Tracy Chapman Performs "Fast Car" w/Luke Combs

I'm just going to say it:

Holy shit, they sound great together.

Are the race baiters heads exploding? How will they twist it?

I can't believe how great she still sounds. I miss the days when women could actually SING.

R2, it sounds like you're the one who is race baiting

Here's the entire performance.

I'm not even going to try and be cool. I teared up.

R4 you’re an idiot

same r5, and goosebumps

First time I heard Tracy Chapman singing was Fast Cars it was on the radio and I thought it was being sung by a dude.

First time I heard it on the radio, I was transfixed. I’d never heard anything like it before.

I must have missed the controversy about his version. What was it?

I’ve only watched the shorter clip and welled up a bit. Going in for the full one now. Thanks for posting OP and R5.

Thank you R5! Truly outstanding duet. Tracy Chapman has always been an outstanding talent.

He looks totally in awe of her being there with him too. What a great performance.

I had chills the entire time and teared up. It just brought back so many memories, and it was nice to see someone close to my age on TV that looks and sounds amazing.

[quote] and it was nice to see someone close to my age on TV that looks and sounds amazing.

...and natural and respectfully dressed and enjoying the art of making real music...

This made my night. Adored this song the moment it came out. She still sounds amazing. A heartbreaking performance.

[quote]First time I heard it on the radio, I was transfixed. I’d never heard anything like it before.

There WAS nothing like it on the radio. Everyone loved it — New Wavers, metalheads, their parents, everyone. A masterpiece of songwriting and an indelible voice.

People got offended for her, without asking her opinion on it. People said it was racist for a white man to sing a black woman's song again without asking her what she thought about it.

She clearly wasn't offended by the cover. She's probably made millions off of it. And now she's performing for the first time in years with him.

Allegedly, Tracy’s net worth was only $6M, but she made over $1M last year from Luke’s cover. She’s happy.

Remember when she sued Nicki Minaj for using her song without getting copyright or giving royalties.

[quote] I must have missed the controversy about his version. What was it?

R17 hits at the crux of it, R10.

[quote] There WAS nothing like it on the radio. Everyone loved it — New Wavers, metalheads, their parents, everyone. A masterpiece of songwriting and an indelible voice.

When she first released Fast Car, it had to cut its own path. It had to find people and climb hand-over-fist up the charts and become iconic. And that meant so much to so many, but especially to gay, Black women who had rarely seen themselves represented at that echelon, in that way before. When a chubby white guy re-released it, it was an instant #1 hit and that seemed to some both somehow racist and parasitic.

But, he spoke eloquently about how she was his inspiration and as R12 said

[quote] He looks totally in awe of her being there with him

If anything, it's more a testament to her mastery that people had such a strong reaction than any kind of slight or offense that might be perceived. She created a piece of art that transcends the boundaries that some people (including me) wish to encase it within so as to hold precious something dear to them

Everyone liked the song, but my sapphic systers were CRAZY about it. They had Tracy all figured out from the get-go.

[quote]People said it was racist for a white man to sing a black woman's song again without asking her what she thought about it.

What??

He had to get the rights to record it. What did these idiots think?

R21 they’re just always looking for drama.

The same types who scream “white flight! racism!” when the whites move out of the neighborhood, but scream “gentrification! racism!” when the whites move into the neighborhood. There is no winning and everything is a mindfuck, best to just avoid them.

They had a strong reaction because a white country guy was singing a black woman’s song. It was simple reverse racism and misandry with an overlay of red vs. blue America. Great she showed them up.

I love the way she sings with no trendy vocal bullshit, no vocal tricks.

Her phrasing is so beautiful...she's singing but it's as if she's talking, just simply recounting her story.

Her original version hit #1 on iTunes an hour after this performance.

Good for Tracy!

She denied Nicki Minaj permission to sample one of her songs. When Minaj went ahead and did it without Chapman's approval, Chapman sued and won. So clearly Tracy doesn't let just anyone sing or use her material.

I don’t know, OP/r19. “Fast Car” was hardly a sleeper. Chapman’s first album was an instant hit, and “Fast Car” was a top ten single. Not to say she didn’t struggle to get it made in the first place (I have no idea) but success came as soon as it was released.

[quote] People said it was racist for a white man to sing a black woman's song

In my opinion, wrong.

[quote] They had a strong reaction because a white country guy was singing a black woman’s song. It was simple reverse racism and misandry with an overlay of red vs. blue America.

Also wrong.

Yeah, it was a pretty big '90s hit. The entire CD was a big hit. I had a copy of it.

When she first released Fast Car, it had to cut its own path. It had to find people and climb hand-over-fist up the charts and become iconic. And that meant so much to so many, but especially to gay, Black women who had rarely seen themselves represented at that echelon, in that way before. When a chubby white guy re-released it, it was an instant #1 hit and that seemed to some both somehow racist and parasitic.

Uh...everything you've written there is a rewriting of history.

"Fast Car" was released in April, by August it was in the top 10. And this was by an unknown artist.

It was a massive hit. World-wide.

" Fast Car received three Grammy Award nominations: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, the latter of which it won."

