Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCCXCVIII--Tracy Chapman: Talkin' 'bout a Revolution

 For a fan of folk music such as myself, this week's featured artist's initial album--which seemed to come out of nowhere--was a breath of fresh air.  While the genre itself had had its heyday (if you can call it that) in the late fifties and early sixties, it was nice to see an artist that believed (and she still does) in the power of the acoustic guitar and songs that focused on social issues in, of all things, the midst of the Greed Is Good decade.  And though I haven't followed her career quite as closely as I would have liked, from my half-assed weekly research I have found that she is still fighting the good fight....

Tracy Chapman was born in the cradle of rock and roll, Cleveland, Ohio, in 1964, and by the age of eight was playing guitar and writing songs.  Discovered by the son of a publishing executive while playing a gig when she attended Tufts University, Chapman made it perfectly clear to the music industry that she was going to make music on her own terms, and she has stuck to her guns.  At 24 she released her first album, and it went on to sell over six million copies.  Chapman has had two more albums that went platinum and has won four Grammys.  For her career, she has released eight studio albums (with three hitting the top five on the LP charts), and 22 singles (with two top ten songs).  Chapman is well known for her social activism and has done charity work and/or helped to raise awareness for AIDS, poverty, and human rights, among others.

"Talkin' 'bout a Revolution" was released in 1988 as the second single from her fittingly entitled debut LP, Tracy Chapman.  The single hit #75 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, while the album went on to become her only #1 on the Billboard 200 (which is one more than 99% of us have).

At a time when the Reagan Devolution had gutted the poor and the middle class, when greed and material excess were beginning the trajectory that lead us to today's record levels of income inequality, "Talkin' 'bout a Revolution" was a rousing shot of hope.  Yes, it was a bit on the rose-colored side (think we're still waiting for poor people to get their share), but it was--and still is--a call to arms that we can never stop pursuing.  Chapman's throaty vocals over its electrifying melody gives the song an anthemic quality that roars defiance in spite of the odds.  Throw in the whisper in the lyric "Sounds like a whisper" and Chapman referencing the Salvation Army as "Those armies of salvation" and you have not one but two of those moments that always make a song just a little bit more special.  In the end, it's everything the most hopeful of protest songs could ever be....

Lyric Sheet:  "Poor people gonna rise up/And get their share/Poor people gonna rise up/And take what's theirs..."

Enjoy:

Republican = Traitor

Peace,

emaycee