You've Got A Fast Car

You've Got a fast car Is it fast enough so we can fly away?

Tracy Chapman and Black women's desire and inability to wander

Historical Context

Lyrical Exposé

Songs and Themes

FAst Car

Tracy Chapman

Musical Deep Dive

My Song

Song Comparison

Inspired by Elizabeth Cotton's Freight Train

Historical context

“It’s the way my boat came ova”: African American women, ethnic options & ethnic moves"

• Black women live in America without a connection to any "cultural home"

• Many have little knowledge of their ancestral origin and a feeling of "estrangement" to their American home due to the trauma it has imposed.

What Travel Means to Black WoMen

• Independence without human anchors
• Due to having no strong sense of home, home is established via their partners, making it hard for Black women to leave even when it is in their best interest.
• Escape from expected roles
• Black women in America face intersectional oppression. For generations, they have been expected to align with a specific mold. More than just being submissive to white men and women, Black women are also expected to blindly follow their Black male counterparts. In the modern day, those in the Black community might refer to this type of woman as a "ride or die." Though this term is typically a positive one, attributed to a dedicated partner, it fails to examine a greater nuance. Many of these women stick beside their men because they don't see a way out or place in which they belong. They have no home or tether within the world around them, beyond their men. The opportunity to travel would present the possibility to dismantle the notion that Black women require a man to validate their existence or survive. It is why I believe the songs I examine yearningly speak about travel and movement. To travel would mean freedom, escape, and triumph over centuries of expected roles.

• "Mason, M. G. (1990). Travel as Metaphor and Reality in Afro-American Women’s Autobiography, 1850-1972. Black American Literature Forum, 24(2), 337–356. https://doi.org/10.2307/3041711"

I want a ticket to Anywhere

Oleta Adams: Many Rivers to Cross

Themes in the Music

3 Black Female Artist, of varying styles, singing on travel and the difficulties of escapingCommon Themes:

• A feeling of wanting to escape
• Complexities around gender roles in Black Community
• Attachement or inability to leave male figure
• Obligation to stay despite best interest; a feeling of being stuck

Tracy Chapman: Fast Car

Lyrical Exposé

Gladys Knight: Midnight Train to Geogia

Lyrical Exposé

L.A proved too much for the man (Too much for the man)

Any place is betterStarting from zero got nothing to lose

And it's only my will that keeps me alive

dreams don't always come true

Many rivers to crossBut I can't seem to find my way over

I'd rather live in his world (live in his world) Than live without him in mine

Is it fast enough so we can fly away?We gotta make a decision Leave tonight or live and die this way

Wandering I am lost

Tracy Chapman Deep Dive HEr life in Quotes

On Childhood

“Sometimes there was no electricity, or the gas would be shut off.” She further recalled, “I remember standing with my mother in the line to get food stamps.” -Time, 2000

On Race and Class

“They had never met a poor person before. In some ways, they were curious, but in ways that were just insulting. How many times as a black person are you asked to explain to a white person what racism is or what it means to black?”-Time, 2000

On Music and Meaning

"There’s not anything to say to this mass of strangers that’s significant or not superficial. So I generally don’t say anything, and it bothers people… but there’s no need to explain the songs.” -Rolling Stone, 1988

On Fame and Tour

"Making records and touring, making records and touring, and in that process not being at home and not being settled. They weren't particularly happy times." -Time, 2000

The Significance of Fast Car

A desire for Simplicity

• Take what you've learned about Chapman through her quotes. She is someone longing for authenticity; a life unencumbered by the distractions of fame or glamor.
• It seems all she wants is to get out. This theme is displayed in "Fast Car." Chapman is allured by simple things:
• convenience store
• Arm felt nice wrapped 'round my shoulder
• City lights

Reconciliation with an Unrealized dream

Like "Many Rivers to Cross," and "Midnight Train to Georgia," the possibility of escape is marred with difficulty and complexity. Maybe leaving is possible for her, but only her. What about the life she has created while trying to leave? Most importantly, how would she escape? She is not the one with the "Fast Car."