" It also received an MTV Video Music Award nomination for Best Female Video in 1989."

So what are you babbling about?

[quote]When she first released Fast Car, it had to cut its own path. It had to find people and climb hand-over-fist up the charts and become iconic. And that meant so much to so many, but especially to gay, Black women who had rarely seen themselves represented at that echelon, in that way before. When a chubby white guy re-released it, it was an instant #1 hit and that seemed to some both somehow racist and parasitic.

Uh...everything you've written there is a rewriting of history.

"Fast Car" was released in April, by August it was in the top 10. And this was by an unknown artist.

It was a massive hit. World-wide.

" Fast Car received three Grammy Award nominations: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, the latter of which it won."

" It also received an MTV Video Music Award nomination for Best Female Video in 1989."

So what are you babbling about?

I would have lost my mind if I was in the audience.

I hope they record it as a duet. I’d buy it.

Tracy got signed nearly instantly in her early twenties to a major label because a STRAIGHT WHITE CIS MALE NEPO BABY loved her music.

Her Tufts classmate, Brian Koppelman, heard her playing and brought her to the attention of his father, Charles Koppelman, showing him a demo tape he had smuggled from her college radio station containing the song "Talkin' 'bout a Revolution". Koppelman, who ran SBK Publishing, signed her in 1986. After she graduated from Tufts in 1987, he helped her to sign a contract with Elektra Records.

At Elektra, she released Tracy Chapman (1988). The album was critically acclaimed, and she began touring and building a fanbase. "Fast Car" began its rise on the U.S. charts soon after she performed it at the televised Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert at Wembley Stadium, London, in June 1988.

Not exactly slinging cassettes out the back of her trunk…

You woke Cunts should stop reinventing and rewriting HERstory.

I hadn't seen her on TV since David Letterman retired. It was very nice to see her tonight. I hope she performs more often. I used to have all of her albums.

I was spellbound by Joni's performance.

The audience was eating up that performance and clearly had mad respect for Tracy

Talk about being a national treasure, she is IT, honey.

Still don't get the appeal of Combs, however.

She turned into a handsome woman, beautiful really. I think everyone loved the song because of its simplicity.

Dammit, I teared up too. Fucking legend. Take note, Beyonce, Taylor, ad all you other try-hard hos.

It's a beautiful song that resonates with a lot of people who at some point, want to escape their lives, do better, and "be someone."

[quote]They had a strong reaction because a white country guy was singing a black woman’s song. It was simple reverse racism and misandry with an overlay of red vs. blue America. Great she showed them up.

[quote]People got offended for her, without asking her opinion on it. People said it was racist for a white man to sing a black woman's song again without asking her what she thought about it. She clearly wasn't offended by the cover. She's probably made millions off of it. And now she's performing for the first time in years with him.

People who see everything though the prism of whiteness, patriarchy and oppression forced themselves to see Tracy Chapman as a victim, rather than a living legend who was celebrated with a cover of her song which is regarded as an all time classic.

Fast Car and the Tracy Chapman album had been released in the UK in May 88, She appeared at the Nelson Mandela concert on 11th June. Two weeks later Fast Car was in the top 10 and Tracy Chapman was the number one album in the UK, and it spent 4 months in the top 10. In 1989 she won 2 Brit Awards. Her success in the US was identical and she won 3 Grammys including best new artist and was nominated for others (Bobby McFerrin won record and song of the year and Faith won album of the year). She was accepted and celebrated for who she was.

That this young working class black woman could achieve that in the period of Reagan and Thatcher is unthinkable to progressives, especially the guilty white identity obsessed people in journalism and comment. She wrote ALL the songs on the album with sole writing credit. She will have made MILLIONS from that album.

Part of the synthetic outrage is that Tracy is not a typical black female musician. The previous winners of the Best New Artist Grammy were Jody Watley and Sade. Tracy was more like The Bangles, Chrissie Hynde or Stevie Nicks. The modern day Tracy is Taylor Swift, not Beyonce or Lizzo.

And Fast Car inspired Gabrielle's Dreams, a huge hit in the UK and best known in the US for being Quiz Kid Donnie Smith's go to song.

When I was a little boy, I used to love to write the lyrics to songs that moved me. Yes, I was a bit precocious! I was only exposed to songs my mom played, so only those songs made my "lyrics list". Songs like Day in the Life, Fire and Rain, Daydream Believer, Blue.

Fast Car was the first "modern" song that moved me enough as a kid to write out the lyrics. I loved it when I first heard it at 8 and I love it now. I think it's a near perfect song.

I am not a country fan, but Luke Combs did a great job with his version and I loved this performance. Tracy is one of the best to ever do it.

she seems like she'd be a good neighbor, very trustworthy look.

Iconic song. Hope she makes $$$$$ with this revival of interest.

One of the better mashups created.

They finally put up a great quality video of the Grammy duet.

[quote] I don’t know, OP/[R19]. “Fast Car” was hardly a sleeper. Chapman’s first album was an instant hit, and “Fast Car” was a top ten single. Not to say she didn’t struggle to get it made in the first place (I have no idea) but success came as soon as it was released.

