From what I understand (and, not being an expert, I may be understanding incorrectly), Luke Combs changes that line when performing in concert, but the terms under which he got the rights to record the song specified that he could make no changes to the lyrics.
That issue is certainly getting more attention lately, and probably still not as much as it deserves. The story of American music forms is the story of black people originating styles, and then white people appropriating it for their own financial gain while not compensating the originators.
But that’s not what I get from this situation. This is clearly a cover of a song he admires, and an implicit acknowledgment of Tracy Chapman. This is bog standard practice.
I mean, it wasn’t cultural appropriation when RunDMC covered “Walk This Way”, and it wasn’t cultural appropriation when D.H.T. covered Roxette’s “Listen To Your Heart”, and it wasn’t cultural appropriation when Dolly Parton sang “We Will Rock You”/“We Are The Champions”.
Garth Brooks had huge success singing “Shameless”, a Billy Joel song.
Yeah, I know most these examples are old. So am I.
Thanks. I did not know that.
Just as an aside, it may seem incongruous for a Country singer to be singing a song in a gender different than their own, but it’s pretty common in the Folk music tradition, where it’s more understood that the singer may be telling a story from the perspective of an entirely different person.
Most people familiar with the Animals’ version of “House of the Rising Sun” may not even be aware that the song was originally written from a young woman’s perspective, but the lyrics make more sense that way. When Dylan covered the song on his debut album he kept the original gender:
…And it’s been the ruin of many a poor girl and me, oh God, I’m one…
…My sweetheart [not father] was a gambler, Lord, down in New Orleans…
Yes, and that’s something that a buddy of mine doesn’t get when I sing along with the radio.
To me, singing is me expressing connection with the song and enjoying the experience. A song can speak to me even if it’s not about me, or I can put myself in the place of the man the song is directed at.
I also will sing the instrumentals if that’s all I’ve got.
Well, at least you didn’t start a fire.
I find the return on award shows too low to watch. I would have liked to see the Fast Car duet. If only there was some sort of computerized system for being able to research the rare worthwhile segment ….
Oh yeah, I was thinking recorded music, but you are correct.
I meant to watch the Grammys but I passed out on the couch from 7 to about 8:20, so I had no knowledge of the Chapman/Combs duet. By about 8:45 I saw my friend had posted a link to the full video right there on Facebook. Profit!
I watched the whole show. My niece is big into Olivia Rodrigo and was excited for the show so I watched it for her (even though she wasn’t with me), and my brother (her dad) was texting me throughout. My mom taped it so she could watch it, and discuss with my niece.
I remember everyone in my family sitting around watching the Grammys last year, after my dad’s funeral. Even my cousins from out of state, who are grumpy old GenX dudes. We just had it on because it was on, and my niece wanted to watch it. I was excited to see Lizzo and wasn’t disappointed. My niece sang along to a lot of the performances. It was kind of a nice memory.
So now I guess watching the Grammys are my thing. My family’s thing.
It’s bit incongruous that those advocating for compensation don’t seem to want Tracy Chapman to reap a financial dividend from the success of Luke Comb’s version. As the songwriter, she gets paid every time the song is performed or played commercially, regardless of the performer. Hit songs that are hits by subsequent artists are a payday for the songwriter.
(It is also why some bands broke up when some of the members realized that the members writing the songs were making more than they were)
I’ve been thinking since yesterday about these responses, mostly wondering why Combs’ cover affects me this way.
“Cultural appropriation” is not just overused but usually misused. Cultures are the sum of the contacts with other cultures. Anthropologists tell us that this pattern has existed as long as can be traced. Cultural elements can be shared, borrowed, taken, exchanged, or any other mix; both sides are always somewhat changed. One side can certainly prosper more monetarily or lose by denied credit; nobody of value denies that.
Not happening here. A song historically has been like a bird let loose in the world; it can fly anywhere and lay its eggs everywhere. I didn’t realize until last night that “For Once In My Life” wasn’t written by Stevie Wonder. Check out that page for its wild history: written in 1965 as a standard, rejected a lot, then covered a lot, including practically everone at Motown. Tony Bennett had an album of that name before Stevie’s single was released - Barry Gordy hated the uptempo and sat on it for a year.
“Fast Car” has been covered too, including a candidate for world’s worst cover by Jonas Blue ft. Dakota. 19-year-old Brit Micharl Collins did a respectful version that made him a temporary star just like Combs.
Did it make a difference that Combs’ song appeared at the same time as Jason Aldean’s ode to country racism “Try That in a Small Town”? Culture responds to culture, lives are shaped by cultural responses.
