This song is proof (if we needed any after Lil Nas X and “Old Town Road”) that the term “country music” has lost all meaning except as a barrier to the “wrong people.” Country’s latest superstar, Luke Combs, has taken “Fast Car” to No. 1 on the country charts — not without controversy.
It’s been 35 years since Tracy Chapman broke into public consciousness with the song, the first single from her eponymous debut album. Though it adds a rhythm section on the choruses, Chapman’s version is otherwise just her and her acoustic guitar — basically a folk song, making its rise to No. 6 on the Hot 100 all the more remarkable.
Chapman’s televised performance at Nelson Mandela’s 70th birthday celebration in June 1988 at Wembley Stadium (she was a last-minute fill-in after technical problems forced Stevie Wonder to cancel) gave the record a boost, but all the song needed was exposure. It stopped listeners in their tracks in the synth-drenched ’80s, a four-minute short story packed with both heartbreak and hope. It would be a remarkable achievement for anyone, let alone a complete unknown.
There have been almost 100 covers of “Fast Car,” but none caused the stir that Combs’ has. By having a hit record with a Black woman’s song, Combs inadvertently highlighted the exclusive nature of country music. Critics point out that Tracy Chapman’s version would never appear on the country charts, and they have a point — Billboard said Lil Nas X was originally kept off that chart because his song didn’t “embrace enough elements of today’s country music” to qualify.
Combs has been playing “Fast Car” in concert for years, and he says it was among his favorite songs growing up. But when it became a hit, it highlighted country music’s hypocrisy.
“Today’s country music” is mostly a mishmash of other genres, mainly rock, shorn of any “country elements” beyond a bit of steel guitar, fiddle or banjo. It increasingly contains elements of rap, but given the market for country music — it’s a red-state thing, people, let’s face facts — its fans prefer it presented by wypipo. If you want to hear something that sounds like country music, you don’t listen to country, you listen to Americana.
Chapman hasn’t given an interview for years, but she released a statement to Billboard. “I never expected to find myself on the country charts, but I’m honored to be there. I’m happy for Luke and his success and grateful that new fans have found and embraced ‘Fast Car.’ “. The rest of her catalog has gotten a boost as well, presumably from country music fans. I wonder what they think of “Talkin’ Bout a Revolution.”