Combs had some awkward quotes about his cover at first -- like something to the effect that he did not know Chapman wrote the song but he always loved it. He straightened up after all the controversy. If he had shown reverence for the Chapman from day one I don't think there would have been any issues.

The other half is that Chapman disappeared so completely all the mewling commentators were not even aware she'd sold 20 million copies of her debut album and was wildly acclaimed 35 years ago.

R47 I don’t know about that. He’s not some TikTok karaoke guy. He’s a professional with a team of professionals managing his business. He knew he had to get her permission and rights to record and perform the song. He has to pay her each time he performs the song in public.

Next up: Josie Cotton performs "Johnny Are You Queer?" with Luke Bryan.

Tracy Chapman almost never gives interviews and after the think pieces by idiots that try to speak for her I can see why she doesn’t. Does anyone remember the stupid piece in the Washington post trying to make Chapman out to be a poor victim and calling her a queer black woman despite the fact she has never called herself a “queer woman”.

Most of these articles come from people who were shitting in their diapers or weren’t born when Chapmans first album came out and have zero clue what a sensation it was at the time.

No combs has said it was the first song he learned to play on the guitar as a kid and has acknowledged Chapmans genius at his concerts for years.

Fingering my cunt at speeds that make me feel like I’m drunk

The Kim Wayans parody was brilliant. I

Corrected link. Also check out the crystal waters one that apparently hurt her feelings.

I've always seen her as a forgotten 90s one-hit wonder who could not maintain a successful career. In the same vein as "My Name Is Luca" and "Foolish Games" (Jewel).

But it's sweet when the Under-45s 'discover' a song. There's a creepy loathing they have toward anything before the year 2000.

R42, how is that precocious? It just sounds affected to me.

[quote] Most of these articles come from people who were shitting in their diapers or weren’t born when Chapmans first album came out and have zero clue what a sensation it was at the time.

Yes - they can’t comprehend that a black woman achieved huge success on her own terms. They can’t comprehend that the industry celebrated the huge success of a young black woman by nominating her for every award going.

And they can’t comprehend that Tracy achieved success in a largely white male genre, as I wrote in R41.

The lack of comprehension means Tracy had to become a victim, not the hero of the story.

Thanks for posting that link, R46.

Much as I truly hate Taylor Swift, I would have been standing and singing too.

R54 the fact that you think (without bothering to do a quick Google search) that Tracy Chapman, Suzanne Vega, or Jewel are one hit wonders makes you as ignorant as those you disparage.

It wasn't as if this was the first time white dudes had had a hit with a Tracy song

I finally watched the performance on YT. Admit that I cried throughout. Tracy was obviously touched. Nice to see an artist appreciated before they’re 80 years old.

I never liked or disliked Taylor Swift until now, though. She was the only audience member standing. She was singing along and drawing attention to herself.

Why not sit, watch, listen, and learn. What an attention hog.

Chapman's eponymous first album is GREAT.

Yeah, i had that cd. The other songs i remember off the top of my head are Talkin about a Revolution & For My Lover.

Love Tracey. I remember listening to her albums over and over, I knew all the lyrics and the rotation.

Baby can I hold you would be a beautiful duet. Tracy looks absolutely amazing. She is aging like fine wine. Beautiful skin and bone structure.

She shouldn't have been my thing. I was 16 and pretty much on my own when Fast Car was released. At the time I was thoroughly immersed in punk, new wave, hitting clubs in the city, etc. But the song pierced my adolescent armor - simply by making me feel seen. I was suppressing SO much internally, wracked with neurosis and fear over being gay, AIDS which was everywhere, the pressures of being alone and young, trying to keep my head above water. When it all felt like too much, I'd daydream about getting away...somewhere, anywhere that felt safe.

The first time I heard the song I cried like a bitch. Still do.

I loved how the audience cheered when they heard the first notes of the song and then SCREAMED when the lights came up and it was Tracy. Her music totally transcends gender and age.

I hope this leads to a rediscovery of the whole album. I was in college when the album was released -- its appeal crossed genders and cultures. Everyone played it start to finish. I can't think of another album of the era that captured such a broad audience.

Faves were:

Fast Car

For You

Talkin Bout a Revolution

For My Lover

She's Got Her Ticket

It strikes me now, how prophetic this song is. Hopes and dreams decimated due to lack of opportunity, leading to shit jobs, shit wages, substance abuse - self destruction.

Basically describes the shit show unleashed by stage capitalism in the last 20 or so years.

This came on at work the other day and I started crying.

As a brain surgeon, this was a problem. I kid. I own a little retail shop. But seriously, her voice always brings back memories and this was a favorite in high school. Those days of first crushes and unrequited love.

My favorite other than Fast Car is Give me one reason

I know nothing of Luke beside I really like his rendition of the song, I love that he mouths the words while Tracy is singing and he obviously respects her, he looks at her lovingly

But why did he have to mouth the words when it wasnt his part of the duet?

Honestly, he wasn't treating it like a duet. He was treating it like he was backing her up.