Writers from a Writer Ep. V: Tracy Chapman

Maya Dietrich
May 31
5 min read

Hellooooo! I'm very excited for this month's Writer from a Writer. As I've hinted at before, with the entirety of this series really, I have some pretty big aspirations to ensure I stay writing all my life. A major part of that is writing in multiple mediums. This month we'll be focusing on songwriting!

Tracy Chapman was born and raised in 1970s Cleveland, Ohio, where she lived with her mother and older sister. She grew up across the street from a public library, which was the only place her mother let her go alone - and explains her appreciation for writing from a young age. She'd bring along a pocket notebook where, nestled in the nooks of the library, she'd write down her favourite passages. Chapman attended an Episcopal high school after she was accepted into the program "A Better Chance," which is a non-profit that strives to help young people of colour become well educated and is headquartered in NYC. This program helped Chapman to graduate from Wooster School and attend Tufts University on scholarships and grants, which she also graduated from in 1987 with a degree in anthropology.

She began to look for ways to share her writing, too. While there, she'd busk around the local area and perform on the University's radio station. While a student, she got multiple offers for record deals, but she turned them down until she booked her first major opening slot on 3rd May, 1985 (which coincidentally happens to be my birthday! Not the 1985 part though…) as an opening act for Linda Tillery at Boston's Strand Theatre.

A fellow student at Tufts saw her perform, and introduced her to his father, the owner of a small record label. It was through this connection, and her own talent and determination, that she was signed to Elektra records in 1988 and released her self-titled studio album, which immediately launched her into a successful writing career.

Tracy Chapman performing to a crowd of 90,000 people in 1988.

To help promote this album, she was scheduled as an opening slot at the "Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute" concert in 1988 as a substitute for Stevie Wonder at Wembley Stadium, where she performed her newly released song "Fast Car" to a crowd of 90,000 people, with 600 million more tuning in from TV… Imagine that being your first major concert (I'd cry).

Her debut album became an absolute success, making 6x platinum with 6 Grammy nominations (which she won 3 of!). In 2025, the Library of Congress preserved her debut in the National Recording Registry. Talk about nailing it on the first try.

Chapman describes her writing process as unique compared to other songwriters specifically. She says growing up as the younger sibling meant she "never had control of the stereo" (REALLL), leaving her influenced by those books and authors she was so obsessed with back in that public library across the street. She says that writers, rather than musicians, inspire her more.

I find this really interesting given her style of songwriting, which definitely doesn't follow the standard "verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus-outro" pattern. I won't lie, I find some musicians can be wayyyy too uptight about all their rules. Unless you're trying to write the next great Interstellar score, or dragging up some lost Beethoven track, I really don't think it's necessary to know every little piece of music theory in order to write a song. If you're strumming on the guitar and making some words up, that's a song. There's no need to complicate it. Music should be fun and enjoyable for the person writing it, and if learning some classical theory is what does it for you, fantastic! But there's no point in ripping apart an artist for simply playing what sounds good and fun and new. Some people need to get over themselves. Music is supposed to be accessible.

When it came to writing "Fast Car," Chapman explained, "it's narrative. It's a story. And so, once you answer the questions about who it's about, what they're doing or where they're going, and if you're satisfied with those answers, then you've come to the end." This definitely mirrors what writing a story is like, rather than the typical songwriting experience. She's telling tales, not recycling the same chord progression and throwing in the first line that pops into her head. She's building the music around the story.

She also says that having a listener helps hone her craft, explaining that she's "always had a listener, in the way that some writers have a reader, and my sister has been that person for me since the beginning. I think she has an innate sense of what is musical, and she always told me the truth."

Chapman's music also follows what interests or disturbs her, such as her reflections on experiencing racism, and her strong involvement as a human rights activist. Below is a very short breakdown of some of the human rights and political work she's done, as she's incredibly active in promoting better welfare worldwide.

1988 - performed in London with Amnesty International on the 40th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights, and she did the same for the 50th in Paris, France
2000- Performed a duet of her song "Baby Can I Hold You Tonight" at "Pavarotti and Friends for Cambodia and Tibet" in Modena, Italy
2004- performed and rode in AIDS/LifeCycle
2020 - performed her song "Talking 'Bout a Revolution" on Seth Meyers, where she encouraged American's to vote in the presidential election
She also sponsors "Crossroads in Black History," an essay contest for high school students in Cleveland and other cities

Despite her clear stage presence and punlic speaking skills, she's known to be quite reserved (a trait which I feel strongly benefits performers), with the New York Times writing, "she is a thoughtful and considered talker." She was also awarded several honorary doctorates, just fyi.

And hey, if you're ever in rural France (Saint-Jean-d'Heures to be exact) you just might stumble across the Rue Tracy Chapman, which apparently was a commune-wide ode done to famous musicians (you'll also find Madonna Street… I wonder if she's aware of that).

In the span of 20 years (1988-2008), Chapman released 8 studio albums. She hasn't released anything new since, although she says music is always a part of her, and that she writes constantly.

I'm a bit cramped for time, so we're just going to jump straight into the excerpt and my writing, although I encourage you to check out the links below to read more about her writing process and life!

Fast Car

You got a fast car

I want a ticket to anywhere

Maybe we can make a deal

Maybe together we can get somewhere

Any place is better

Starting from zero, got nothing to lose

Maybe we'll make something

Me, myself, I got nothing to prove

You got a fast car

I got a plan to get us out of here

I been working at the convenience store