The singers collaborated in a performance of the hit song at the Grammys in February.
Every time Luke Combs performs “Fast Car” now, he remembers something Tracy Chapman told him about her signature song, which he made popular again with his 2023 country-style cover of it.
Combs opened up on stage about his remake at a recent concert, recalling how Chapman pointed out a mistake he had made in the lyrics.
In a moment an audience member captured on TikTok, the crooner recounted how he sang the line “still gotta make a decision” in his recording of “Fast Car” but that Chapman corrected him, saying the actual lyrics are “we gotta make a decision.”
“That was the first time that I knew that I recorded the song incorrectly,” Combs said to fans at the show. “It was her telling me that. Because I remember, when she said that, I wanted to crawl into a hole.”
Fortunately, Chapman didn’t seem too vexed by the flub. “Luckily, she was awesome about it,” Combs said. “And I think about it every single time that I sing the song, and I will think about it every single time I sing this song for the rest of my whole life.”
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Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs perform at the 66th Grammy Awards in 2024
He added that, going forward, his live performances of Chapman’s song will differ from his recording of it.
“So the version you know is ‘still gotta make a decision.’ Not the words,” he said. “It’s just not the words. I made that up in my head. So tonight, I’m going to sing ‘we gotta make a decision.’ Because Tracy Chapman told me to, and, dammit, I’m gonna do it.”
Combs and Chapman sang “Fast Car” as a duet at the 2024 Grammys ceremony back in February. They met for the first time in person during rehearsals for the performance, and wound up practicing together for six hours before the big night.
“She had a vision, and she asked Luke his thoughts,” Combs’ manager Chris Kappy told Rolling Stone at the time. “Then they just kept running through it and running through it.”
Chapman earned major acclaim for “Fast Car” — which tells the story of a working-class couple trying to make ends meet, and how their car represents their hope for a better life — when she released it in 1988. Combs’ version, inspired by his memories of listening to the song in the car with his dad while growing up, has become an anthem for a new generation. It hit No. 1 on the Billboard country charts and No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, and when it won Song of the Year at the Country Music Association Awards in November 2023, it made Chapman the first Black woman to win a CMA Award.
Combs and Chapman’s Grammys performance sent Chapman’s original “Fast Car” soaring to No. 1 on the iTunes store following the ceremony.
