Anyone else here watching the 2024 Grammys?

[Mean_Mr.Mustard]

I was blown away by Chapman’s “Fast Car” back when it was a newborn.

I didn’t know who Luke Coombs was either, and I don’t think his version adds anything to Chapman’s. But I do appreciate and believe to be sincere his reverence for the song.

mmm

[pulykamell]

@carrps

I’d never heard of Luke Coombs until this duet, nor had I hear his version of the song. To my ears, her version is deeply moving, and his version sounded like bog standard c&w glurge to me. He made the song less interesting.

I didn’t know Luke Combs by name, but, good Lord, do they play the ever-living crap out of his version of that song on the radio. I swear I heard it at least three times today. And it’s been that way for it feels like months now.

I agree with you. Tracy Chapman’s version induces goosebumps in me, while this version just seems pretty flat. I’m not going to say completely emotionless, but it’s not connecting with me, and it just feels colorless. And, if you’re going to do a cover, please bring something new to the song.

[Slow_Moving_Vehicle]

@Boudicca90

It may have been my impression then. Back then I was a fan of hers and I hardly ever seemed to come across other people who knew who she even was. It is hard to gauge those kinds of things when you are a teen and the other kids in school don’t share your tastes in music.

I was introduced to Tracy Chapman in college, by a friend who had transferred to Georgia from Mount Holyoke, and knew her when she was a local musician gigging around Massachusetts; this was around 1989 or 90. The album wasn’t hugely well-known, but she had a fair number of fans; this was Athens in the 90s, where indy rock was the dominant genre.

[Irishman]

Let me just say that I never really appreciated Fast Car when it came out, or payed a lot of attention since. Wasn’t my thing.

This new version by Luke Combs comes out, and it’s drawn me in to reconsider the song.

I think his version is fine. And I’ve reassessed the song and Tracy Chapman because of it. So if nothing else good has come from it, consider that as a net positive.

Note: I agree it’s a shame it took a white man covering it to get my attention. I can only say that I now can understand the emotional angst that Tracy delivers, which is part of why I didn’t care as much for the song when I was younger and didn’t connect with it.

I appreciate the notion that the song delivers a particular message in a specific, haunting voice. People don’t necessarily connect with a song because the story matches their’s, they connect through experiencing emotions for their own reasons. Combs connected with the song at a young age, and he admires Chapman for creating and delivering it.

I don’t see any case of a white man stealing fame, either using the song to pump up his own notoriety, or overshadowing the original artist because “a white man did it”. This is someone paying tribute to an artist and song he admires.