Fast Car

Infobox Single
Name = Fast Car


Cover size =
Border =
Caption =
Artist = Tracy Chapman
Album = Tracy Chapman
A-side =
B-side = "For You"
Released = June 1988
Format = 7", 12"
Recorded = 1987
Genre = Rock/Acoustic rock/Contemporary Folk
Length = 4:56
Label = Elektra Records
Artist = Tracy Chapman
Producer = David Kershenbaum
Audio sample? =
Certification =
Last single = -
This single = "Fast Car" (1988)
Next single = "Talkin' 'bout a Revolution" (1988)
Misc =

"Fast Car" is a Grammy-winning song by the American singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman. It was released on her self-titled 1988 debut album "Tracy Chapman". Her appearance on the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute was the catalyst for the song becoming a Top 5 hit in the US, peaking at #5 on the Hot 100, and a top 10 hit the UK, peaking at #6 on the UK chart.The song was nominated for several Grammies including the Grammy for "Song Of The Year" and "Record Of The Year". The song won a Grammy for "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance".

Lyrics

The song is a complex narrative tale of generational poverty. The song's narrator tells the story of her hard life, which began when her mother divorced her jobless, alcoholic father, and the narrator quit school to care for him. Eventually, she decides to leave her hometown with her boyfriend in hopes of making a better life for themselves. Despite her obtaining employment at a grocery store, she falls victim to the cycle of poverty, as her life begins to mirror her mother's; her boyfriend remains largely unemployed and becomes a heavy drinker who spends more nights drinking with his friends than he does with her and their children. Eventually, after getting a job making enough money to cover the expenses of raising a family, she recognizes that though she had wished for a better life, she will have to make the best of her current situation, and tells the boyfriend to "take your fast car and keep on driving." The last time that we hear the refrain it alters from "We gotta make a decision, leave tonight or live and die this way" to "You gotta make a decision, leave tonight or live and die this way."

Chart performance

"Rolling Stone" ranked the song #165 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It is Chapman's only song on the list and one of top ten songs of the 1980s.

Cover versions

The song has been covered many times by bands such as R.E.M., The Flying Pickets, Swimming With Dolphins, Hundred Reasons, Xiu Xiu, Vertical Horizon, Even Nine, Darwin's Waiting Room, Jesse James, The Love Project, Amazing Transparent Man, Matchbox Twenty, The Wilkinsons and by solo singers Kristian Leontiou, Wayne Wonder, Tristan Prettyman, David Usher, Mutya Buena and Hitomi Yaida. It was also sampled by the rap group Nice & Smooth in their hit song "Sometimes I Rhyme Slow", making it a hit within the hip hop community as well.

In 1991, British soul singer Gabrielle recorded a demo of her song "Dreams" which featured a sample of "Fast Car". When it was released commercially in 1993 the sample of "Fast Car" was removed because of legal issues, but the version with the sample was still being played in nightclubs and DJ sets. Los Angeles based turntablist DJ Quixotic is known to perform a cover of this song by manipulating a tone record on a turntable to imitate the notes of the opening guitar riffs. English grime collective Street Politiks also sampled "Fast Car" on their single also called "Fast Car". "Fast Car" was covered by Mutya Buena on the Radio 1 Established 1967 album.

###@@@KEY@@@### s-ach|awsuccession box
title = Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
years = 1989 for "Fast Car"
before= Whitney Houston for "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)"
after = Bonnie Raitt for "Nick of time"|

References