‘I Wanted To Crawl In A Hole’: Tracy Chapman Told Luke Combs His ‘Fast Car’ Lyrics Were Wrong
Luke Combs has recalled the moment Tracy Chapman told him he sang the wrong words in his rendition of her song Fast Car. Upon discovering his mistake, Combs remembered that he “wanted to crawl in a hole.”
Combs shared the revelation during a recent concert, telling his fans that he had recorded the song’s final line — “we gotta make a decision” — as “still gotta make a decision.”
Addressing the crowd, Combs said that it was during a conversation with Chapman that he realised his mistake.
“That was the first time I knew I had recorded the song incorrectly,” Combs said in videos filmed by fans. “I remember when she said it, I wanted to crawl in a hole.
“Luckily, she was awesome about it. I think about it every single time I sing this song, and I will think about it every single time I sing this song for the rest of my whole life, but she was so cool about it.”
He continued, “So, the words you know as ‘Still gotta make a decision’ is not the words … not the words … I just made that up in my head … so tonight I will probably sing ‘We gotta make a decision’ because Tracy Chapman told me to and damn it, I’m gonna do it.”
Luke Combs’ 2023 rendition of Fast Car has been an enormous success. It won Single of the Year at the CMA Awards and was nominated for a Grammy award (for Best Country Solo Performance). During the Grammy Awards, the pair performed the song together, with Chapman making her long-awaited return to the stage.
Combs’ Fast Car also got to #1 on the Billboard Country Airplay Chart, making Chapman the first black woman to have a sole writing credit on a chart-topping country song.
Upon releasing his version of the song, Combs described Fast Car as his “first favourite song probably ever.”
He added, “I love [Fast Car] so much, and I think it’s such a great song that it deserves to be heard by a whole generation of people that haven’t heard it before, and so to be able to, like, have an opportunity to do that, especially with a song that’s meant so much to me and my love of music from as far back as I can remember is super unique.”
The first model, shown above, was built by fourth-year students in the auto maintenance and customization department of Nissan’s technical college. The car aims to create a modern version of the Kenmeri Skyline based on the V35 platform (sold as the Infiniti G35 in the United States from 2002 to 2007). Wanting the car to appeal to enthusiasts in their 30s to 50s, the students labeled their project the NEO Skyline—with NEO standing for nostalgia, encouragement, and originality.
The second model combines the modern Nissan Z with the back end of a Nissan Leaf. According to Nissan, the students cut parts of the Z’s rear fender and roof before connecting the rear section of a Nissan Leaf by welding the two together. Along with adding the back half of the Leaf, the students widened the rear fenders to help embody the Fairlady Z’s more muscular stance. The end product is a sort of Frankenstein’s-monster amalgamation of the two cars—but it’s exactly our sort of crazy.
While the first two models take on a more modern look, the third car appeals more to classic-car enthusiasts. Students at the Nissan Aichi Automobile Technical College took a stock PU11 Bluebird Maxima and used panel-beating methods to turn it into the Bluebird Kiwami. According to Nissan, the students landed on the name Kiwami—which means ultimate in Japanese—to show their desire to perfect every part of the car’s exterior, interior, and driving experience.
