I caught the weeps from this. The "Tracy Chapman" album was a bolt of lightning out of the clear blue sky. Sublime. And like nothing else in the charts. I pretty much wore through the vinyl.
Here in my cave I didn't know there was a Luke Combs or a controversy.
I went to my barber last Friday and nodded appreciatively when I walked in because I heard "Fast Car". I was a bit surprised because she usually has "Hot Country 105!!!!1" playing on the radio.
It took me more than a few seconds to actually realize it was a cover. It's so faithful to the original. As I sat there I realized it couldn't be anything else. Musically it's a skeleton. There's nothing there to take away. And adding anything would strip it of it's power.
If Combs was honored in some way, he deserves it. There's absolutely nowhere to hide in that song. You have a simple repetitive lick and you have to pick up that skeleton and put flesh on it with nothing but your voice and her amazing lyrics.
As for the critics, fuck'em. Just idiot children who have no idea what it meant.
EVERYTHING you said. Read this out loud to my 62 yr old musician husband this morning, before he heads to work, who's white, grew up poor, mom dragged him around through too many marriages to count. Dad died when he was 15. He basically found music as a refuge. He said to me, "all we play in our bluegrass band is covers. (He plays with two guys half his age) We do songs like "Colors" by Black Pumas and "Just The Two of Us by Grover Washington." When they busk on Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, little kids, grownups from all walks of life stop and listen, smile. Last summer I stood and talked to the coolest black man who was smiling away watching them. Turned out it was Grammy Award winning drummer Forrest Robinson! We exchanged IG's. Music is our eclectic community and fellowship minus all the worldly crap. In 1989 I was 28 with a 17 month old and newborn at home. A child immigrant who had to leave my whole family behind, finally had a family of my own. My husband reminded me, as I read your words to him, I had Tracy Chapman on repeat in our VW. It has brought so many tears. Thank you for this Jennifer .. and for the music.
I love what you wrote. You just nailed it. Thank you. You brought me right back to fall of 1989. I can almost smell the Marlboro Lights.
Fast Car was on rewind, an anthem of my freshman year in high school! The thrill of riding in a car with friends shout-singing the chorus as we drove to the coffee shop bookstore in what *used* to be the gritty part of Denver that Kerouac loved, where the punks, and new wavers, and cool jocks and sharps smoked cigarettes, drank coffee, read philosophy, wrote wretched poetry and tried to find love. Or at least someone to mildly stalk and hope to dance with at Rock Island on all ages night.
Art that stands the test of time speaks to the human spirit and tells truths about life—it’s hard, we suffer, yet yearn for and sometimes find love or peace or happiness. We love that art because, regardless of the details, it tells our story too. What a gift to everyone who sees that performance to have a moment to connect to it as human beings, our spirits dancing and soaring at the sheer beauty of it.
Great post, likely echoing the feelings and thoughts of considerate, compassionate, thoughtful, humans who care little for division and everything for respecting others, freedom of thought and speech, and America. Music, like "Fast Car," can bring people together, and Tracy and Luke proved just that, together.
Yes. All of this. There were definitely plenty of people on X saying this, hopefully drowning out the “elite” voices that made all the fuss when Combs’s version charted. Tracy Chapman looked so beautifully dignified and he looked so in awe, I cried watching the video. Fast Car was one of my favorite songs in college, too (I’m just a little older than you). I sent the video to my 20 year old son hoping he would see the same things in the performance that you and I and so many others of our era did. “This is the way.” Let’s hope some of those “elites” were watching and actually understood what happened on that stage.
Yeah I think the Bridge School concert is still happening but sadly, Neil Young is a shill for Big Pharma. Like almost all of the other rebels from back then, he's a weak sell-out now. Disappointing.
Great story/commentary. As a dude, slightly older, my “bookend” to Chapman’s Fast Cars was Springsteen’s Thunder Road. Both set in early adulthood frustrated with their lot in life dreaming of a better life. I love both songs, both have been on my playlist since there was such a thing.
When I heard about the controversy over the cover by Combs, besides making me sad that people can be so color sensitive, it reminded me of a breakfast in Danville, Virginia. Driving into Danville there was an old faded sign cerebrating its role as the last capital of the Confederacy. Being a true Yankee I was not sure what to expect, but sat down to breakfast at a local’s place. And there at Breakfast were all races and genders sharing tables, telling stories and lies, and treating everyone with respect. Made me greatly question the narrative being spouted but the grifters and conmen we all “look up to.”
Danville diner was certainly a great example to me of the good people of America.
Thank you for such a beautiful posting written straight from the heart. I can't help but imagine that it resonates not just with me, but also with everyone who reads it! You captured that powerful combination of passion, youth, heart and music -- sprinkled with dashes of insight!
Thank you - reading this post was a beautiful way to start my day.
Hi Jen.
I caught the weeps from this. The "Tracy Chapman" album was a bolt of lightning out of the clear blue sky. Sublime. And like nothing else in the charts. I pretty much wore through the vinyl.
Here in my cave I didn't know there was a Luke Combs or a controversy.
