In this song, Chapman sings from the perspective of a woman whose life isn't working out as she hoped. She's with a guy who's unemployed, lazy and unsupportive - she works at the convenience store to pay the bills while he's drinking at the bar.
In the chorus, we hear why she's with him: Long ago, he made her feel like like she belonged, like they could have a fulfilling and exciting life together. Riding in his fast car, his arm around her shoulder, all was right.
Speaking with Q magazine, Chapman said: "It's not really about a car at all... basically it's about a relationship that doesn't work out because it's starting from the wrong place."
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 and 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."
"Fast Car" was Tracy Chapman's first single, and an unlikely hit - somber songs from unknown artists usually have a very limited reach.
She was signed to a major label, Elektra Records, which released both the song and her self-titled debut album in April 1988 and booked her as an opening act for 10,000 Maniacs. She gradually built a following, and in early June, "Fast Car" entered the charts in both the US and UK.
The catalyst 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.
Chapman made her demo tape at the campus radio station at Tufts University, where she earned a degree in anthropology and African studies. A fellow student named Brian Koppelman liked her music and brought one of her tapes to his father, Charles Koppelman, who worked for SBK Publishing. He signed her to a management deal and helped land her deal with Elektra Records.
Elektra teamed her with producer David Kershenbaum, who had worked on Joe Jackson's Look Sharp! and Night and Day albums, and Joan Baez' Diamonds & Rust. He was able to translate Chapman's intimate live sound honed playing in coffee shops to her recordings with help from a handful of session musicians. These are the credits on "Fast Car":
Chapman: vocals, acoustic and electric guitar, percussion
Larry Klein: bass
Denny Fongheiser drums
Ed Black: guitar
Chapman followed "Fast Car" with "Talkin' Bout A Revolution," which went to #75, and "Baby Can I Hold You," which reached #48. The album went on to sell over 6 million copies in America and many more worldwide.
Her next two albums didn't have any hits, but in 1995 she returned to the charts with "
Give Me One Reason." She was a big draw on the Lilith Fair in 1997.
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The music video was directed by Matt Mahurin and shows Chapman in a dark vignette, singing but rarely looking at the camera. The video got airplay on MTV, BET, and VH1, covering a lot of ground and helping propel the song.
"Fast Car" won the Grammy award at the 1989 ceremony for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Chapman also won for Best New Artist, and the album took Best Contemporary Folk Recording. Her three wins were more than any other winner that year.
Chapman performed "Fast Car" to close out the ceremony.
Chapman got some positive feedback when she was writing this song from her miniature dachshund, who was sitting on the couch with her when she came up with the music and the first line, "You got a fast car."
"She seemed to be more perked up than usual," Chapman told the BBC. "I don't know if she was responding to my energy or if she was just not as tired as she normally was, but it was kind of funny to have her there for the process of the beginning of writing that song."
Chapman lets her music do the talking. She rarely does interviews and doesn't interact much with the audience on stage. This makes promotion a challenge, but her fans find her reticence a refreshing respite from most attention-seeking pop stars. As you've probably guessed, she stays off social media - her record company manages her accounts.
This song returned to the UK singles chart in April 2011 after it was performed by contestant Michael Collings on the first edition of the fifth series of Britain's Got Talent.
Two popular dance music cover versions were released near the end of 2015.
The producer Jonas Blue was just 21 when he released his version; he wasn't alive when the original was released, but it was one of his mother's favorite songs, so he heard it a lot growing up in England. He struggled to find a vocalist to bring the song to life, but he hit the mark when he tried a young singer named Dakota, whom he spotted performing in a pub. She ended up being the vocalist on the track. This version went to #1 in Australia and was a hit across Europe, reaching #2 in the UK. In America, it went to #1 on the Dance chart.
Around this same time, the Swedish remix man Tobtok (Tobias Karlsson) released his version with another mononymed vocalist, River. This version, which was accompanied by a video, was a modest hit in Australia, reaching #19.
Luke Combs covered "Fast Car" on his 2023 album
Gettin' Old. He has also performed the song live on several occasions.
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.
Luke Combs' version of "Fast Car" climbed to #2 on the Hot 100 dated July 1, 2023, behind Morgan Wallen's "
Last Night." It was the first time in over 42 years that two country songs placed at #1 and 2, respectively, on the Hot 100. On the chart dated March 7, 1981, Eddie Rabbitt's "
I Love A Rainy Night" and Dolly Parton's "
9 to 5" ranked at #1 and 2, respectively.
Combs' version of "Fast Car" reached #1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart in July 2023, making Chapman the first black woman to top that chart with a solo composition.
Additionally, it became the first cover of a pop single to top a Billboard chart based on country radio airplay since Blake Shelton achieved the same feat with Michael Bublé's "
Home" in 2008.
Chapman made a surprise appearance at the Grammy Awards in 2024 when she performed this song with Luke Combs, who was nominated for Best Country Solo Performance for his rendition of the song. Chapman hadn't performed since 2020, when she sang "Talkin' 'bout a Revolution" on Late Night With Seth Meyers.
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.
"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."
"Fast Car" has returned to the charts on several different occasions. Asked by Billboard why he thinks the song continues to resonate, Kershenbaum said: "Everybody has been in a situation at one time in their life that was impossible. At some sort of a crossroads, a roadblock, and they had to make a decision whether to stay in that or leave. Get in a fast car and drive away. That emotion in that situation [is] timeless."
"And then, of course, Tracy's vocals were just magnificent," he added. "I still hear that song as I heard it the first time and it never wears out on me."