The Pop Corporation

There’s been a lot of chatter around Luke Combs’ hit cover of ‘Fast Car’, a lot of furrowed brows and people wafting their forks pensively at dinner parties, about whether a country singer should be doing a song by a woman of colour, a woman people assume is gay (look, she might be, but she’s incredibly private about that stuff, so shut up and leave her be), and it all feels like no-one’s really asked Chapman herself.

It seems pretty obvious that Luke Combs is a good dude, and in his version, it “never crossed his mind” to change the line “I work in the market as a checkout girl” according to his manager; “His goal was to honor the perfection that it is, and changing the gender never crossed his mind.”

And Chapman herself, spoke warmly of Combs’ version, saying “I never expected to find myself on the country charts, but I’m honoured to be there. I’m happy for Luke and his success and grateful that new fans have found and embraced ‘Fast Car.’”

Well, to put any murmurations to bed, it has been reported that the Grammy Awards will see Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs performing the song together, live on stage. As Chapman is intensely private and doesn’t do much in the way of performances these days, this is an incredibly lovely moment and one where it’s only right that Chapman gets her flowers.

If you need to remind yourself of how great Tracy’s version is, here you go.