Tracy Capman - Fast Car

Fast Car is Tracy Chapman's most popular song: written in 1986 it's one of the last song she wrote before recording her first album, known under the name of The Debut Album, it's also her biggest hit.
Soon after she performed Fast Car at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert on June 11, 1988, Chapman's song began its rise on the US charts; it became a Number 6pop hit on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending August 27, 1988. While it's her biggest hit in the USA, Fast Car didn't release as a single worldwide.
On March 25, 1996 Tracy Chapman said: "I believe that I wrote the song "Fast Car" in 1986. At the time that I wrote the song, I actually didn't really know who I was writing about. Looking back at it, and this happens with other songs as well, that I feel like I understand it only later... I think that it was a song about my parents... And about how when they met each other they were very young and they wanted to start a news life together and my mother was anxious to leave home. My parents got married and went out into the world to try to make a place for themselves and it was very difficult going.
My mother didn't have a high school diploma and my father was a few years older. It was hard for him to create the kind of life that he dreamed of... With the education that he had.... With the opportuinities that were available to him... In a sense I think they came together thinking that together they would have a better chance at making it"
I had so many people come up to me and say that they felt it was their song and some one told me at one point that they thought I've been reading their mail, they were saying "You seem to know my story" and people would come up and tell me about a car relationship and some detail that they felt was in the song that represented something that happened in their lives."

Lyrics:
You got a fast car
I want a ticket to anywhere
Maybe we make a deal
Maybe together we can get somewhere
Anyplace is better
Starting from zero got nothing to lose
Maybe we'll make something
But me myself I got nothing to prove
You got a fast car
And I got a plan to get us out of here
I been working at the convenience store
Managed to save just a little bit of money
We won't have to drive too far
Just 'cross the border and into the city
You and I can both get jobs
And finally see what it means to be living
You see my old man's got a problem
He live with the bottle that's the way it is
He says his body's too old for working
I say his body's too young to look like his
My mama went off and left him
She wanted more from life than he could give
I said somebody's got to take care of him
So I quit school and that's what I did
You got a fast car
But is it fast enough so we can fly away
We gotta make a decision
We leave tonight or live and die this way
I remember we were driving driving in your car
The speed so fast I felt like I was drunk
City lights lay out before us
And your arm felt nice wrapped 'round my shoulder
And I had a feeling that I belonged
And I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone
You got a fast car
And we go cruising to entertain ourselves
You still ain't got a job
And I work in a market as a checkout girl
I know things will get better
You'll find work and I'll get promoted
We'll move out of the shelter
Buy a big house and live in the suburbs
You got a fast car
And I got a job that pays all our bills
You stay out drinking late at the bar
See more of your friends than you do of your kids
I'd always hoped for better
Thought maybe together you and me would find it
I got no plans I ain't going nowhere
So take your fast car and keep on driving
You got a fast car
But is it fast enough so you can fly away
You gotta make a decision
You leave tonight or live and die this way

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Tracy Chapman
• Fast Car

[deansusky]

Great post ,,how time goes by just like a fast car ,,likeeeeeeee

[TheOldrecordclub]

Love this singer Kashif,she is a great singer.This is real good video mate,5***** Carl

[Ghostorchid2]

Great post Kashif!! I have always liked this song..

[Rikkyhardo]

I never cared much for this song ... though I don't dislike it. The lyrics are great and you've done a grand job on sourcing your pictures mate

[Tackertoons]

I love the lyrics to this song & they are sung with real emotion, Enjoyed watching the vid, Top class editing, faved all the way, Nice work Kashif

[YCSMusic]

Thanks for this classic Kash, bought the album which is wonderful, Fast Car has been a huge hit here again in 2011, the mark of quality.