Even Luke Combs blurts out the lyrics to his favorite songs.
The 34-year-old country musician, who was recently nominated for a Grammy for Best Country Solo Performance for his cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car,” admitted that one of his most embarrassing moments came from the song.
In the middle of a recent concert, he remembered one mistake that still haunts him. On TikTok, the concertgoer can be heard telling the crowd that a conversation with Chapman, 60, led him to realize he had mis-sung the song’s “We’ve got to make a decision.” He recorded it as “I still have a decision to make.”
“That was the first time I knew I had recorded a song wrong,” he told the crowd. “That’s what she told me. Because I remember, when she said that, I wanted to crawl into a hole.”
Tracy Chapman performs a rare performance of ‘Fast Car’ with Luke Combs at the 2024 Grammy Awards.
“Luckily, she was great at it. And I think about it every time I sing the song, and I’ll think about it every time I sing this song for the rest of my life,” he said. “But she was so cool about it.”
Combs told the crowd that he would sing Chapman’s original lyrics and ditch his recorded version.
“So the version you know is, ‘I still have a decision to make.’ No words,” he said. “I just made it up in my head.”
“So tonight I’m going to sing ‘We have to make a decision.’ Because Tracy Chapman told me, and hell, I’m going to do it.”
Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs on February 4, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.
Kevin Mazur/Getty
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Combs covered the 1988 track in April 2023 and it quickly became a fan favorite. After reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topping the country music charts, Combs’ recording was nominated for a Grammy. And at the 66th Grammy Awards in February, Combs was joined by Chapman for a moving performance of the song.
Before their performance, Chapman said Billboard in July 2023, she was happy to see people still enjoying the trail more than 30 years later.
“I never expected to be on the country charts, but it’s an honor to be there,” she said. “I’m happy for Luke and his success and grateful that new fans have found and embraced ‘Fast Car.'”
Luke Combs Releases Touching Message to Tracy Chapman After Grammys: ‘Defining Moment of My Career’
Combs told PEOPLE in December 2023 that he always thought it was “one of the greatest songs of all time.”
“But there’s nothing like Tracy’s version, so I thought it would just be a nice addition to the original, but I didn’t expect mine to take off the way it did,” he said.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education