Tracy Chapman

It’s so good to see Tracy Chapman get such acclaim for “Fast Car” again, even if it took a white guy to get her there (and all the hostile social media posts about how they let her on stage with him, when she’s just some affirmative action “minority” or whatever as opposed to the original author and singer). I loved the duet on stage at the Grammys and admire Chapman for everything she’s done, and I really love the way Luke Combs shared that stage with her; I could tell he was a huge fan. I was never that level of fan, but I’m extremely happy for her.

My experience with Chapman is really specific and indirect. When I was living in Johnson City, TN, with my first wife (later into the marriage, when it was absolutely dead), we were living in an upstairs apartment on Pine Street. We were ridiculously poor and lived in a building with no air. In the summer, we kept the windows open, and there were four apartments in the building. The neighbors right below us were a lesbian couple, and they fought fairly often. Summer, open windows, and it was still oppressively hot at times. The downstairs neighbors would yell at each other during fights, which were frequent, and then they’d put on “Give Me One Reason” (on repeat) and have loud sex.

I can’t hear that song without hearing women moaning in the summer heat, me being alone in a relationship and very uncomfortably aware that there were people in functional relationships, one just a few feet below me. I’m not sure why I’m sharing, other than the humanness of the whole summer.