"Fast Car"

Single by Tobtok featuring River
Released	22 January 2016
Format	Digital download
Recorded	2015
Genre	Tropical house
Length	3:27
Label	disco:wax
Writer(s)	Tracy Chapman
Producer(s)	Tobtok

"Fast Car" is a song by American singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman. It was released in April 1988 as the lead single from her self-titled debut album. Her appearance on the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute was the catalyst for the song's becoming a top 10 hit in the United States, peaking at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, and a top 10 hit in the United Kingdom, peaking at number 4 on the charts.

According to Metro Weekly critic Chris Gerard, "Fast Car" tells a grittily realistic story of a working poor woman trying to escape the cycle of poverty, set to folk rock music. The song's arrangement was described by Orlando Sentinel writer Thom Duffy as "subtle folk-rock", while Billboard magazine's Gary Trust deemed the record a "folk/pop" song.Dave Marsh said it was perhaps an "optimistic folk-rock narrative", whose characters are in a homeless shelter. American culture critic Jim Cullen believed that with songs like "Fast Car", Chapman brought a uniquely Black and feminist perspective to acoustic folk-rock's generally White, middle-class audience.

Rolling Stone ranked the song number 167 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It is Chapman's only song on the list (and the highest ranking song both written and performed by a female artist). Pitchfork Media placed the song at number 86 on their list of the 200 Best Songs of the 1980s.

In April 2011 the track also hit the UK top ten at number 4 after Michael Collings performed it on Britain's Got Talent. The single was certified Platinum in the United Kingdom by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in 2014, based on digital downloads and streaming. The song has sold 661,500 copies in the United Kingdom, as of January 2016.

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Wikipedia