Tag Archives: Fast Car

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Song of the Day #6,576: ‘Fast Car’ – Tracy Chapman

Continuing my list of best debut albums (with quite a few caveats)…

Tracy Chapman – Tracy Chapman (1988)

I was 15 when Tracy Chapman’s self-titled debut came out, and I first heard it when my next-door neighbor, a friend from school, lent me his cassette. I thought he had purchased the single, ‘Fast Car,’ which was getting a lot of MTV airplay, but it turned out the be the whole record.

I took to it immediately, because how could anyone not? It’s beautiful and melodic, but with bursts of real acoustic muscle, and it’s aching and romantic, while clear-eyed and hard-nosed about injustice in America. It’s a true marvel.

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Song of the Day #5,518: ‘Fast Car’ – Luke Combs

It’s been four months since my last installment of ‘What the Kids are Listening To,’ so I figured it was a good time for a summer check-in on the Billboard Hot 100.

In the #1 spot, where it has spent a record-tying 15 weeks, is Morgan Wallen’s ‘Last Night.’ The song now shares the record for longest time at #1 by a solo artist (no features) with Harry Styles’ ‘As It Was.’ One more week at #1 and it will own that title outright and join Mariah Carey’s ‘One Sweet Day’ and Luis Fonsi’s ‘Despacito’ as the songs with the second-longest tenure at #1. After that, Lil Nas X’s ‘Old Town Road’ record of 19 weeks at #1 could be in its sights.

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