I'm 26 years old, my brother and I were very close, we worked together, drank, everything. He died in 2018 in a motorbike accident, this was one of his favourite songs, he was 31 when he died. I'm a man but I cry when I listen to this song. Wish I had more time with my brother
We Love you Tracy!!! My wife and I got married in 1986 I was 17 and she was 16 and Pregnant.. I remember us lying in bed listening to this song over and over it brought us some comfort in our little crazy world.. 37 Years and 4 Kids later we still love this song..❤❤❤❣💯
For me, it took me back to 1988 when I was a kid. The good times in my life. Now, I listen to this with more mature ears and understanding. It made me tear up. Was great to see Tracy.
Exactly. Instead of celebrating the garbage that passes for “music” these days. Taylor Swift breaks the record with 4 Best Album Grammies?! It’s madness. She’s talented, but that’s just madness. I could name a dozen artists with 4 albums better than any of hers.
@@diviningoildesigns no one said the Grammys should be the only way we discover new music, but the Grammys would be so much better if that's what they were about.
@@24starchild I mean... not really. The whole song is one big cycle. The singer escapes a broken household caused by an irresponsible alcoholic father and a mother who just got fed up with him and left. They escape by finding a someone with a fast car and skedaddlin' outta there. Only to end up re-creating that broken household. They have kids, their partner never gets a job and drinks all day, and eventually they get sick of it and leave. Turns out the kinda guy who has a fast car and is willing to uproot themselves MIGHT have some underlying issues! There's a reason that the song's chorus is "I remember when we were driving" and "I HAD a feeling I belonged" and "I HAD a feeling I could be someone," rather than HAVE. It's a melancholic recollection of the promise of a new start, after the hope that it brought was gone. It's a song about desperation and false hope, and the cycle of poverty and abuse. It just sounds nice.
@@houdaa13 - According to Wikipedia: "Fast Car" is a song by American singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman. It was released on April 6, 1988, as the lead single from her 1988 self-titled debut studio album.
Tracy’s version is the best; you can sense the need for love and her desperation to break free from her situation. She totally sells this song. After all these years I’m still listening. Timeless…
Yeah Luke Combs covering this song revived it a little. Tracy is an amazing artist and Luke really does the song justice. I'm a heavy critic when someone covers a great iconic song like fast car. Just don't f*** it up and again Luke did an amazing job My grandfather just passed last month 84 and this song was on the radio a few days after. It really made me think of him cause he was a riding/driving fool. Lol he loved going on his long rides on the weekends. I'm gonna miss that man so much 😢
This song is what gave me the power to leave my abusive family behind at 18, the power to leave when i was alone and pregnant at 22 because the father tried to hit me, the power to travel because thats what makes my soul free. From the bottom of my heart thank you for your words and the beauty of your music Tracy Chapman this song has driven my life since i was a small child.
I think you misinterpreted the song… " somebody's gotta take care of him so I quit school and that's what I did".. I don't think there's much sympathy for the mother in this song .. or at least that's how I heard it. It's to be strong together- simple beginnings
@@PositiveVibesVidsI know what you’re saying, but neither of your interpretations is incorrect. Listen to the last lyrics. She ends the song with , ‘you’ve got a decision to make, leave tonight or live and die this way’…. Your choice. This is what makes the song so heartbreaking: at the beginning the refrain is about love and faith, and each time it changes a little (as time passes) but the music stays stuck on these few chords that keep repeating (like their unfulfilled life), throughout the song till the very end where there’s some question as to what is the right thing to do. Different interpretations of art are always legitimate.
I can close my eyes hear this song and think of my struggles through life and feel grateful I made it. I made peace with the trauma my demons and the chaos that surrounded me. Raised my kids with my beautiful wife and find myself wiser and happier than ever.
Dunno why but it always rouses up emotions in me. Close to tears I won't lie, can't for the life of me understand why. Beautiful song, beautiful, beautiful song.
TRUE TALENT WINS!!! The best part of this... is people of all ages discovering her body of work. I have tears in my eyes thinking of Gen Z kids discovering "Give Me One Reason" or "Baby Can I Hold You Tonight" or any of the deep cuts. This is a great day for music.
Testament to how powerful a quiet unpretentious presence can make. Tracy Chapman is a powerhouse of talent and yet she is humble, and simple in her delivery....she shut the Grammys down. Absolutely amazing presentation. What a gift to see her perform live! Thank you for creating such a poignant message that will resonate for generations Ms. Chapman.
