Tracy Chapman

And then, of course, Apple Music was like hey, wouldn’t you like to hear “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” right now

not that the lyrics aren't one of the most stunning features of the song, but the recurring acoustic melody manages to conjure up the imagery on its own, even if the song were to be wordless.

Not that there aren't loads of great songs on Chapman's later albums (there are!), but there's something very special—to me, at least—about the debut and Crossroads. Maybe it's because I love "interzone"-era production (the keyboards, etc) that gets pushed aside on the rest of her discography in favor of more natural-sounding recordings.

Anyway, has Chapman performed on tv or even performed at all between the wind-down of Letterman's show and this year's Grammys?

I remember being super psyched when she did Letterman in 2015 but I can't think of any other time I've seen her in the intervening nine years.

Just “Talkin’ ‘bout A Revolution” on Seth Myers on Election Night, 2020.

Something about this poster makes me realize Chapman could have ended up a Rounder Records folk artist if the time and opportunity had been off.

We are thrilled to see Tracy Chapman get all the love after that transcendent Grammy performance! A new generation of folks are falling in love with her, just as we did back in 1985 when she played our room for $4.50. Check out this vintage poster that still hangs in the club. pic.twitter.com/Ois41mFxwr

— Club Passim (@clubpassim) February 7, 2024

“Fast Car” racked up 949,000 official on-demand U.S. streams on Monday (Feb. 5), the day following the Grammys — up 241% from the 278,000 it notched the prior Monday (Jan. 29). That’s a big gain, though it’s nothing compared to how the song exploded in digital song sales, soaring 38,400% from a negligible amount to nearly 14,000. The Combs version also saw some huge gains over the same period, rising 37% in streams to nearly 1.6 million and nearly 3,900% in sales to just over 6,000.

Could it be enough for Chapman’s “Fast Car,” which originally peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1988 to return to the chart? It’s not impossible, though it will have to do well enough to make the top half of the chart to be eligible for a re-entrance, due to Billboard chart rules about catalog songs. If it keeps cruising through the week on its early momentum though, it may have a shot — and as of Wednesday, it was still No. 2 and No. 52 on the daily U.S. charts for iTunes and Spotify, respectively.

xpost Speaking of that era, Elijah Wald with a great post and photo:

https://www.facebook.com/elijah.wald/posts/pfbid035xdeq7XGWAHJY7TrexbEn1L3XLLhpSTyo8Kqv9qSmvH3Bthb189uViEatYvdbHPyl

love that Passim poster, glad to see they still exist

There was a WTF interview years ago with Brian Koppelman where he talks about "discovering" Tracy Chapman and helping her get her record deal.

Anyway, has Chapman performed on tv or even performed at all between the wind-down of Letterman's show and this year's Grammys?

I don't think so - I remember the Letterman appearance being singled out years later as her last public performance.

I've always loved "Fast Car," it's probably one of my favorite singles from the '80s, so the revival it's getting is very welcome, but I kind of wish the rest of her debut was as starkly produced. The a cappella "Behind the Wall" is also great, but the full-band arrangements for songs like "Mountains o' Things" and "For My Lover" kind of dilute the impact.

Dang, I need to go play "For my Lover"

Good Oxford American essay on For My Lover

back in the 80s I saw Tracy Chapman in the Cleveland airport and lost my shit bc I was 12 and had never seen a musician in an airport before, or even a musician IRL. i went over to say hi and say thank you, and she was very gracious and kind.

My friend used to work at a fancy boutique grocery story in San Francisco and once gave Tracy Chapman advice on which cheese to buy. I think I would have fainted.

If you don’t feel an immense amount of humility in covering this finely wrought, hand drawn map of human frailty, then you probably wouldn’t even have liked the song in the first place.

truth bomb

yeah I only saw a clip of the Grammy performance but I was moved as hell. And like Alfred, Combs heartfelt looks of admiration towards Chapman struck me as well and hit me hard as a music lover. Sorry for corn. Heart emoji.

I posted this in the Springsteen thread, but I've always loved this clip of Chapman and Springsteen singing "My Hometown."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCYbnLNEPD4

Not crazy about the way “Fast Car” has become a “meme” on social media in the past week; but these are the times we live in…

Fast Car (Bass Boosted)

Something I'd completely forgotten until I got talking with another retired teacher today; we both supply now, both used to work at the same board, and she was telling me that she and her husband are seeing Springsteen in Barcelona in a few months, which led me back--the clip above should have been enough of a reminder--to seeing Chapman in 1988 at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens as part of the Amnesty International show with Springsteen, Gabriel, and others. Normally not my kind of thing, but I was seeing a woman at the time who wanted to go.

Springsteen, Sting, Youssou N'Dour, Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman and k.d. lang...that's totally a line-up I would go to see if it was 1988. (Even Sting's set is mostly good, leaning heavily on the Police and bringing in Gabriel for a duet on one of his better solo numbers.)

(FWIW, per that article, face value was $30...that's still only $66 today if that's all Canadian dollars.)

Somewhere this week I read that the Amnesty show was a big break for her, last-minute filling in for a big name that had to drop out.

Looks like "Fast Car" did re-enter the Top 100 on Billboard somewhere around #40.

She lives (lived?) by my kids preschool so I'd see her cruising by every once in a while...

on foot, not in a...

fast car.

https://i.postimg.cc/Sxj7WsnT/tracy.jpg

Lol at that sandwiching

I kind of wish the rest of her debut was as starkly produced. The a cappella "Behind the Wall" is also great, but the full-band arrangements for songs like "Mountains o' Things" and "For My Lover" kind of dilute the impact.

It finally occurred to me that her tour supporting her debut was probably what I was hoping for and sure enough there are plenty of bootlegs out there including several soundboard recordings.

In terms of sound quality, this one isn't the best - a cassette dub of a soundboard recording, from the looks of it, it wasn't bootlegged at the correct speed & pitch and this YouTube upload comes from an attempt to correct that. I'm posting here because the second song is unfamiliar and couldn't be identified. The uploader refers to it as "If I Ask You." Is this one of Chapman's unreleased originals or is it a cover?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbFt0MOVHCQ

(It's at 03:23 - for some reason, I wasn't able to post a site-generated link that went to that spot.)

July 1988 shows in Montreux and Philly seem to be the best in terms of audio. Should be easy to find out there in lossless form.