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Original poster

Tracy Chapman becomes the first Black person to win Song of the Year at the CMAs

86 replies

IwantToRetire · 10/11/2023 18:40

Just posting this because I really like her music.

I think Fast Car is one of her best songs.

She has always been a bit under the radar, so even if it has taken 35 years for this song to be acknowledged, it is well deserved.

And she is a woman in an industry that isn't that good at acknowledging women's musicality.

And it was Country Music Awards!! (I wasn't aware it had been rerecorded)

Yeah for Tracy Chapman

Thanks for your music.

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LoreleiG · 11/11/2023 00:59

Love Tracy Chapman. I didn’t realise it was classed as country music though. My Dad had the album at the time and my friend and I listened to it endlessly after nights out years later. Fast Car is an amazing song. Had no idea it had been covered!

I know what you mean by under the radar. I think that has been partly her intention of course.

Original poster
IwantToRetire · 11/11/2023 00:52

oops - date error -

the 2012 ANC 80th anniversary should be
the 1992 ANC 80th anniversary

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Original poster
IwantToRetire · 11/11/2023 00:42

Although it was a long journey on a very hot day / night I got a last minute ticket for the 2012 ANC 80th anniversary celebration at London's Brixton Academy.

Got there late and it was chaos, so many acts wanting to perform, and everybody over running their time and still Tracy Chapman hadn't played and some started to leave because of missing last trains etc..

But when she came on what had been a very loud (and very hot) audience went totally quiet and we sat there well past the time the concert should have been over, whilst she sang.

And then it was it was like we were transported back to some sort of hippy "happening". Everybody was hot and thirsty but every thing was closed. No buses. The someone reopened their cafe and we all sat on the pavement and had snacks and drinks.

Then unexplectedly an Inspector from TfL turned up and starting explaining to people that their was a night bus service and in those days they all started from Trafalgar Square. So he packed us off in groups to get there and which bus to get after that!

Sorry should have said there was an amazing speech by Walter Sisulu just before she performed which was also inspiring.

There was a wonderful photo of the 2 of them together, but stupid google doesn't seem to know anything about it.

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Original poster
IwantToRetire · 11/11/2023 00:28

Would it have been even better if they had recognised the song when she sang it, tho? As the cover is almost identical in its production.

Rolling Stone (which I didn't know was still being produced) did a slightly more cynical article about Country Music not acknowledging (probably not knowing) her until a white man sang her song 35 years later.

This is a biography of her musical career that shows she has made choices that dont exactly make her fodder for mainstream music papers.

https://www.about-tracy-chapman.net/tracy-chapman-biography/

Tracy Chapman Biography | Biography | Biography

Tracy Chapman's BIOGRAPHY as a timeline from 1964 to 2023...

https://www.about-tracy-chapman.net/tracy-chapman-biography

OP posts:
fabricstash · 10/11/2023 23:08

I love Promise

fabricstash · 10/11/2023 23:08

She was never classed as country music

Karensalright · 10/11/2023 23:01

@PonyPatter44

Yep

PonyPatter44 · 10/11/2023 22:47

Tracy Chapman isn't a country star at all. The whole point is, she's a black woman songwriter, which is a fairly unrecognised category at the CMA.

Fast Car is a beautiful song.

baileybrosbuildingandloan · 10/11/2023 22:41

Would it have been even better if they had recognised the song when she sang it, tho? As the cover is almost identical in its production.

It's one of the best songs ever.

Karensalright · 10/11/2023 22:35

I loved her story. She was at Wembley a Mandela gig, did an early set, Stevie Wonder could not go on, so she was shoved out a girl a guitar. And that song Vaguely known, in the states not at all. Everybody dashed out and bought her album and boom that was that she broke America.

i always wonder if Stevie did on purpose nice thought ….

OhpoorMe · 10/11/2023 22:17

@HangTheJib well that'd explain it 😂

HangTheJib · 10/11/2023 22:11

OhpoorMe · 10/11/2023 22:02

I e never heard of her. But I was born in 1990. She's not a 'legacy' mainstream country name from my view.

