ALBUM: Tracy Chapman (1988)
MVC Rating: 4.5/$$
Forget the hole in the head Cracker, the world needs another folk singer like Tracy Chapman.
I had a feeling that I could be someone, be someone
For me it wasn’t that the words blew me away Or the music and playing was so much better than many other great folk singers. For me it was all these things together and the voice. Yes the voice. I can’t really describe it. There are certain voices I really appreciate. And hers, singing about race, domestic abuse, poverty and just plain heartache and heart break, sounded real
That the voice comes from a gay black woman, and seems shot-through with wisdom brought by pain makes it all the more remarkable that it connects so powerfully with an older balding white guy, me, and I’m sure many others like me.
She’s got her ticket is a song about someone in pain who wants to fly away.
She’s got her ticket I think she gonna use it I think she going to fly away No one should try and stop her
And from this Grammy award-winning album, her debut, came probably her signature song: Fast Car.
That song plays on the same theme of escape, and is cathartic in its slow down, speed up sound. The words are potent but the song transcends the words and should be heard. See video below.
He live with the bottle that’s the way it is
He says his body’s too old for working
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
Is it fast enough so we can fly away
We gotta make a decision
Leave tonight or live and die this way