After all these years, no matter how many times you’ve heard it, “Fast Car” remains a shock. There was nothing like it on the radio in 1988, and there really isn’t anything like it now. Its spare, candid tone — in its musical arrangement, in its lyrics and Chapman’s vocal performance — always catches you off guard. You feel like you’re eavesdropping on a conversation between two lovers — actually, you’re just listening to the woman’s side of the exchange. But although 1980s pop wasn’t devoid of socially conscious songs, “Fast Car” felt like a bulletin from a world that rarely showed up on the charts. After decades of songs about cars as freedom, Chapman wrote perhaps the saddest. It’s a song about how a car can’t really take you anywhere.
For
MEL, I wrote about Tracy Chapman's beautiful song, which reentered my life (and lot of other people's) in a profound way this summer.
Hope you enjoy.