Absolutely. Emotive songcraft, yet there was never any ‘tabloid baiting’ behavior, over the top stage show with dancers and theatrics, nor any competitive ‘oneupmanship’ with contemporaries.
Agree. She ate it up. All Those pretentious people and the Hollywood elite in their Gatsby world. Then she comes on that stage and THAT WAS THE MOMENT. -- that will forever be a common link to all GenXers who lived humbly with a key around their necks! Man in was nice to feel like country was real again. For those 3 min and 20 something seconds I forgot about how upside down the country is- and I could catch my breath. Thank You Tracy.
When i first heard this song i thought oh its a good song but didnt pay much attention to it, being in my carefree 20s i was into alternative and metal and goth. Years later i heard this song out of nowhere. I'm middle aged now, childless, never married, but a full time caregiver to my elderly mother who has dementia. Let me tell you this song hits home every time i hear it. I never knew back in my younger years my life would change so dramatically, I'm pretty much trapped here. I love my mom but im drowning in this endless cycle of taking care of her every need. This song speaks to me on a deeper level. She understands the desperate need to just want to leave this current situation and never come back. If you're young, please live you life, travel if you can, experience life, taste foreign foods, meet new people, go somewhere different for dinner, change your hair color, just live before life surprises you with a major change. I wish i could go back to my 20's and live...
I relate.. I didn't finish school and caregived of my dad who passed, then my mom. All before I turned 30. Now I'm 33 and lost.. working customer service with no degree or time after work. life can trap you sometimes..
@@chaii_latte I'm sorry for your loss, I wish I could say it gets better, but it gets easier to accept eventually. You'll be fine, a way will open for you somehow. Just believe a positive change is coming. Good luck!
I bought the album for my boyfriend at the time, he died a year later in 1989. The entire album is a gem. Congratulations Tracy Chapman on your CMA 35 years later.❤
Man , why am I uncontrollably crying right now. Time to dive into this woman’s music. I’m 32 year old man, have definitely heard this song many times through out my life but it just is hitting different right now. Comment section did not disappoint. I hope everyone’s problems become manageable
Same here. I lived in Boston, where Tracy used to play on the MBTA at Harvard Square redline (she was a student at Tufts). I think of the "fast car" being in Boston, but it could be Chi-Town, NYC, LA, or wherever you think. It's such a beautiful, heart-wrenching song.
There with ya Peg. 67 here & I was late for work a couple times because I had to sit in the car to finish listening to the song on the radio. The melancholy is so very beautiful.
1988. Loved this album connected with my heart and soul, my brother gave it to me, but I was shortly left 6 months pregnant and it broke my heart so much that the same tears of love became unbearable I couldn't listen to this album that I loved until now 35+ yrs later. Still cry, still breaks my heart. It's incredible that Tracy Chapman has this deeply profound effect. Voice, sincerity, purity, and honesty, I think. Taio cruz had a similar effect after the death of my true friend, I couldn't listen to any music for a few years. I'm odd.
i come from Germany and i listen to her Songs since the 90s... i was born 84 and this Year i will be 40 years old... i still love her message and style and roots and her own Sound.... ONE LOVE from Germany...
Her song was HUGE in the 90s - she's doing Allright :-). Still get chills and cry every time I hear this song. Am living it right now in that liminal space between having and needing something more to find fulfillment.
I first heard this song when I a 20 year old kid in prison in 2009. I Went in at 17. Got my GED, did a culinary course and got trusty status. Me and 7 other inmates worked at the San Antonio Food Bank after completing the culinary course. I fought tears hearing this song on the bus ride at 5am on the way to work and this song still makes me tear up today.
I remember that when this song came out, it was very different from other music that was popular, and I was surprised it made the cut. Still a great song!!!
One of the absolute best songs ever written. Simple, timeless, so emotional, and wildly relatable. Music just isn't like this anymore. Tracy Chapman is such an amazing artist
Yes, this is one of those classics that you turn up when it comes on the radio. Maybe you're with your friends and you all "sing" along or maybe you're alone and quietly mouth the words. Regardless of the circumstance, once the song ends, most people will agree... "Damn, that is such a great song."
