Tracy Chapman

I always check out a new Tracy Chapman album when it arrives, and they're always satisfying, but I really don't remember much about any of them except for liking them at the time.

I've heard from some people in San Francisco that she's turned into a reclusive shut-in, which is sad.

I binged on her music this summer. So good. There's a live acoustic recording of Baby Can I Hold You from French Radio on YouTube that is incredible. Definitive version for me.

http://youtu.be/UTF2qZbVnCM

thank you omar for starting a real-deal thread about tracy chapman! i posted to one of the other TC threads but none of them were just about her in general

the debut is just incredible

i don't know much about the rest though, i'm curious. i often have "talkin bout a revolution" floating around in my head

http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/2013-11/enhanced/webdr06/5/13/grid-cell-9612-1383677856-4.jpg

it's kind of a shame that the charts don't have much room for music like this anymore. and i mean i generally LIKE a lot of the songs on the charts. that period in the late '80s and early '90s seemed particularly good for a mix of every imaginable genre, including a folk song.

Then Play Long reaches Tracy Chapman and comes back with a whole lot else: http://nobilliards.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/tracy-chapman-tracy-chapman.html

Then Play Long reaches Tracy Chapman at her own Crossroads: http://nobilliards.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/tracy-chapman-crossroads.html

And I reach her biggest hit in the United States.

It’s pleasant pop-blues number (as you say). Somewhat “ephemeral,” yes, but — would you turn the radio off if it came on? I wouldn’t.

I would turn off the radio, burn the car, and execute anyone within 500 ft of it.

lol

was "Give Me One Reason" the last twelve bar blues to reach the top 10?

― example (crüt), Thursday, January 15, 2015 9:17 AM (five years ago) bookmarkflaglink

I just found myself wondering this this morning. So was it??

I've heard "Fast Car" two days in a row sitting in public spaces. Far, far from where my musical interests were in 1988, but I loved it then and still do. I was doing an overnight college radio show at the time, and I remember accidentally hitting upon an amazing segue at four or five in the morning one show: Judy Garland's "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" into "Fast Car."

I've never liked her albums (at least they mean well) but "Fast Car" is a major exception. Great single.

i'm not sure how one... how would you say this? Not... like Tracy Chapman?

Wonder if anyone in 2021 feels their hopes were raised too high in 1988 by "Talkin' Bout a Revolution."

i'm not sure how one... how would you say this? Not... like Tracy Chapman?

Well, I don't hate her music. If someone put it on in a coffee shop, I'd sit through it and listen without complaint. It's just...how would you say this...not that interesting.

Wonder if anyone in 2021 feels their hopes were raised too high in 1988 by "Talkin' Bout a Revolution."

The album came out seven months before the GOP won the presidential election (again) in a landslide. Not a criticism against the song, but it must have been massively deflating to anyone who believed in the same sentiment. If I was a politically-engaged voter at the time, it would have been that way for me.

Past "Fast Car," I didn't really like anything else. I do have her first album, which impressively remains on Wikipedia's biggest-selling-ever page: 20 million copies.

As I often wonder with certain left-field hits: could "Fast Car" be a big hit today? The easy answer is no, but weird songs still break through. (Weird in the sense of being different than everything else. "Fast Car" was not weird per se; it was just a 1972 hit in the midst of hip-hop taking over the charts.)

i love her entire catalogue tbrr

Didn't "Fast Car" stay popular through the nineties/early 2000s though, or become popular again, or something? I definitely think of it as a song I grew up with, though it was theoretically before my time.

I do have her first album, which impressively remains on Wikipedia's biggest-selling-ever page: 20 million copies.

Damn right impressive. I may not be a fan, but objectively speaking, it's stunning that an album like that became a massive blockbuster. Given how it was made, the subject matter, etc., I think that kind of success is pretty great.

I guess I imagined the revolution she had in mind was more than a Democratic presidential victory, but, yes, Bush winning couldn't have been heartening.

(xpost) Maybe? I don't know that it's ever really gone away--I've always heard it every so often. I guess it's relegated to Adult Contemporary stations, or whatever they're called now. The Nice and Smooth song might have helped keep it around through the '90s.

TS: "Fast Car" by Tracy Chapman or "Sometimes I Rhyme Slow" by Nice & Smooth

I was there (clem too) when the debut and "Fast Car" took root in the most mechanized -- I imply no judgment -- top 40 of my lifetime to date. These exceptions happened: think "Don't Dream It's Over" and "Luka" the year before.

"fast car" is pretty much a perfect song i reckon

rt

agree

~ be someone be someone ~
😢

honestly that song might be The Great American Novel

not on the level of "Fast Car," but i remain fond of "Mountains o' Things" off the first album, even if the lyrics are rather on the nose.

and "Talkin' Bout a Revolution."

Hard to remember exactly, but maybe Chapman and Vega helped open some space for Sinead O'Connor's big chart breakthrough in 1990?

(Enya, Tinita Tikram...I've probably forgotten someone; there were a mini-boom of female singer-songwriters then.)

