Country music is well-known for its affiliation with trucks, often classic Chevy or Ford pickup trucks, or the slate of songs such as C.W. McCoy’s “Convoy,” Jerry Reed’s “Eastbound and Down,” and Alabama’s “Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler),” that were dedicated to long-haul truckers and big rigs.
But currently, it’s a song about car — Luke Combs’ rendition of Tracy Chapman’s 1988 classic “Fast Car” — that continues riding high in the upper echelons of Billboard’s Hot 100 chart.
The song’s aspirational-yet-brutally realistic tale revolves around a couple who hope their fast car can help them escape a cycle of poverty. The story has resonated with audiences much as it did in the 1980s when Chapman first released it. Combs’ rendition has spent seven weeks at No. 2 on the chart, marking his highest-ranking song on that chart. Meanwhile, “Fast Car” also crowned the Country Airplay and Adult Pop Airplay charts, and has reached the top 10 on the Adult Contemporary and Pop Airplay charts.
“Oh man, ‘Fast Car’ has surprised me more than you can imagine,” Combs previously told Billboard. “Tracy Chapman wrote this perfect song that that I first heard with my dad and it has stayed with me since. I have played it in my live show now for six-plus years and everyone — I mean everyone — across all these stadiums relates to this song and sings along. That’s the gift of a supernatural song writer. The success of my cover is unreal and I think it’s so cool that Tracy is getting recognized and has reached new milestones.”
Here, we look at 10 other country songs that mention cars in their titles and/or lyrics.
The songs included here are from artists including Reed, Rascal Flatts, George Jones and Kathy Mattea, with scenarios including young love, ambition, lust, and even rage against the societal impacts of automobiles– there’s even a ghostly apparition involved.
