Meaning of “Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman

“Fast Car” is a song performed by American singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman. Contrary to popular belief, the song isn’t really about cars. The lyrics of the song tell the story of a couple determined to escape the captivities of poverty and make their lives better.

You can view the lyrics, alternate interprations and sheet music for Tracy Chapman's Fast Car at Lyrics.org.

In an interview with Q magazine, Chapman said of the song as one whose theme is about a relationship which fails to work out mainly because it didn’t start from the right place.

Fast Car

Facts about “Fast Car”

  • “Fast Car” was written solely by Tracy Chapman.
  • The song’s production was handled by American music producer David Kershenbaum.
  • The song was recorded in 1987 and released on 1st April, 1988 as one of the 3 singles released from Chapman’s1988 self-titled debut album.
  • Upon its release, the song didn’t popular until she performed it live at the famous anti-apartheid concert the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute at Wembley Stadium, London on June 11th, 1988. During the performance, the relatively unknown Chapman performed the song accompanied only her acoustic guitar to an audience of over 100,000 at the stadium and a further worldwide audience of over 600 million viewing it live on their TVs. The performance not only made the song popular, but also propelled Chapman to stardom.
  • “Fast Car” is the most famous song of Chapman’s entire career.
  • After being placed at the 167th position on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time”, Fast Car made history by becoming the highest ranking song on the list to have been solely written and performed by a female singer.
  • On the US Billboard Hot 100, the song peaked at number 6 whereas on the UK Singles Chart, it reached No. 4.

 

Did “Fast Car” win a Grammy Award?

Yes, it did. At the 31st Annual Grammy Awards in 1989, the song was honored with 3 nominations in the following categories:

  • Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
  • Song of the Year
  • Record of the Year

It won the Grammy Award for the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. However, it lost both the Song of the Year and the Record of the Year categories to “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” by Bobby McFerrin.

Which artists have covered “Fast Car”?

Over the years, “Fast Car” has been covered by several artists. One of the notable covers includes that of English DJ and record producer Jonas Blue in 2015. The cover features the vocals of British singer Dakota. Blue’s version was so successful that it peaked at No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart.

Below is Jonas Blue’s cover of “Fast Car”:

7 Responses

  1. sarafina m bockarie says:

    which class does the work claim to represent in fast car

  2. Karen H. says:

    The song is about a couple living in poverty trying to find away out to live a better life. It’s sad and poetic.

    To Sarafina: To answer your question, it represents the lower end of working class people making minimum wage or those unable to find work. Good question!

  3. Anonymous says:

    I wouldn’t describe this song as being about a couple trying to rise above poverty. More like a woman/mother working her butt off to support her family and provide a better life while her dead beat boyfriend/husband sits on his butt at the local bar. Which is why she eventually tells him to keep on driving.

  4. Anonymous says:

    This song is actually about generational cycles and the struggle of life – which includes family, work and dreams; not exactly about poverty or alcoholism, working-class poverty not abject poverty.

    It is sanguine and may have some irony.

    The verses are not a flashback, but in chronological order. the refrain is a flashback with subtle changes to note the passage of time and change in circumstance.

    The Old man in verse one is her father, not her husband.
    Her mother leaves the family. She takes care of her father.

    In the end, despite leaving, she finds the boyfriend, then husband, falls into the same pattern as her parents and she finds the same situation, but makes a different choice. This time, it appears that she stays and tells him to leave. Instead of her leaving like her mom. The hope, is that her kids have it better – and so it goes.

    It is optimistic and heartbreaking.

    The work is hourly jobs at first, and a sign of the times, may have actually paid enough relative to cost of living to save money in the first verse, get promoted in the second and buy a house in the suburbs before the third or fourth verse. She said she has a job that pays all their bills, so it is possible that she is in a good job, or a good job relative to previous jobs, or that she has saved and managed her money well enough to be stable.

    This could be a commentary or response to the American Dream from the view of 1988.
    Note there are probably notes of suburban disdain beginning and some commentary on rust belt America in the 1980s. There may be some elements of going to the City to work and then moving out to the suburbs for the family once established financial resources have built up. But it doesn’t solve the problems.

    Now this is full conjecture, the song does not go into why the boyfriend has no job or why the dad became an alcoholic. It could be anything; any reason.
    We don’t know what kind of job the boyfriend is looking for or how hard he is trying or what challenges he is facing. There have been job migrations, in the 1960s and late 1980s where people move from rural to cities and cities to suburbs – at times facing discrimination, cynicism or resentment.
    And I say alcoholic because the phrase “lives with the bottle” and body is too old or looks broken down implies that. though, it may be too old for some heavy labor or jobs that cause disease (lung disease, asbestos, cancers, etc).

    But if the men did work that was dangerous or taxing on the body (mines or factory work), or high paid but unstable (day labor) or if the men are too proud to take low jobs like cashier or at a convenience store, it was common in previous generations for the wife to find stable but low paid work in hospitality. And the men, with no work and society judging them for being unemployed and the wife working, they stayed unemployed. And had social circles of similar men, which kept them out of the workforce and “drove” them to drinking, and sometimes domestic violence (DV is not in this song at all).

    We don’t hear the parents’ or the grandparents’ story, but there is a cycle implied. Each started by leaving home with hope and found themselves where they did.

    This song may (unstated) have something to do with America through generations and the economy relative to cities/suburbs/rural and to gender workplace and social norms.

    Best acoustic guitar intro EVER! Best refrain to belt out. The refrain should almost sound like a car, vrooom. and ending with a clap back “Keep on driving…..you still gotta make a decision, leave tonight or live and die this way”.
    The Best!

  5. Robert says:

    The line “Won’t have to drive too far, Just across the border and into the city” sounds like what an economic migrant faces moving to a different country to find work, something that’s happening a lot in 2023.

  6. Jummy says:

    “Fast car” is a metaphor for a man’s sexual appeal. The song is a lesbian feminist’s argument that men are only ever a burden and an obstruction to a woman’s personal fulfillment and that women should look past moments of sexual intensity caused by boyish men with fast cars, as men are invariably selfish energy vampires who tie women down to unfulfilling lives.

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