“You’ve got a fast car. I want a ticket to anywhere.”
So goes the opening line of US singer Tracy Chapman’s 1988 hit song Fast Car, a wistful and terse folk ballad about breaking out of bad situations.
More than 35 years later, the song has offered another breakthrough, making Chapman the first Black woman to have a sole writing credit on a number-one country song – a genre that has only recently seen a limited increase in diversity in its mainstream.
On Monday afternoon, the song reached the top of Billboard’s definitive Country Airplay chart, albeit a version recorded by country star Luke Combs.
Rolling Stone reported that Chapman is only the fourth Black woman to have a writing credit of any kind on a top country song.
Link from www.aljazeera.com
