Tracy Chapman - Fast Car April, 1988

Kina Grannis And Boyce Avenue 

 Fast car is a song about the hardships in Tracy Chapman's life growing up seeing an alcoholic father left by her mother forcing her to take care of him. As she grows older a similar situation arises when she works as a checkout clerk while her drunk boyfriend goes out with friends. The first version done by Tracy Chapman features her live with a band of drums and guitar behind her. This version is more meaningful and dramatic with a slow pace mellow sound. Tracy sings alone and plays guitar while her band backs her up. I feel this version is much more powerful coming from Tracy but I think the cover by Kina Grannis and Boyce Avenue is extremely good and almost has me listening to that version more. The cover features these two young musicians along with a back up morocco shaker. Different from the original, these two take turns singing versus and it sounds very good seeing as their voices go very well together. The Cover also seems to make the song sound more like a conversation or relationship between two people. This is unrealistic keeping in mind that Tracy is the one original narrator and her story is about herself but the Duet most definitely gives the song a new interesting feel which I think will stir up more conversation about a song that is reoccurring on most hit songs list since 88.