I went to my barber last Friday and nodded appreciatively when I walked in because I heard "Fast Car". I was a bit surprised because she usually has "Hot Country 105!!!!1" playing on the radio.
It took me more than a few seconds to actually realize it was a cover. It's so faithful to the original. As I sat there I realized it couldn't be anything else. Musically it's a skeleton. There's nothing there to take away. And adding anything would strip it of it's power.
If Combs was honored in some way, he deserves it. There's absolutely nowhere to hide in that song. You have a simple repetitive lick and you have to pick up that skeleton and put flesh on it with nothing but your voice and her amazing lyrics.
As for the critics, fuck'em. Just idiot children who have no idea what it meant.
EVERYTHING you said. Read this out loud to my 62 yr old musician husband this morning, before he heads to work, who's white, grew up poor, mom dragged him around through too many marriages to count. Dad died when he was 15. He basically found music as a refuge. He said to me, "all we play in our bluegrass band is covers. (He plays with two guys half his age) We do songs like "Colors" by Black Pumas and "Just The Two of Us by Grover Washington." When they busk on Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, little kids, grownups from all walks of life stop and listen, smile. Last summer I stood and talked to the coolest black man who was smiling away watching them. Turned out it was Grammy Award winning drummer Forrest Robinson! We exchanged IG's. Music is our eclectic community and fellowship minus all the worldly crap. In 1989 I was 28 with a 17 month old and newborn at home. A child immigrant who had to leave my whole family behind, finally had a family of my own. My husband reminded me, as I read your words to him, I had Tracy Chapman on repeat in our VW. It has brought so many tears. Thank you for this Jennifer .. and for the music.
I love what you wrote. You just nailed it. Thank you. You brought me right back to fall of 1989. I can almost smell the Marlboro Lights.
Fast Car was on rewind, an anthem of my freshman year in high school! The thrill of riding in a car with friends shout-singing the chorus as we drove to the coffee shop bookstore in what *used* to be the gritty part of Denver that Kerouac loved, where the punks, and new wavers, and cool jocks and sharps smoked cigarettes, drank coffee, read philosophy, wrote wretched poetry and tried to find love. Or at least someone to mildly stalk and hope to dance with at Rock Island on all ages night.
Art that stands the test of time speaks to the human spirit and tells truths about life—it’s hard, we suffer, yet yearn for and sometimes find love or peace or happiness. We love that art because, regardless of the details, it tells our story too. What a gift to everyone who sees that performance to have a moment to connect to it as human beings, our spirits dancing and soaring at the sheer beauty of it.
Amen
Harvey Mason on harmony including the Nova Festival
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45YqpOCc6hY
Wonderful article. I still can’t stop playing the video, and playing my Tracy Chapman CD❤️
Wow. Fantastic article. Just captured all I was feeling. Thank you!!
Beautiful on many levels! Also that was a great lineup at that Bridge concert!! Some people just want to be mad, unfortunate.
Great post, likely echoing the feelings and thoughts of considerate, compassionate, thoughtful, humans who care little for division and everything for respecting others, freedom of thought and speech, and America. Music, like "Fast Car," can bring people together, and Tracy and Luke proved just that, together.
I was almost late to work, because I couldn’t stop reading this piece. Thank you for the beautiful words!!
Yes. All of this. There were definitely plenty of people on X saying this, hopefully drowning out the “elite” voices that made all the fuss when Combs’s version charted. Tracy Chapman looked so beautifully dignified and he looked so in awe, I cried watching the video. Fast Car was one of my favorite songs in college, too (I’m just a little older than you). I sent the video to my 20 year old son hoping he would see the same things in the performance that you and I and so many others of our era did. “This is the way.” Let’s hope some of those “elites” were watching and actually understood what happened on that stage.
Yeah I think the Bridge School concert is still happening but sadly, Neil Young is a shill for Big Pharma. Like almost all of the other rebels from back then, he's a weak sell-out now. Disappointing.
Yes!!! So much yes.
Great story/commentary. As a dude, slightly older, my “bookend” to Chapman’s Fast Cars was Springsteen’s Thunder Road. Both set in early adulthood frustrated with their lot in life dreaming of a better life. I love both songs, both have been on my playlist since there was such a thing.
When I heard about the controversy over the cover by Combs, besides making me sad that people can be so color sensitive, it reminded me of a breakfast in Danville, Virginia. Driving into Danville there was an old faded sign cerebrating its role as the last capital of the Confederacy. Being a true Yankee I was not sure what to expect, but sat down to breakfast at a local’s place. And there at Breakfast were all races and genders sharing tables, telling stories and lies, and treating everyone with respect. Made me greatly question the narrative being spouted but the grifters and conmen we all “look up to.”
Danville diner was certainly a great example to me of the good people of America.
Yes- this!! All the feels of the music from our college days… ❤️
Thank you for such a beautiful posting written straight from the heart. I can't help but imagine that it resonates not just with me, but also with everyone who reads it! You captured that powerful combination of passion, youth, heart and music -- sprinkled with dashes of insight!