Luke Combs ‘wanted to crawl into a hole’ after Tracy Chapman pointed out his ‘Fast Car’ lyrics mistake
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Luke Combs recently shared a humorous and somewhat embarrassing moment from his journey in music—one that involved a mistake with the lyrics of his cover of Tracy Chapman‘s classic ‘Fast Car’.
During a concert, Combs, known for his hit songs and Grammy nominations, revealed that he had mistakenly sung the lyrics “Still gotta make a decision” instead of the original “We gotta make a decision,” People reported.
Tracy Chapman’s reaction to Luke Combs’ embarrassing mistake in ‘Fast Car’ cover
Luke Combs’ slip-up occurred during his recording of the song, and it wasn’t until a conversation with Tracy Chapman herself that he realized the error.
“That was the first time that I knew that I recorded the song incorrectly,” he explained to the audience. “It was her telling me that. Because I remember, when she said that, I wanted to crawl into a hole.”
Fortunately, Combs said Chapman was incredibly understanding and gracious about the mistake.
“Luckily, she was awesome about it,” he shared, adding, “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.”
To make up for his past mistake, Combs vowed to sing the original lyric from here on out. “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,” he said with a smile.
Luke Combs’ ‘Fast Car’ cover soars to Grammy nomination
Luke Combs’ cover of the 1988 track, released in April 2023, quickly became a hit, climbing to No 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topping the country music charts.
The cover earned Combs a Grammy nomination for Best Country Solo Performance, and in February 2024, he had the honor of performing the song with Chapman at the 66th annual Grammy Awards.
Chapman herself expressed her gratitude over the success of the track, telling Billboard in July 2023, “I never expected to find myself on the country charts, but I’m honored to be there.”
He continued, “I’m happy for Luke and his success and grateful that new fans have found and embraced ‘Fast Car’.”
Combs, who has always revered the song, reflected on its impact in an interview with People in December 2023, saying, “I always thought it was one of the best songs of all time. But there’s nothing like Tracy’s version, so I thought it would just be a nice complement to the original but never really expected mine to take off quite the way it did.”
