Music Notes

Fast Car (Jonas Blue cover)

My seventh track is a cover, Fast Car by Jonas Blue with Dakota singing. It's an EDM (Electronic Dance Music) cover, released in 2015 of the Tracy Chapman original from 1988.

I'm sure most people here remember Fast Car from the July 2024 Rhythms and Writing contest prompt. I happened to win first place with "Silent Witness" …

The contest was by no means my first exposure to the song, however. I've been quite familiar with it for years. The first I became aware of Fast Car was somewhere between 2015 and 2017, when I noticed a song going around with surprising frequency at the grocery stores, that seemed to ramble on endlessly. I was puzzled by it because I couldn't tell if the voice was male or female. So I looked up the only words I could hear clearly, "somebody's gotta take care of him," and found the original Fast Car.

I brushed it aside at first as not being anything I was interested in. Then a few years later I checked back on it and found it to be a rather interesting, socially aware story, of a woman finding herself and becoming brave enough to kick out the man repeating the cycle of what brought her to him in the first place.

I remember the day I discovered the Jonas Blue version. It came on at a clothing store I shop at frequently, and I was delighted to find it. I thought his melodic loop was the cat's pajamas. On Genius   I read his verified commentary, where he explained how Fast Car was his mom's favorite song and how as an EDM producer he'd always dreamed of creating his own version honoring it.

Seeing his backstory gave me a deeper appreciation for the original, as I listened to them both and studied Chapman's guitar line which he had carefully reinvented.

Possibly the most striking thing about the Jonas Blue version is that the final, more somber part of the story is missing. Instead of detailing how the relationship goes downhill and the woman tells him to "take your fast car and get out," it leaves off on the optimistic note of freedom in love and finding oneself in someone else.

This hopefulness is suitable for a dance type of song and gives a fresh perspective on the lyrics. Perhaps in a perfect world, one can escape their past for the safety of a new relationship and pursue their dreams without fear of loss and heartbreak.

Words: 437.