This song came out the spring that I was graduating from high school. My friends and I spent the summer listening to this song on repeat as we spent the final summer together before heading off to different colleges all around the country. It all came to a head as I packed up my crappy little car and headed off to college. You know I popped the tape in as I pulled away from the house. I'm 52 years old now, and this song always makes me think about 18 year old me who was heading out into the world.
this song back then hit hard to me because at that time all I had was a fast car. And no direction in life. What I got from the song was passengers who rode with me would not get far. but I could still help get them to their destination.
I feel the same way as I'm turning that age next month and by looking back to the past at a young age listening to that song, and now it has more of a feeling and meaning as we get older. I like the song because of the harmony and the melody it has when you're listening to it. And it's one of the best songs from our past. Happy New Year and God bless you and your family, sir.
I remember listening to this song stationed in Iceland with the Air Force, June 1988 on my walkman cassette player. I was 23 then. I'm pushing 60 years old now.
Ill never forget being 15 yrs old riding in my husbands car for the first time 17 yrs ago . I felt so free. We got married at 18 and 19 and escaped our abusive families. We started from nothing, worked hard and made a beautiful life together ❤️. Now those car rides feel even more free.
I wish words weren't so hard. This song is my childhood at my grandparents, in my teens when it all seemed to fall, and now as a father wanting more for my son... such beautiful, timeless poetry.
❤Happy Birthday to Queen Tracy Chapman ❤ Tracy Chapman (born March 30, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter, widely known for her hit singles "Fast Car" and "Give Me One Reason". She was signed to Elektra Records by Bob Krasnow in 1987. Thank you for all the hope, love and inspiration you have given me thought your MUSIC Legacy amen.
@@pedropunjabi7339 Nope. There a very few covers that surpass an original. Luke cannot match Tracy's vocals no matter how he tries. Luke also left the music as original as he could. Tracy recorded her version damn near 40 years ago on equipment that doesn't even exist anymore. I'm sorry but even Luke would tell you that you are crazy 🤣
This song was my sons favorite's song, he always used to sing it word for word, It was played at his funeral last September, I lost my son he was 34. My hearts broken, God took my son but cant take my memories, I haven't slept in my bed for a year since he passed as we used to chat to each other through the bedroom walls, They say time will heal but i don't see it, It's harder as the days go past i miss him so much, Fly High son, One day i will see you again. Hold your sisters hand she will guide you
May God bless you, I am praying for you 🙏 I am so sorry for your devastating loss, I believe we will be with our loved ones again when we pass, they are with us watching over us until we can be with them again💞
I too lost my son Joey he was 18 ! I miss him forever! My heart is broken forever as well ! I know how you’re feeling and I am so sorry for your loss you’re in my thoughts heart and prayers always Jay Jay ❤❤❤🫶💫😇🙏
It's nice to think you'll be able to see him again but I just can't help knowing how I am and how plenty of others are. We will take it for granted. We all need to take the present as our only time to experience it
One of the greatest songs ever written. It's rather uncomplicated in some ways and there aren't any fancy musical motifs. What it does have is heart and soul. ❤
When my nephew was 12 I was wealthy ....and I took him shopping 🛍️ downtown. He bought whatever he wanted. I visited him in Seattle and he told me the most powerful sermon that I am documenting now. He said ....the listener learns more then the talker. He is unknown so amour stories are secret. My nephew loved this song my husband liked Luke Combs. It's always about cars. I'm recently a business owner rebuilding my life ...and this song ... changing the whole ball game. It's about driving and talking to God . God bless!!!!!
Can't stop crying listening to this. This is for all the people who deserved a better life and haven't had it. Heads up and trust the future. It'll be bright. Edit: thanks to all the beautiful messages down here. Remember: a smile, a greeting, a little word of love, doesn't cost much to us. But it can change the entire day for another person.
Dedicated to all those trying to escape a past they did not create because they were born in a poor community in a poor family in an impoverished country. Always hope for better, never stop trying.💗💯💪
3 года назад
@Horizon Black You and me both, friend. 41 years; I'll give up when they put me in the fucking ground, and this song will flash across my tombstone.
I grew up poor. Father was a laborer and my mom didn't work because mental disorders. They both were dead by the time I turned 35. As an adult I am successfully. But I still and always struggle to escape the past.
I was a teacher at a high school in a very poor area of Oregon. This song makes me cry because it described exactly the lives of so many of my students. The part where I break down is when she said she worked at a convenience store and managed to save up a little money. Just enough to go somewhere, anywhere, where they can be someone, be someone. Rips my guts, those are my students, hundreds of them, trying to find some kind of a better life...
