When Tracey Chapman hit it big in 1988 with the song “Fast Car”, I was blown away. Her lyrics, vocal strength, musical writing and talent were refreshing, and her song went on to win numerous awards. Over the years the song has been covered in a number of ways, from a tropical version to a more synthesized one, but none have achieved the same level of appreciation the first one did until this year. Luke Coombs didn’t win the Grammy like Chapman did, but his version (which sounds almost exactly like hers) did get nominated. Fast Car is one of those timeless songs that is, I believe, a new standard.
Fast Car tells a story about poverty, loneliness, and a desire for freedom. The singer is one of the working poor, stuck caring for an alcoholic father whose wife left them for something more. She sees an opportunity to leave; to go anywhere but where she is. The voice of the lost and lonely, wanting more from life than what she has known. I have seen a lot of people like this in my life; people who didn’t have the kinds of advantages that could have helped them move out of poverty. People whose baggage is too heavy to carry, but too meaningful to them to leave behind. They show up at our church door looking for food at the end of the month, because their pay, at times, can’t cover rent and food. They only know what they know; they can’t see any hope. Leave tonight, Chapman’s mournful lyrics tell us, or live and die this way.
Part of the dream is that the characters in the song will find better jobs someplace else and their lives will get better. They have hopes and aspirations, like all of us. But the culture is not kind to the poor; they are the ones most likely to be jailed with out of reach bails, to rent week to week with no rights, to get their furniture from overpriced rental centers, and to get laid off first. They can’t get loans or good terms on a car lease. They have to have money to get money to make money, and their seeming endless cycle of poverty is often inherited from generations before them. Some make it out, and while that is commendable, their story is often used to shame those who don’t.
Fast Car can be applicable to any race or culture or community. Poverty is often cyclical, and it is something every religion struggles with. Jesus – probably with a resigned sigh – said we would always have the poor with us. I don’t think He approved of it; He just understood the nature of human struggle. Judaism had rules about long-term poverty, but they were rarely applied. Jesus proclaimed a year of Jubilee – all debts forgiven – property returned to their rightful owners. Wealth redistribution. Because people often take advantage of others for their own gain, and God does not like that at all.
It is important to listen to Fast Car again – to remind ourselves that there are people everywhere who need a hand up, not just a handout or a band aid. A safety net, not a hammock. Because any one of us could lose everything if things went badly. We might need help too. That is also part of the human condition – to have empathy for those who are no different from us.
Prayer – Help us God to see ourselves in the struggles of others and to love them as much as we love ourselves. Help us to have empathy and to be merciful. Amen.