Tracy Chapman is a singer that you might like or you might know nothing about since she’s the kind of person that’s been seen to hit the mainstream but at the same time is in kind of a different class all of her own. Her music is something that really pulls at the heartstrings and reminds us of a humanity that we tend to forget about sometimes. Her mother actually gave her a ukelele when she was younger and by the age of 8 she’d learned how to strum it well enough to make it work and had started writing her own songs. Interesting enough she’s said that her inspiration for writing songs came from Hee Haw, if anyone remembers that old but funny show. When she got old enough she started out as a street performer and did this until she gained enough notice to open up for another musician. From there her career began to climb towards what it is now.
Here are some of her best songs.
5. For My Lover
Chapman is a person that keeps her private life very separate from her professional life. She enjoys what she does but doesn’t want anyone prying into her private time, which is easy to understand. Her sexual orientation has been guessed at for years, but in all honesty it shouldn’t matter all that much since just being able to listen to her music and feel it resonate within your being should be enough. Too many people put too much stock on knowing absolutely everything about those that they see as their idols or as persons of interest for whatever reason. It’s better to enjoy what they have to offer without delving too deeply into their private lives.
4. Talkin’ About a Revolution
Something about Chapman’s voice is just so haunting and alluring that it’s hard not to listen since at times you might wonder if it’s going to change in pitch and rise enough to change just a bit when it comes to certain notes. But throughout most of her songs Tracy’s voice doesn’t really change that much. If anything she keeps the same pitch and tone no matter the cadence. While her voice does lift occasionally it still follows that same form despite the addition or subtraction of volume. It’s a wonder as to whether she knows how to modulate her voice, which she likely does, or if she just prefers this style, which is more likely.
3. Give Me One Reason
There are always a handful of songs in any artists’ catalog that are considered to be among their best, and this has been one of Tracy’s for a while. It’s a simple song really and not hard to follow, but it’s also something that has resonated with a lot of people throughout the years. Jukeboxes across the country have had this song programmed into them for years now and it’s kind of likely that you might hear this song come on if you listen long enough. There’s something about it that’s pleasing to the ear and that allows a person to get up and dance and or just sit there and relax for a while.
2. Baby Can I Hold You
It’s pretty obvious that Tracy likes what she does and gets into the music when she’s on stage. She has an impressive fan base to be honest and a lot of them have been in love with her music for a long time now. If you think about it she’s not a young woman any more, and when she really got started it was the late 80s. She got in on the 80s for just a bit, but it would seem that she really started getting popular in the 90s since that’s the decade that saw her rise more than any other. To this date though she’s still performing and is just as good as she’s ever been, as she hasn’t lost a step yet.
1. Fast Car
This really seems like the song that finally got her noticed and on her way. If anyone can remember back this far she was featured on TV with this song and for a lot of people it might have been a ‘huh?’ moment since a lot of folks didn’t really know who she was yet. But when this song came out that problem was solved very quickly. Eventually her career started to take off and things really started to happen. Since then she’s been a common name to hear every now and then since she’s accomplished quite a bit in her career. There are still a lot of people that don’t know about her, but at the same time she’s done more than enough to have cemented her legacy when it comes to her music.
To be honest she’s a great artist to just kick back and listen to when you need to relax.
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