Maybe Chapman did too good a job with her story. The song didn’t come out of her life: she was a college student and successful songwriter. Nevertheless, the song put a vision into my head of the character in the song that is ineradicable. And that character is unerasable from Tracy Chapman, no matter their differences.
Bodies like the Country Music Association and the Grammys are recognizing and rewarding Chapman and she appears to appreciate and encourage cover artists. No appropriation here. I’ll just continue to avoid Combs’ version and go away quietly.
Right. This is her work, we (whichever segment of the audience “we” are) don’t “own” it even if it has become “ours” in our hearts.
And since the existence of Combs’ version does not eliminate or erase the original but even is bringing more attention to Chapman, I say good for them.
Well, I definitely agree on that song. Celebrating in the good old days how they’d string up a bad guy, while ignoring that “bad” had a loose interpretation if you were Black. Sometimes just meant Black. Very cringing.
I’m not sure if I’m reading this right. Are you saying the song made Luke Combs a temporary star? Country may not be your (or my) preferred style of music but there is no denying he was a star before he recorded this song and will continue to be a star. He’s had multiple number one albums and won many CMA Awards including entertainer of the year two years in a row. The reason why Tracy Chapman was on the broadcast and made I hope a buttload of money is because a big star covered her song.
I wish to thank Wikipedia for help with this reply and all of its contributors. I hope I didn’t forget anyone.
Tom Nichols of the Washington Post had a similar take to mine, which other people were also perturbed by.
Perhaps you watched the Grammys yesterday. I did not. But I did create a social-media controversy you can file under yet another of “Tom’s enraging music takes.” Many people are swooning over the duet (which I saw online) featuring Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs, the country singer who resurrected Chapman’s 1988 hit “Fast Car” and sent it to the top of the country charts. Combs is both respectful and faithful to the original, but his version (which last year generated some controversy) is a twangy, masculine remake that just sounds wrong to my ears.
This observation made a lot of people mad, because instead of focusing on the music (good or bad), they instead wanted to see in Chapman and Combs a cultural marker, a sign of unity, a Much-Needed Moment. (The over-the-top, rhapsodic commentary in The New York Times mentioned, as so many people did, Chapman’s smile. Yes, it was nice.) But not every piece of art has to be about cultural warring or peacemaking or How We Live Now. Something’s lost when a song that once was praised for not only its musicality but also its unique point of view—the harrowing loneliness of a young woman trapped in an urban nightmare—becomes just another country-pop hit. People are understandably longing for a positive cultural moment, but that shouldn’t lead to homogenizing one of the central aspects of the song that made it a classic.
I blushingly admit I never heard of Luke Combs before this song. (Just as I never heard of Jonas Blue or Michael Collins.) One of the reasons my wife and I decided to watch this year’s Grammys was to see who’s what in new music and genres that we were totally unfamiliar with.
I’ve watched about half of it and will finish the rest this weekend. I enjoyed the Tracy Chapman/Luke Combs duet quite a lot. I loved how much Tracy seemed to be enjoying herself and the reverence that Luke seemed to feel towards the song and Tracy.
There are a lot of talented people in that room. Olivia Rodrigo put on a heck of a show. And Billie Eilish is amazing and so is Finneas. I was just mesmerized by her singing and the piano was so perfect, it made me want to cry. They made it look so effortless.
There’s something condescending about that Tom Nichols quote, in particular the way he snuck the word pop in there…I’m sure Luke Combs has some upbeat songs, but in general I think he’s considered straight country, as opposed to someone like Shania Twain or the old Taylor Swift version.
More generally, I think people look down on country music as somehow emotionally inferior. Certainly having grown up in Texas there is a certain type of country music I really dislike, the one that usually involves waving a flag and talking about colors not running, but there’s also some very good, very emotionally seated country music.
My two cents on Tom Nichols, not intended to attack Exapno’s broader take on this.
The Tom Nichols quote came from an Atlantic newsletter, not the Washington Post. Sorry, Tom.
I originally barged in and spoke for you, and now you’ve spoken for me, and much more eloquently.
I didn’t tune into the dumpster fire, but I watched the duet a few times today. Wow. It’s been some time since a song/performance moved me so.
As a 20-something going to uni in the 80’s, I thought “Fast Car” was a cool song. But the story didn’t register all that significantly. I barely paid much attention to the lyrics.
However, hearing the duet and listening and feeling the words this morning as a 60-year-old man, this song cuts deep. I found myself weeping as I realized the existential plight of the song’s protagonist. Each verse so somber, then the rising chorus bringing hope and love and meaning to her life. And then it wraps up with little to celebrate. C’est la vie. [tear]