The Washington Post has written an article declaring that Luke Combs’s successful cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” proves an element of racism. Emily Yahr, the writer of the article, makes the claim that Champman’s identity would have prevented the sort of success that Combs is having with “Fast Car.” Tracy Champman is black and LGBT. This identity does not match what is accepted in Country Music, according to Yahr. Such a statement is foolish and it is no more than grasping at invisible straws.
Tracy Champman has seven Grammy Award nominations and three wins, including for the song “Fast Car.” When her song first debuted in the late 80s, it dominated the airwaves. Tracy Champman is one of the most popular and well-respected artists of her time. However, she was not a country artist. She was categorized as pop, folk, soul, and R&B. To say that she would not have had success in country music is goalpost shifting. Why would she have success in a genre that she did not participate in? That statement is like saying Bob Dylan would not have success as an R&B singer or that Prince would not have success as a bluegrass singer.
If the problem is simply about black people not having the same level of success as a white person with the same song, then that is a statement made by someone without any sense of music history. There are probably many more songs by white artists that became more successful when covered by black artists than there is the other way around. A prime example of this is Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” which is a Dolly Parton cover. Another example is RUN DMC’s “Walk This Way” which was originally performed by Aerosmith. The Washington Post put out a dud of an article with the apparent goal of stoking racial tension, but it failed miserably in that goal.
SOURCES:
Tracy Chapman, Luke Combs and the complicated response to ‘Fast Car’ – The Washington Post
Luke Combs’ ‘Fast Car’ success marred with ‘complicated’ racial debate: Washington Post | Fox News
Tracy Chapman – Wikipedia
