zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Culture
/
Best Song About Escaping Problems In A 'Fast Car' Is Still Winning Awards 35 Years Later
Best Song About Escaping Problems In A 'Fast Car' Is Still Winning Awards 35 Years Later-August 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:11:52

Singer and songwriter Tracy Chapman performs live during a concert in the Tempodrom on November 1, 2005 in Berlin, Germany. The concert was part of her “Where You Live” tour that will end in Paris on December 14, 2005.

We at Jalopnik love , and it doesn’t get better or more emotionally devastating than Tracy Chapman’s 1988 hit “Fast Car.” It’s such a great song, that it is still winning Chapman awards to this day, 35 years after its release.

Chapman won song of the year at the Country Music Awards Wednesday night, thanks to a cover by singer Luke Combs burning up the charts three-and-half decades after the song’s release. Chapman is the first Black songwriter to ever win the award, the New York Times reports:

Chapman, 59, is the first Black songwriter to win that award, Rolling Stone Magazine . She did not attend the awards ceremony in Nashville but thanked the crowd in a statement that was , a co-presenter of the award.

“It’s truly an honor for my song to be newly recognized after 35 years of its debut,” Chapman’s statement said. “Thank you to the C.M.A.s and a special thanks to Luke and all of the fans of ‘Fast Car.’”

Combs, an unassuming star known for his , also won single of the year for “Fast Car.” He began his on Wednesday by thanking Chapman for writing “one of the best songs of all time.”

“I just recorded it because I love this song so much,” he said. “It’s meant so much to me throughout my entire life.”

Combs is not wrong. The sparse, soulful tale of trying to stay optimistic in the face of crushing poverty and catching a fleeting moment of blind joy while riding in a fast car is an instantly relatable, and poignant, commentary on the American and human condition. I honestly get a little ticked off when I hear it playing over a PA system in a supermarket or used as hold music, as if I don’t need to be emotionally prepared for Chapman’s gut-wrenching lyrics or flawless delivery. “Fast Car” has lost none of its power and can leave me in tears if it catches me on the right (or wrong) day.

I mean, who hasn’t broken the speed limit once or twice while thinking “I should just keep driving. I could be somebody if I could just get out of here.” Of course, it’s not as if “Fast Car” is just now getting any recognition, and the Times notes:

The original version of the song reached No. 6 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart in 1988. It won Chapman in 1989, including for song of the year. She won for best female pop vocalist.

It’s a song that has also done very well for Combs, hitting No. 1 on the country music Billboard charts and spending 19 weeks at No. 2.

In case you haven’t had enough feels before your morning coffee today, here’s the original in all its glory:

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Culture
Dangerous Dame -- 'My Name Is Dame'
Dangerous Dame -- 'My Name Is Dame'
Traffic sucks, so why not start your morning off with some music? You provide the toast and we’ll provide the jams. I have no idea why this popped into my head the other day, but I struggled to find anything else that scratched the same itch it did. An Oakland...
Aug 15, 2025
Watch the Very First Honda Automobile in America Come Back to Life
Watch the Very First Honda Automobile in America Come Back to Life
, and to celebrate, the company released a documentary that not only shows the captivating restoration of the very first Honda car brought to the U.S.,a 1967 N600, but it also describes Honda’s fascinating history in the daunting home of The Big Three. The story of how Honda got...
Aug 15, 2025
The Nissan-Renault Alliance Is Disintegrating: Report
The Nissan-Renault Alliance Is Disintegrating: Report
More Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance drama, General Motors’ fight with the United Automobile Workers union, Walmart’s plan to go driverless and profit, Geely’s new autonomous-software partner, and how London will handle that little “pollution” problem it has. All of this and more in for Wednesday, June 19, 2019. Carlos Ghosn, and...
Aug 15, 2025
Dyno Test Reveals the 2020 BMW Z4 Has a Lot More Torque Than BMW Claims
Dyno Test Reveals the 2020 BMW Z4 Has a Lot More Torque Than BMW Claims
Everybody went crazy when put the new on a dyno and found more power at the wheels than what was claimed by Toyota at the crank. Sadly, the Supra’s sister car, the , isn’t as surprising. sent Jalopnik the recent dyno results of his 2020 BMW Z4 M40i, which...
Aug 15, 2025
The 2020 BMW 8 Series Gran Coupe Is For The Real Sedan Heads
The 2020 BMW 8 Series Gran Coupe Is For The Real Sedan Heads
If you want a nice and good and fine four-door BMW, you get a BMW 5 Series. If you want a nice and good and fine version of that four-door but want it with only two doors, you get a BMW 8 series. If you want a nice and...
Aug 15, 2025
The 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Has an Earth-Shattering 760 HP
The 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Has an Earth-Shattering 760 HP
After months of not knowing, the power figures for the are finally here. The supercharged V8 will put out 760 horsepower and 625 lb-ft of torque. Basically, it’s enough to drag down the moon. Back in January, we that the GT500 would have at least 700 horsepower, which would...
Aug 15, 2025
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved