"Fast Car"
Single by Tracy Chapman
from the album Tracy Chapman
B-side	"For You"
Released	April 6, 1988 (1988-04-06)
Recorded	1987
Genre	Folk rock[1][2][3] folk-pop[4]
Length	4:57 (album version) 4:26 (single version)
Label	Elektra
Songwriter(s)	Tracy Chapman
Producer(s)	David Kershenbaum
Tracy Chapman singles chronology
"Fast Car" (1988) "Talkin' 'bout a Revolution" (1988)
Music video
"Fast Car" on YouTube
Audio sample
"Fast Car" file help

"Fast Car" is a song by American singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman, released on April 6, 1988, by Elektra, as the lead single from her self-titled debut studio album (1988). Chapman's appearance on the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute helped the song become a top-ten hit in the United States, reaching number six on the Billboard Hot 100. In the United Kingdom, it reached number five on the UK Singles Chart in 1988.

"Fast Car" received three Grammy Award nominations: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, the last of which it won in 1989. It also received an MTV Video Music Award nomination for Best Female Video in 1989.

Since the release of Chapman's original, the song has had success in two electronic dance versions by Swedish DJ Tobtok and British DJ Jonas Blue, as well as a country music cover by singer Luke Combs. Combs's version was a number-one single on the Billboard Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts in 2023, and won Chapman the Country Music Association Award for Song of the Year, making her the first black person to win the award.

Music and lyrics

According to Metro Weekly critic Chris Gerard, "Fast Car" tells a grittily realistic story of a working poor woman trying to escape the cycle of poverty, set to folk rock music.^[1] The song's arrangement was described by Orlando Sentinel writer Thom Duffy as "subtle folk-rock",^[2] while Billboard magazine's Gary Trust deemed the record a "folk/pop" song.^[4] Dave Marsh said it was perhaps an "optimistic folk-rock narrative", whose characters are in a homeless shelter.^[3]

Release and promotion

Elektra Records released "Fast Car" on April 6, 1988, one day after the parent album, Tracy Chapman.^[5] That June, Chapman appeared at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert, where she was scheduled to sing three songs.^[6] Just before surprise guest Stevie Wonder walked onstage, he learned that his keyboard's floppy disk had gone missing. He left in a panic, forcing the event organizers to usher Chapman back to the stage with nothing but a microphone and her guitar. As the organizers readied the stage for the following act, Chapman performed "Fast Car" and "Across the Lines".^[5][6] This performance brought attention to Chapman's music, with sales for Tracy Chapman increasing greatly, enough for it to top the Billboard 200 chart on August 27, 1988.^[6][7] "Fast Car" itself would reach number six on the Billboard Hot 100 the same week.^[8]

A remastered recording was issued by Elektra in 2015.^[9]

Critical reception

John Tague from NME wrote, "'Fast Car' is a typically well expressed lament, not for those who have suffered extraordinary circumstances, but for those who escape one form of dead end existence only to fall into another, relative material success without the consolation of dreams for the future. It's a keenly felt depiction of the impossibility of escape, rendered tastefully and gracefully, charming in its simplicity."^[10] Rolling Stone ranked "Fast Car" number 167 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.^[11] It is Chapman's only song on the list, and the highest-ranking song performed and written solely by a female artist. When Rolling Stone updated the list in 2021, "Fast Car" was promoted to the 71st spot.^[12] Pitchfork named it the 86th-best song of the 1980s.^[13]

Renewed British success

In April 2011, "Fast Car" entered the UK top ten for the second time at number four after Michael Collings performed it on Britain's Got Talent, one position higher than its initial chart success in 1988.^[14] The single was certified quadruple platinum in the United Kingdom by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in 2024, based on downloads and streaming.^[15] By 2016, it had sold 661,500 copies in the United Kingdom.^[16]

Personnel

• Tracy Chapman – vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, percussion
• Denny Fongheiser – drums
• Larry Klein – bass guitar
• Ed Black – steel guitar

