Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard Luke Combs' cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car.” Well, as it turns out, apparently Luke didn’t listen to the original quite so carefully and unknowingly changed one of the lines to the 1988 hit.
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During one of his recent concerts, Luke recalled the particular mistake that still follows him. Telling the crowd that a conversation with Chapman, led him to realize he incorrectly sang the lyric, “We gotta make a decision,”recording it as “Still gotta make a decision.” Which if you think about it, kinds of makes sense, re-recording it all these years later. A decision still needs to be made… But also, the horror, we’d be just as mortified.
"She said, 'So, when you recorded the song, you said 'Still gotta make a decision' instead of 'We gotta make a decision.' And that was the first time that I knew that I recorded the song incorrectly," the singer told the crowd. “It was her telling me that. Because I remember, when she said that, I wanted to crawl into a hole.”
“Luckily, she was awesome about it,” Combs continued. 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. But she was so cool about it.”
Combs went on to tell the crowd he intended on ignoring the lyrical mishap he made in “Fast Car” (Luke’s Version) and sing “Fast Car” (Tracy’s Version) the way it was intended.
“So the version you know is, ‘Still gotta make a decision.’ Not the words… It’s just not the words. I made that up in my head,” Luke told the crowd. “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.”
Combs released his cover of Chapman’s 1988 track in April 2023, and it quickly became a fan-favorite, hitting No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topping the country music charts. Earning him a GRAMMY nomination at the 66th Annual Awards, where he was joined by Chapman for an unforgettable performance that brought the audience to their feet.
Check out the clip of Combs’ concert confession — HERE, thanks to TikTok user Andrea Greenwood.