Musical Deep Dive

The mellow nature of the song contrasts with the subject matter. For the verses, she sings soft and slow about a fast car to display that she is not going anywhere, despite her desires.

The following explores questions and observations I encountered while listening to fast car, specifically pertaining to the musical expression of Tracy Chapman as a singer and composer.

The structure of the song is quite different from the typical American pop song. Rather than verse, prechorus, chorus, bridge, Chapman uses a verse refrain structure. I think this further accentuates the endless cycle of unmoving life she has found herself in. Not much happens in the song. When you hear the verse and refrain, you have heard everything. Like her life, nothing exciting, new, or unexpected will happen sonically.

What is the aim of Chapman's repetitive guitar riff?

• Does she aim to emphasize her mundane life? Maybe she hopes to foster anxiety with the same repeating line, correlating to the anxiety she feels about being stuck in the same place.

How does Chapman's tone and vocal inflection impact the songs meaning?

There is a subtle passion in Chapman's voice. Though her singing is smooth and warm, cracks and vocal flips peak from her voice, portraying her quelled desire to escape.

Personal Connections and Song

• "Anchored" in North Carolina
• Do I crave travel for my own happiness or for someone else?

• What is life and outside of US?
• Told that life in USA is better; more freedom, first world

• A feeling of being stuck
• Confliction with not wanting to abandon family, but not wanting to stay because of how easy it is to get trapped

Comparison Between Songs

Musical Echo Like Chapman, I keep the musical/instrumental aspects of "Back to RDU" fairly simple. The repitition in my song was used to emphasize the endless cycle of confusion I found myself in regarding movement. Like Chapman, I keep my voice light and vunerable in order to remain candid about my emotional confusion.

Who is "You"?

Fast Car:

• A young love, dulled by age and lack of motivation

• Ambigious enough to be replaced by the listener. Someone you care for, but someone who refuses to change

Back to RDU:

• Grounded in a specific location (Dominican Republic)

• Specific to me and a relationship I've had
• Conduit for travel, less present in this song than in Fast Car

Why we Can't leave

In both songs, leaving is dependent on support and cooperation from a man. What stops either of us from leaving? For me, it is due to being young and uncertain. What if I am not happier when I leave? What if I am lonely and confused. What if I am still left without a "home". For Chapman, leaving feels selfish. What about her family: her children, her drinking father, her stagnant partner?

What Travel Could Be

Freedom and the ability to create a real home beyond American borders Escape from a male anchor Escape from unfair expectations, stereotypes, and molds.

References

Farley, C. J. (2000, February 20). Telling her stories. Time. Retrieved April 4, 2023, from https://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,39640,00.html Fast car: Behind the song that drove Tracy Chapman to fame. Dig! (2022, April 5). Retrieved April 4, 2023, from https://www.thisisdig.com/feature/fast-car-tracy-chapman-song-story/ Fast Car: Maxine Leeds Craig & Stephanie Sears (2022) “It’s the way my boat came ova”: African American women, ethnic options & ethnic moves, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 45:10, 1918-1938, DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2021.1977365 "Mason, M. G. (1990). Travel as Metaphor and Reality in Afro-American Women’s Autobiography, 1850-1972. Black American Literature Forum, 24(2), 337–356. https://doi.org/10.2307/3041711" Midnight Train to Georgia: Jacobs, D. (1995, Jun 30). GLADYS KNIGHT: PIPLESS, SHE'S STILL A PIP IN HER OWN RIGHT: [FIVE STAR LIFT EDITION]. St.Louis Post - Dispatch (Pre-1997 Fulltext) Retrieved from http://libproxy.lib.unc.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/gladys-knight-pipless-shes-still-pip-her-own/docview/305055037/se-2