In this paper I chose to write on the song “Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman. I ultimately chose this song because I had a three-way tie going between it and “Hurt” the Johnny Cash version and Jeff Buckley’s version of “Hallelujah”. As much as I love “Hurt” I felt that it may be a bit too dark for this assignment. I chose not to do “Hallelujah” because this is only a three-page paper and I tend to get obsessed when I analyze that song. So I am looking at “Fast Car” which in my opinion is one of the best songs ever recorded.
The song is important sociologically because Chapman wrote it about her experiences before becoming successful. It is about her and the people that she saw everyday struggling to make it while also hoping to find something better. I have read in the past that even though the song is about her experience of watching people struggle when she grew up and her own struggles before she became famous. The song itself is not about her, it is just a narrative about a fictitious couple who are trying their best to create a life together despite the challenges that they face.
I however see it as speaking of society because like the couple in the song many people feel stuck in the situations they are in. In the first verse it is saying that maybe the two people would be better off if they teamed up. This is a relationship that is not based on love or passion. It is only based on their need to escape their current situation. This is something that happens a lot in society. Once I met a woman who was in tears because she had just married her best friend, who she was not in love with for insurance. I think that there are probably a lot of people who get married to escape the situation that they are in, more monetary or medical reasons, because they believe that marriage is a necessity or for numerous other reasons outside of love.
In the second stanza we learn that “Anyplace is better” is not exactly true. They are married but now the narrator is working at a convenience store. Like many people they are struggling to get the money together so that they can have a better life. Nevertheless, the narrator has been able to save up some money that will allow them to move to a larger city where they can find better jobs. This is the idea that if one works hard that they can slowly improve their lives. The last line “and finally see what it means to be living” is poignant in the fact that when people are living paycheck to paycheck. They are not truly living but existing. However, if a person’s or couple’s financial situation can be changed in even the smallest way there can be a huge impact on both their finances and their general well-being.
The third stanza talks about the narrator’s past and what has led them to be in the situation that they are currently in. In this case they quit school to take care of their father, who has a drinking problem because their mother left. The refrain speaks as though the car is the essential piece that is needed to change the narrator’s life. In a way it is because once they make the decision to leave, they do not know what is ahead of them. Nevertheless, they do know what they are leaving behind so in a way the risk is always worth it.
The fourth and fifth stanzas describes the freedom that the narrator felt after leaving the situation that they had been in with their partner. At this moment they have no worries and they are just looking around at all the potential for a better life that surrounds them. It is also during this that we can see that there is some kind of affection between the couple. Then the tone shifts to the car being the only way that they can escape their situation once again. Nonetheless unlike before where the car allowed them to escape physically, it not only provides a mental escape from the tediousness of their lives. The narrator is the only one working, but she still hopes that the situation will get better and that they will be able to have her ideal life.
In the sixth stanza the narrator who is still the one supporting the household which by now includes children. The husband who I have always figured was working is spending all of his time drinking and hanging out with his friends. It is in this stanza that they car switches from a symbol of the narrators hope for a better life to a demand that her husband to make a choice to either better himself or to leave. In a way it seems as though the narrator felt that she had to be with her husband. First because of the car, then because they were married. Now she is just like I do not need you or your car. This is probably because she finally realizes that she can do everything on her own anyway. It is in this vein that the song ends and one never learns rather or not he left.
The car in the song represents many things hope, opportunity, change and a chance for a better life. It also represents freedom from the things that are holding one back or restricting a person’s happiness. I think that it is easy to find many sociological aspects in the song as people every day work hard and struggle for various reasons. However, they continue to do what is needed to pay the bills and support their family. The song also seemed to be saying that until a person lets go of what is not working they will never be able to truly find happiness or a better opportunity.
Fast Car Lyrics by Tracy Chapman
You got a fast carI want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAnyplace is betterStarting from zero got nothing to loseMaybe we’ll make somethingBut me myself I got nothing to prove
You got a fast carAnd I got a plan to get us out of hereI been working at the convenience storeManaged to save just a little bit of moneyWe won’t have to drive too farJust ‘cross the border and into the cityYou and I can both get jobsAnd finally see what it means to be living
You see my old man’s got a problemHe live with the bottle that’s the way it isHe says his body’s too old for workingI say his body’s too young to look like hisMy mama went off and left himShe wanted more from life than he could giveI said somebody’s got to take care of himSo I quit school and that’s what I did
You got a fast carBut is it fast enough so we can fly awayWe gotta make a decisionWe leave tonight or live and die this way
I remember we were driving driving in your carThe speed so fast I felt like I was drunkCity lights lay out before usAnd your arm felt nice wrapped ’round my shoulderAnd I had a feeling that I belongedAnd I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone
You got a fast carAnd we go cruising to entertain ourselvesYou still ain’t got a jobAnd I work in a market as a checkout girlI know things will get betterYou’ll find work and I’ll get promotedWe’ll move out of the shelterBuy a big house and live in the suburbs
You got a fast carAnd I got a job that pays all our billsYou stay out drinking late at the barSee more of your friends than you do of your kidsI’d always hoped for betterThought maybe together you and me would find itI got no plans I ain’t going nowhereSo take your fast car and keep on driving
You got a fast carBut is it fast enough so you can fly awayYou gotta make a decisionYou leave tonight or live and die this way
Works Cited
Chapman, Tracy. "Https://www.google.com/search?q=fast+car+lyrics&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8." Google. N.p., 1986. Web. 20 July 2016.