Brother, you said it for me. I teach in a working class university, where my students are the woman in this song, the ones who never give up. In old age I learned how to convert my courses to online so they could keep getting their degree while working at the convenience store or at home parenting toddlers. Do you teach English? Every stylistic trait you and I praise as great poetry is present in this song. It creates an unforgettable character and a whole novel about ten years of her life in four minutes and twenty six seconds.
@@sanfranciscoprofessor2577 Just got to your message. You're working with the older versions of my students, and they need teachers like you in order to keep pushing, keep fighting. Many of my students become my heroes, they were determined, no matter what, to keep going, to become someone. Most of them came from broken homes, and often, i was their father/uncle/grandfather. Just like you, I did whatever I could to help, if it meant buying them food, tutoring, helping to write papers. accompanying them when they went to unis or community colleges in order that they not get ripped off by the schools. I didn't teach English, Physics/Math were my subjects. The curriculums were horrible, so I would break it down in terms of concepts, rather than just rote learning and memorization. When they realized they weren't stupid, that it was textbooks and curriculums that were keeping them from learning, it was a huge validation. Oregon State U, where I received by BS Physics, had changed their way of teaching because they realized they were graduating people with BS Physics that didn't know Physics. The department had the integrity to realize it wasn't the student's fault, instead the school was culpable, so they began focusing on concepts, knowing the how and why of Physics, which is what I brought to the classroom. My students realized they were always correct, their STEM classes made no sense. You teach in San Francisco?!?! I'm from The City, are you a professor at CCSF, or SF State??
@@sanfranciscoprofessor2577 Without you progressive, inspirational teachers we are nothing! I am not from an underprivileged community or in any way (I feel) disadvantaged, but I have done all my advanced education including my Masters online whilst working full time and raising 2 kids and I really do recognise and appreciate how vital it is in breaking down barriers to opportunities. I’m from the UK and the Open University (who I don’t personally study with) have been a vital tool to so many over the past decades. Keep up the great work.
This is one of the most powerful songs I have ever heard, and her vocal are so amazing! This song encapsulates the mind of I would assume almost every lower/lower-middle class people, all across the world, dreaming of different circumstances.
I'm bawling listening to this song and remembering my days growing up in rural Jamaica....wanting someone to drive me in a fast car out of poverty. I'm doing great now but missing rural Jamaica❤
I wanted to escape a mother who always put me down. The world around me never put me down but like this song, sometimes you can't escape your past... no matter how much you try. ❤️
Congratulations Tracy Chapman for winning Song of the Year 35 years after you released this wonderful song!! We are blessed a second time with your classic hit.❤
As great as the song is and it's award worthy however, how does a song that's not from 2023 get song of the year? I thought that's awarded to songs of that particular year
@@rjmurphyo0because Luke used her lyrics word for word word. The people writing the songs and originally sang it would deserve it more? I'm sure he wouldn't feel comfortable accepting it either. Its hard for people to understand though when you think the performers are at the top when realistically most have writers.
he did! 1st thing he posted it gets best song cause someone is singing it, whether it be today or 35 years later. you sat in the back of the class huh? @@doonfish
Ever listen to a song that hits your soul a certain way? I hear this song and it makes my chest heavy and I tear up with no idea why this happens other than this is an absolute beautiful song.
This afternoon, my fourteen year old daughter (who has been taking guitar lessons for 3 ½ years now) told me that she had begun learning a new song. She'd heard her teacher playing it and asked to learn, because she knew it was a song I liked. The moment she started, I broke down in tears, because it was this song. It was also the very first song that I asked my guitar teacher to teach me when I was younger than her. This has been my favourite song for the majority of my life and it is bred into the hearts of my children. It is such a powerful statement, a beautiful piece of art and I am so very thankful that Tracy Chapman wrote this and stood up and sang it.
She sang it on the Grammy's tonight. That is why I came to her sight to watch it in my day when I first heard it. Love this song so much. Brings back the good times in my life. God Bless.
It describes the generational cycle of life, Only one person can break that cycle and changes the future generations' life and only one person can take it back to where it all began after having a good life.
I find myself listening to this song when the world becomes the loneliest place in the universe, when the people you care about the most are closest to you and so distant and nothing seems like it will be okay. I love everyone who feels like this. I got you all in my prays cause I’m there also with you ❤️ keep taking those small steps forward. I love you all!