Show quote history

she's not a country name at all. that's why it's so unexpected for her to win a country award...

Humphhhh · 10/11/2023 22:08

Fast Car was ubiquitous at every backpacker bar/hostel in SE Asia throughout most of the 90s/2000s. Probably still is. Very famous to some, vaguely recognisable to a different audience.

OhpoorMe · 10/11/2023 22:02

EarringsandLipstick · 10/11/2023 19:34

I can't agree. Tracey Chapman is hugely known and a 'name'; I think you've got it wrong on this OP.

I e never heard of her. But I was born in 1990. She's not a 'legacy' mainstream country name from my view.

BOOTS52PollyPrissyPants · 10/11/2023 21:31

Aw Motherofcatboy that must have been unreal. I know I think back to when I saw Queen live at Slane Castle and I was only 17 back in the late 80's. Great memories and times felt so much safer as we all looked after each other. Years flying by so fast now.

itsmyp4rty · 10/11/2023 20:49

Fast Car is one of the best songs every written IMO, it is so bloody poignant. I was 13 when it came out. The whole album is just beautiful though, she has the most amazing voice and the most beautiful songs. Kate Bush on the other hand is like nails down a blackboard with her scritchy voice.

TitusMoan · 10/11/2023 20:33

Fast Car is a timeless, wonderful song.

Thanks for sharing this news OP.

MotherOfCatBoy · 10/11/2023 20:30

That Wembley concert she performed Fast Car? I was there!!!! She was spine tingling.
Think it was the 1990 one when Mandela was there too.
God I feel old.

BOOTS52PollyPrissyPants · 10/11/2023 20:08

I loved her music and listened to cassettes over and over until I knew all the words of the songs, teenager in the 80's.
Such a good songwriter and such a good live singer and she was massive back then. Good to see her getting recognized for her work and her music never ages. Fast Car is amazing and makes me all nostalgic when I listen to it.
There is always someone on every post on here lately that has to have a go or pick on something the op said, just ignore them as usually there will be a few arguing amongst themselves, just see the funny side as nothing to do with you op at all. Thanks for letting us know about her award.

EarringsandLipstick · 10/11/2023 19:34

I can't agree. Tracey Chapman is hugely known and a 'name'; I think you've got it wrong on this OP.

yellowlane · 10/11/2023 19:33

I know what you mean op. I love her but I don't think she's got the recognition she deserved for her songwriting and singing skills. I think she's not wanted to be in the spotlight though.

HangTheJib · 10/11/2023 19:26

When young people recently discovered Kate Bush (via her music featuring on Stranger Things) there were lots of comments from them as to why Kate hadn't had the success she deserved in the 80s! They genuinely thought she was this obscure artist that no one but them had appreciated Grin Grin

Original poster
IwantToRetire · 10/11/2023 19:24

Honestly the way some threads get derailed by one phrase. Of course i know about Tracy Chapman and how she first became known, but she hasn't ever been like on the front page like some singers or songwriters (not that she would have wanted to bepart of the starsystem), so in terms of the general public she has been "under the radar". But no surprise that those of FWR would have awareness of her.

Is everyone having a bad week and think they will come on FWR threads to share their negativity and sourness. You could have had a nice cup of tea and some cake!

I stupidly thought that it would be a chance to talk about what we liked about her, which were favourite songs.

Thanks to fedupandstuck for spelling out what her award is for and why it is significant.

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HangTheJib · 10/11/2023 19:23

I assume (may be wrong!) that the OP was v young/wasn't born in 1988 when Tracy Chapman hit the big time?

Love Tracy, love the melancholy and the yearning in her voice.

Good for her with the CMA win though. Bet she never expected to win a country music award!

Cancelledcurio · 10/11/2023 19:12

Ma da loved Charley Pride. Tracey Chapman was humungus then and probably still fair rakes it in. She is a legend. But fair play to her winning in the Country Awards!

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