100 cover versions of Fast Car, mostly by lesser known artists. The most notable exception is country singer-songwriter Luke Combs who included a decent rendition on his fourth studio album Gettin’ Old that came out in March 2023. Not only did he score a major hit reaching no. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and hitting no. 1 on the Country Airplay chart, but Combs also won Single of Year at the 2023 Annual Country Music Association Awards. Chapman took home Song of the Year, becoming the first Black woman to ever win a CMA award. Here’s Chapman’s amazing live performance with Combs at this year’s Grammy Awards where Combs was nominated for Best Country Solo Performance. Gosh, this is just great!

Here’s another cool rendition of Fast Car by Black Pumas, an intriguing partnership between producer and multi-instrumentalist Adrian Quesada and singer-songwriter Eric Burton. According to AllMusic, they fuse cinematic neo-soul, light psychedelia, and a touch of urban grit. Black Pumas released their cover of Fast Car in August 2020.

Following are select additional insights from Songfacts:

In the BBC radio series Striking A Chord, Chapman talked about the meaning of “Fast Car.”

“It very generally represents the world that I saw when I was growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, coming from a working-class background, being raised by a single mom and being in a community of people who were struggling,” she said. “Everyone was working hard and hoping that things would get better.”

“It wasn’t directly autobiographical,” she continued. “I never had a fast car. It’s a story about a couple and how they are trying to make a life together and they face various challenges.”

The catalyst [for Fast Car – CMM] came on June 11, 1988, when Chapman was on the bill at the Nelson Mandela birthday concert at Wembley Stadium along with big names like Whitney Houston, Peter Gabriel, and Jackson Browne. She did a three-song set in the afternoon that included the apropos “Talkin’ ‘Bout A Revolution,” but not “Fast Car.” She thought she’d done her bit and could relax and enjoy the rest of the concert, but as the show stretched into the evening, Stevie Wonder was delayed when the computer discs for his performance went missing, and Chapman was ushered back on stage again. In front of a huge prime-time audience she performed “Fast Car” alone with her acoustic guitar, wowing the crowd and building quite a buzz. The song raced up the charts on both sides of the Atlantic, landing at #5 in the UK on July 16 and #6 in America on August 27. In the US, her album also hit #1 on that date.

Combs’ version keeps a tight grip on the original’s iconic guitar riffs, with a gravelly vocal delivery that sometimes mimics Chapman’s. It’s worth noting that Chapman is known to be very selective about who gets to use her work.

Combs has said that “Fast Car” was his first favorite song, and he learned to play guitar using it. He’s such a fan of the original that he refers to himself as a “girl” in the fourth verse to preserve the lyrics.

[Producer – CMM] David Kershenbaum wanted to create a sonic landscape that allowed Tracy Chapman to shine. Recognizing the delicate balance required when adding additional players to an acoustic artist’s work, Kershenbaum opted for a meticulous approach.

He recorded Tracy and her guitar on a digital machine, then brought in five studio drummers and five bass players to lay down tracks. Kershenbaum carefully curated the mix, picking and choosing until he struck gold with the winning combination of Denny Fongheiser on drums and Larry Klein on bass. [There is also Ed Black on guitar – CMM]

“The combination of Denny and Larry was the correct one,” he told Billboard. “Many times, they are all that’s playing along with Tracy. It’s a third of the record. So, I had to be careful that they were really supporting what she was doing and not distracting because she had to be in at the forefront of this.”

Sources: Wikipedia; Rolling Stone; SecondHandSongs; AllMusic; Songfacts; YouTube