Wednesday, June 23, 2004  

"I had a feeling that I belonged."

Tracy Chapman, "Fast Car" (live)
from Live at Casino de Montreux, Montreux, Switzerland, 4.7.88 (bootleg)
Tracy Chapman "Fast Car" (acoustic)
from ???
Xiu Xiu, "Fast Car"
from A Promise (KRS/5RC, 2003)
Wayne Wonder, "Fast Car" (Taxi riddim)
from Collectors Series (Penthouse, 1999)
DJ Sharon O Love, "Fast Car" (Club Remix)
from a white label 12-inch (2004)
Nice & Smooth, "Sometimes I Rhyme Slow"
from Ain't a Damn Thing Changed (Def Jam, 1991)

About a week and a half ago I interviewed Abdel Wright for an article in Global Rhythm, and we got to talking about how he learned to play guitar. The story that's been floated most often is that Abdel was inspired through repeat visits from Johnny Cash to the Montego Bay-area orphanage where he grew up. While the Man in Black certainly helped, this is what Abdel told me: "I fell in love with the guitar when I listen to Tracy Chapman, long before Johnny Cash. I got my own guitar and started to impersonate Tracy Chapman."

Jamaica has a big thing for country & western music, but it's also crazy for love songs (which place isn't) and, for a while, Tracy Chapman. Like in the U.S., "Fast Car" was a huge hit in Jamaica in 1988. Foxy Brown did a cover---the dancehall deejay, not the rapper--and Wayne Wonder cut one as well (on the Taxi riddim).

I hadn't thought about "Fast Car" in, well, forever. Sure, whenever I heard the tune by chance on the radio I listened and sang along, but I always took it for granted. But talking to Abdel made me purposely revisit the song, and somehow I heard it with fresh ears.

Supa Obvious Bulletin, Boss:
"Fast Car" is a devasting, beautiful song about desire. And Tracy Chapman's voice is filled with such gravitas and grace.

It's no wonder that so many people have covered the tune---hello, Vertical Horizon; and goodbye.

First, two versions by Chapman: a minimalist live performance on electric guitar and an "acoustic" version (i.e., bongos are in the mix) that has some slight rip glitches in it (sorry, dunno where I got it from; anyone know which album, collection or single it's on?). Next up is Xiu Xiu's lo-fi drone; I generally don't like the band but I appreciate this interpretation, which seems in tune with the song's slightly desperate spirit (which might be the only thing in tune). Wayne Wonder's almost Musical Youth versioning and house DJ Sharon O Love play up the melody and hook moreso that the lyrical sentiments---but oh, that hook, that melody! Finally, the here-today, gone-today rap duo Nice & Smooth took the guitar riff and built a smart, catchy song that mixes some socially conscious lyrics with declarations that they rhyme slow and quick. Rock on, fellas!

Tracey Chapman doesn't have an up-to-date Web site, but this fan site is tite, as is this one.

Xiu Xiu is here and here.

DJ Sharon O Love's homepage has some more song samples---and the declaration that it's not Tracy Chapman singing on her dance version of "Fast Car" but rather a soundalike named Lelani. There's an article on Sister Sharon here, and another one about the child therapist by day, house DJ by night, right here. Meanwhile, Ministry of Sound put Lovey's "Fast Car" on their annual spring break comp.

Wayne Wonder, who seems to articulate words through his nose, is becoming better known in the U.S. in the wake of Sean Paul's Dutty Rock, but dude actually got his start with King Tubby more than 15 years ago. Did you know Wonder co-wrote Buju Banton's notorious "Boom Bye Bye"?

Nice & Smooth last cut an album in 1997, but I expect them to start touring again any day now. Hey, if Rob Base can still perform on the strength of one eternally great song, so can Smooth Bee and Gregg Nice.

And for that matter, so can Tracy Chapman.

Posted by CP | Link |

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