Charts

Certifications

Tobtok version

"Fast Car"
Single by Tobtok featuring River
Released	October 30, 2015 (2015-10-30)
Genre	Tropical house
Length	3:27
Label	Good Soldier
Songwriter(s)	Tracy Chapman
Producer(s)	Tobtok

In 2015, a tropical house version was released by Swedish record producer Tobtok, featuring vocals from British singer River. Tobtok's version was published on SoundCloud on October 30, 2015,^[53][54] and released commercially on November 27, 2015, through Good Soldier Records,^[55] and subsequently licensed to Neon Records in Australia^[56] and Disco:wax in the United States.^[57] Tobtok also released an accompanying music video. Although the Jonas Blue version released shortly after was far more successful, Tobtok's version also charted in a number of charts, notably Australia, where it received significant airplay (some stations like 2Day FM played it over the Jonas Blue version) and reached number 19 on the ARIA Singles Chart in January 2016, while Jonas Blue's version was at number two.^[58][59] The Tobtok version also charted in the Norwegian VG-lista, Irish IRMA, and Danish Tracklisten charts.

Track listing

1. "Fast Car" – 3:27
2. "Fast Car" (L'Tric remix radio edit) – 2:57

Charts

Certifications

Jonas Blue version

"Fast Car"
Single by Jonas Blue featuring Dakota
from the album Blue
Released	December 4, 2015 (2015-12-04)[67]
Recorded	2015
Genre	Tropical house EDM
Length	3:32
Label	Capitol Positiva Virgin EMI
Songwriter(s)	Tracy Chapman
Producer(s)	Jonas Blue
Jonas Blue singles chronology
"Fast Car" (2015) "Perfect Strangers" (2016)
Dakota singles chronology
"Fast Car" (2015) "Dreams" (2017)
Music video
"Fast Car" on YouTube

In 2015, a tropical house cover of "Fast Car" was released by British record producer Jonas Blue. It is Blue's debut single and features the vocals from British singer Dakota; it is also her debut single.^[68] It is the lead single of Blue's debut album Blue (2018). The Club Mix was included on Blue's compilation, Jonas Blue: Electronic Nature – The Mix 2017.

Background and inspiration

In an interview with iHeartRadio, Blue stated Chapman's original 1988 hit is a favorite of his mother, who would often play it in the car. "It was a good song in London that time when I was growing up, so it was always on the radio," he went on to say. "And it just kind of stuck with me. It was that song on the long journeys, and I loved it."^[69]

Regarding Dakota, who provides vocals on the song, Blue said, "... she , 'Oh, I've never done dance music before or anything like that so, I'm not kind of sure.' And I was like, 'Listen, you'd be great.' And she came the next day to record it, and what you hear on the radio is her coming in the next day after her show to record it."^[69] Blue also admitted that he wanted to create a Swedish-esque sound on the record: "I think with things like the synth lead lines in it, giving it that second hook, I was kind of going for a very kind of Swedish-y kind of sound. That's kind of the influence behind that kind of lead synth line, and that was something which I don't think people have picked up on yet, but they just like the song because of what it is."^[69]

Composition

Jonas Blue's version of "Fast Car" is performed in the key of A major with a tempo of 114 beats per minute in common time, with Dakota's vocals ranging from E₃ to F♯₄.^[70][71]

Chart performance

The Jonas Blue version peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart, behind Zayn Malik's "Pillowtalk".^[72] Its UK peak meant it charted higher than Chapman's original, which peaked at number five on the chart in May 1988 and a position higher upon a re-release in April 2011.^[73]

Outside the United Kingdom, the Jonas Blue version reached number one in Australia^[74] and Hungary, while peaking within the top ten in Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, New Zealand, and Sweden. In the United States, the Jonas Blue version went to number one on Dance Club Songs.

It reached one billion streams on Spotify in late February 2023.^[75]

Track listing

Charts and certificationsedit