Fast Car – Memphis Flyer

As is customary at this time of year, we Flyer columnists take a look back at the preceding 12 months. And oof, it was hard, especially November, when just under 50 percent of American voters cast their ballots for an idiot, enough to put said idiot back in office for four years. Argh.

In early January, having no idea of what was to come, I mused genially about how age was an invisibility cloak because no one cares what clothes you wear, what kind of car you drive, or how your hair looks. Cute. Then January dropped the hammer with the Iowa caucuses, ending the brief fantasy that someone — DeSantis? Haley? — in the GOP could derail the Trump train.

We got a brief respite in February with the gorgeous performance of Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs singing Chapman’s “Fast Car” at the Grammys. The lyrics transcend the categories that too often put Americans in separate silos, unable to see what we have in common with one another. A queer Black woman and a white country boy singing in perfect harmony was maybe the best three minutes 2024 had to give us.

Shortly after that moment of kumbaya, America was treated to the viral video of 30 white men demonstrating on the grounds of the state capitol in Nashville. They carried Nazi flags, wore face masks and red T-shirts proclaiming that they were members of a group called “Blood Tribe.” According to the Anti-Defamation League, Blood Tribe members exalt Hitler as a deity. So yeah.

April brought us the most hyped event of the year, which is really saying something. I’m talking about the eclipse, but you knew that, right? Seriously, I am hard-pressed to remember any news event that generated so much social media content, so much blathering punditry, so many hours of preview television coverage as did the Big E. It was the most ballyhooed three and a half minutes since Donald Trump had sex with Stormy Daniels. Then it was over and everybody went, “huh?”

In May, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem revealed that she’d shot and killed her 14-month-old dog, Cricket, because the dog was “untrainable.” As a reward, Trump later appointed Noem head of the Department of Homeland Security.

In June, the Greater Memphis Chamber announced a deal with Elon Musk, “the world’s richest man,” to build the “world’s largest supercomputer” in Memphis. Selling points included our city’s ample water supply, cheap land costs, and the chamber’s willingness to “work fast.” Whether this will be the salvation of Memphis or the “world’s biggest boondoggle” is yet to be determined.

In July, the media wrote 47 million stories about President Biden’s senility after he floundered in a debate with Trump. “Come on, man. I’m the guy who turned this economy around and created 11 million new jobs,” Biden responded. “Sorry, Kamala Harris is now the nominee,” said the Democrat Party hierarchy. As we all know now, that worked out really well.

August brought the scandal of the year! I’m speaking, of course, about the Paris Olympics opening ceremony — which wasn’t actually a mockery of da Vinci’s The Last Supper but still provided several days of fodder for the Evangelical outrage machine.

My personal 2024 probably peaked in September, when I went to Las Cruces, New Mexico, to help celebrate my mother’s 100th birthday. We all had a wonderful time, including my feisty mom, who is now well on her way to 101, Lord willing.

Climate change paid us a visit in October as Hurricane Helene ravaged parts of six Southern states, including Tennessee. The governors of five of those states declared states of emergency in advance of the storm and quickly got federal assistance. The governor of the sixth state, our own idiot, Bill Lee, asked Tennesseans to participate in a “day of prayer and fasting.”

Speaking of idiots, I already mentioned what happened in November and I shall not speak of it again. Sorry.

In December, I continued my self-imposed ban on writing about politics and wrote about giving a guy a ride to Walgreens and back, about creating an AI picture of the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus, and about the pleasures of Mexican restaurants and drinking margaritas. Anything to avoid thinking about politics and the coming 2025 hellscape. Oh, and, uh, happy new year.

I’m old enough to remember when Tracy Chapman released “Fast Car” — old enough to remember how stunning and incongruous it was, coming out at the end of the techno-Eighties, a softly strummed acoustic song with lyrics that indelibly captured what it meant to be young and poor and stuck in a bad place with no way out. I bought the album, bought the cassette, played it, and played it again.

I didn’t watch the Grammys Sunday night, but the video of the song’s performance by Chapman and country singer Luke Combs — who resurrected the song and released his own version last year — was everywhere the next day. No doubt there were millions of people who’d never heard of Tracy Chapman or heard the original version who were seeing her sing it for the first time. It was a beautiful and moving performance, and I must admit it got a little dusty in my office as I watched it on my laptop. Twice.

It’s a testament to the song’s power that it could be sung together by a queer Black woman and white male country star who says he used to hear it in his dad’s truck when he was a kid. The lyrics transcend categories that too often put us in our separate silos, unable to see what we could have in common with one another.

See, my old man’s got a problem
He lives with a bottle
that’s the way it is
He says his body’s too old for workin’
His body’s too young to look like his
When mama went off and left him
She wanted more from life
than he could give
I said, “Somebody’s got
to take care of him”
I quit school and that’s what I did.

In 1988, when Chapman released “Fast Car,” it became a big hit, rising to number six on Billboard’s Hot 100. Chapman won three Grammys that year — a year in which the other top songs belonged to INXS, Guns N’ Roses, Cheap Trick, George Michael, Billy Ocean, and Rick Astley (who is never going to give you up). Mostly white guys with guitars and hair.

In 2023, 35 years later, Combs’ version of “Fast Car” hit number one on the Billboard country charts in July and earned the number two spot on Billboard’s Hot 100. Other number one country songs on the chart in 2023 were by Jelly Roll (a country rapper), Kane Brown (a multi-racial singer who was discovered on social media), and Morgan Wallen, who famously once used the “n-word,” got drunk at Kid Rock’s Nashville club, and has been fervently rebranding himself ever since. Country music ain’t what it used to be (totally white, except for Charley Pride), and that’s mostly due to TikTok stars coming into the picture. It can’t hurt, I say.

Speaking of country music … I don’t know how many of you have heard of this girl, Taylor Swift. She also won a Grammy or two and is becoming something of a big deal these days. I predict major success for her. Sure, she’s gotten famous mostly because of her boyfriend — Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce — but I’ve seen a couple of her videos and she seems to have a real knack for making snappy songs for young people. Of course, it can’t hurt that Taylor’s boyfriend is playing in the Super Bowl this weekend. Talk about your lucky timing! Plus, he’s rich!

There are those who say Taylor Swift’s rise to fame isn’t based on talent or luck. They say it’s all part of a deep-secret government operation that goes all the way to the top: namely, President Joe Biden. Certain MAGA types now say that the Super Bowl is rigged and that after the Kansas City Chiefs win on Sunday, Swift is going to come out and endorse Biden.

It makes sense, when you take a minute to think about it. What does Biden famously have in his garage? A 1967 Corvette. And what is that? A fast car. Boom! Game, set, and match, sheeple!