Poor grammar were around too.

Hard to remember exactly, but maybe Chapman and Vega helped open some space for Sinead O'Connor's big chart breakthrough in 1990?

(Enya, Tinita Tikram...I've probably forgotten someone; there was a mini-boom of female singer-songwriters then.)

I don't know if they were really lumped in together, but I never associated Enya or O'Connor with Vega and Chapman, they just seemed fundamentally different.

Like Chapman, I'm not really a fan of Vega's albums (much less so) - but "Luka"'s a great single. The one figure (or rather the one album) out of the "folk revival" scene that really stood out for me was Michelle Shocked's Short Sharp Shocked. I didn't even discover it until last year and surprisingly loved it. It's too bad her career went in a crazy direction after that.

(FWIW, here's Greg Kot's contemporary write-up of the "folk revival" https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1989-04-06-8904010655-story.html )

(I should add I never associated Enya with O'Connor either. She joked that she started shaving her head again because someone mistook her for Enya - at least I hope it was a joke.)

The thing all of those ^^ acts had in common was heavy rotation on VH-1.

Vega's best album = 99.9F.

i'm not sure I'd go that far but it's top three for sure

Luka and Fast Car are indeed terrific, era-defining singles from two artists whom I’ve never really been able to get into otherwise.

'Fast Car' was too omnipresent when I was too young to really appreciate it but it's revealed its beauty + genius to me in recent years.

As has 'Baby, Can I Hold You', which I have a hard time getting through without misting up.

After a related conversation, I made this 80s folk mix, not meant to cover all the bases, just some favorites.

She's not a great singer or songwriter, but I really appreciated the soundstage of her first album. Maybe I'm influenced by the look of the album cover and the videos, but it's the way the instruments and the mix outline a shadowy world. Understated but dramatic.

"fast car" is pretty much a perfect song i reckon

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, March 8, 2021 5:49 PM bookmarkflaglink

every time I hear Fast Car it I get emotional in a very sort of non-specific way, i can’t account for it. Those moods of hope & loss & desperation just bubbles something up inside me

with my circle of friends & outside friends & acquaintances it was always THE song that everybody sang together, guy or girl, old or young... like you just have to go for it & give it your anguished best

its an incredible song, no question

But what often happens in terms of radio in these cases is the origninal disappears in favor of the cover--ask Harold Melvin or Percy Sledge. (Actually, you can't.) She'll get the royalties, you just might not hear Tracy Chapman singing "Fast Car" anymore.

How often was this 35 year old song getting played on the radio (and where) to start with?!

It was like Norah Jones’s “Don’t Know Why” at the time, in heavy rotation, and never fully left CVS playlists. Outlasted “Luka.”

Yeah, the places that do play it are ones that play folky stuff or 80s music and they aren’t going to swap it out for a Country cover.

a note-perfect country cover even

I still heard "Fast Car" a fair amount even before the Combs cover — on '80s oldies stations, or Jack FM stations, it's never really gone out of circulation I don't think.

I find the Combs cover stupendous, I'm slightly embarrased to say brought tears to my eyes when it randomly popped up as I was listening to the NPR 2023 playlist, still can't quite put my finger on why it works so well, but alpine static described it well:

deference, i think, is the word you're looking for. he just plays it as best he can w/o doing all sorts of shit to "make it his own" because, assuming we believe him, he just loves the song and it makes him think of his dad.

this is why it's good.

― alpine static, 31. december 2023 00:06 (one month ago)

well, also because Tracy Chapman wrote an incredible song

― alpine static, 31. december 2023 05:22 (one month ago)

I had not heard "give me one reason" prior to the fast car revival, so that's been a pleasant surprise

One of the reasons I am inclined to think fondly of Combs’ decision to cover it is that “Fast Car” is such a non-judgmental and anti-self-aggrandising song - this is where it derives a lot of its power, the absence of judgment makes piercing observations like “says his body’s too old for working / his body’s too young to look like his” that much more crushing.

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.

One of the things I love about this song (in either version) is how well it demonstrates how emotional restraint can imply its opposite. “Says his body’s too old for working / but his body’s too young to be looking like his” - not judgmental but crushing in its observation. Hi

lol at me trying to write long posts on my phone

the best "fast car" cover is jim o'rourke's 20 minute one

oh wait it's 30 minutes

not a very fast car then huh

Love those alpine static posts from December. I also believe that many of today's popular male country artists would have felt uncomfortable singing the "checkout girl" line as written.

Never got into Xiu Xiu's cover.

The Jim O'Rourke one feels like one of those "30 minutes of Billy Joel saying 'JFK Blown away'" Youtube videos.

Xiu Xiu’s cover works well in context

O’Rourke’s cover sucks but I would enjoy to hear Tracy work her way into that version

O’Rourke’s cover is sublime

I've also seen Xiu Xiu do their cover twice, once while opening for Swans, and honestly, I remember nothing else about the show except how incredibly moving it was.

Listened to the Combs version just now, and now listening to the Chapman original. Both iterations still rip my heart out.

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.