This song is an absolute anthem for all the believers and hard workers out there who never gives up 🙌🏼 And she has the most beautiful voice ever, an angel’s voice ❤
@@Augie090it’s crazy it took them 35 years to recognize it. They only did so because it was covered recently and that is the bad thing. This was the best 35 years ago
Yes. I personally love her raw version more than the new version. He has a good voice too and I can see why he got recognition. But I still like her version better. And the words fit better for a young black woman.
This song is for all of us who didn't grow up in an ideal home environment. We can make something of our life and be someone despite of what we came from. We can be someone because of where we came from. Never lose hope.
I’m 17 years old. I live in a small town in Australia. I try hard at school, but have to help dad at the farm, I’m a girl, yet I do the boy stuff, tree chopping, heavy weeding, shoveling etc. someday after this I dream to go to the big city, get a job outside my small town and be remembered .
There are times in your life when you try to make sense of why we are here on this earth. This song explains it beautifully - that the journey of life is more important than the destination. Live, laugh, cry. Have no regrets when life's final buzzer sounds. "You got a fast car Is it fast enough so we can fly away? We gotta make a decision Leave tonight or live and die this way"
1988. The year I graduated high school. This is one of the most amazing songs ever. Tracy is an absolute original and her voice has been sorely missed.
I was 27 and loved this song the first time I heard it, driving through the Great Smoky Mountains of N.C. Thought it was unusual and rather amazing. 35 years later I still feel the same way.
I was 4 years old in 88. Always happy to find great songs like this that I might’ve missed when younger (whether sung by the original artist or a cover)
This song came out when i was nearly homeless with no running water and eating MREs. Married my high school sweetheart and had an early family. We worked hard and invested everything we could. Put the kids through college and we retired early. This timeless classic always takes me back to those dark days.
@@ImmanuelL33 If god was good kids wouldnt get cancer. Fuck any "god" that would willingly create torture for its beings. And don't give me any bullshit about "oh good cant come without bad.". These kids get no god damn good.
I had the cassette of this song. Can still see it! Played it to death. Flash forward to last Sunday! Seeing Ms Chapman on that stage, her dimples, gorgeous smile, and sheer joy with all the total admiration for her that filled the room. Back in the day, Fast Car, for some reason, spoke to many of us, no matter what background, race, or age. And now it's doing it even bigger with decades of love. Fast car aged as the very finest wines! As did Ms Chapman - didn't age at all! ❤🤗👏🏼🙌🏼🙏🏻
Beautifully said...women for the most part run away from gray hair but Tracy embraced hers and it frames her beautiful face effortlessly...Tracy Chapman is and has always been a rare jewel 💎❣️
@@Nothingseen I think the narrator dares her husband to leave her at the end. In the last verse, she says "So, take your fast car and keep on driving," and in the last refrain at the very end, she changes the "we gotta make a decision" from earlier to "you gotta make a decision. Leave tonight or live and die this way." And it's unresolved what happens. Maybe he leaves. Maybe he stays. Maybe they live and die the way things are. Maybe the dare is a wakeup call to change things. That it's up in the air is, I think, a big part of what makes this song truly great. Indeed, it's also possible that the "you" in the last refrain is actually directed at the listener who might be in a similar situation that she was.
Who’s here from the grammys? 🔥🔥🔥 man I forgot all about this song. Growing up in trinidad & tobago i heard this song all the time on the radio. Nostalgia. Congrats Tracy. You’re a legend 🫶🏾❤️🔥
One of my ALL time favorite female artists ever. I know every song by heart❤ however this particular song really HITS home. 🏡 Your amazing Talent combined with Luke Combs had me in tears! Who would if ever imagined!
I think I must have been made at a very beautiful time on earth to be able to enjoy this on my CD player when it first came out. Loved it then, love it now. Thank you Tracy for the beautiful music❤❤❤❤much love from Singapore
I didnt even know this song was from that era I thought it was from the 90s Im an 80s baby not really an 80s kid per se cause I grew up really in the 90s born in 86
Sitting outside here at Ollie's in Cape Coral Florida, ready to listen to the next sets of our local musicians that are getting ready for their next sets. This song was up for a possible play and I feel it.
I’m a 31 year old Luke combs fan from south ga. Maybe I was too young to know it but I didn’t know he got this song from her until today. I’m glad he didn’t change any of her words. She is amazing. Bless you Tracy.
@@margaretr5701 I just didn't realize it was a song from the 80s! It just got covered by a country singer and I definitely thought it was a newer song than that.
