A few years ago, Luke Combs took to social media to post a cover of Tracy Chapman’s 1988 hit, “Fast Car,” and fans everywhere (including myself) were begging for him to release a studio version, ever since.
Combs continued to frequently add the song to his live set-list, only fueling fire to the flame. Fast forward to March of this year, and Combs officially included the cover in his 18-track album, “Gettin’ Old.“
Fast Car was just recently sent to U.S. Pop Top 40 and Hot AC Radio as another single off his latest record. As of April 18, the song has racked up 46 million streams worldwide and was officially the fifth best-selling song in the U.S., all genre, last week.
On staying true to the original production, Luke says: “I think that was always the goal was just not to change it at all, really, in the sense of staying true to keeping it rooted in where it always was, I think was important. I think the main differences in mine and the original is just the quality of equipment that it was recorded on. Obviously, there’s some electric stuff going on that probably wasn’t there. The chorus feels a little bit bigger, just filled out drums and things of that nature, but I think it comes down a lot to the equipment.”
Earlier today, Combs posted a clip on Instagram of him on stage discussing memories of when he first heard the song and why he wanted to record it.
“I remember being five years old… My dad had a 1988 Ford F-150 that was brown with a tan camper top on it. It was probably the cheapest model you could get. I remember it had a cassette player in it….he played me all kinds of music and one of the first songs I remember hearing….there was this one song that really stuck out to me and it was ‘Fast Car.’ I always think about my dad when it comes on and us spending time together. Last year I got to record my own version and this month I got to put it out…”
Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” has always been a favorite song of mine. I too, have many memories attached to that track and will forever cherish them. With that said, seeing another generation get to experience that song 35 years later, is pretty damn cool.
Check out Luke’s Instagram post, as well as the original “Fast Car” cover, below.
Luke Combs | Fast Carpic.twitter.com/ryMTNcqUXo
— Country Chord (@CountryChord) March 19, 2020