9 July 1988
Apparently the driver for this being a hit was Tracy Chapman’s double appearance at the televised Nelson Mandela birthday tribute concert in Wembley the previous month; Stevie Wonder pulled out at the last minute so the organisers asked Chapman to go back on, where she sang ‘Fast Car’ with just her acoustic guitar for accompaniment. After that, ‘Fast Car’ went top ten in the US and UK, and number one here in Ireland.
It’s a nice story and you can’t begrudge someone their success, but this doesn’t make ‘Fast Car’ any less dreary. Fine, it’s a folk song, so it has minimal arrangements and focuses on telling a story, but by the umpteenth hearing of that same acoustic guitar hook I never want to hear it again. Maybe I’m more predisposed to the go-faster thrills and hi-octane joyride of ‘Little Red Corvette’ than this worthy but crushingly dull station wagon of a tune.
