Born in Cleveland, Ohio,U.S., Tracy Chapman began playing guitar and writing songs as a child. She received a scholarship through A Better Chance that allowed her to attend Wooster School in Connecticut, and was eventually accepted to Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.
Tracy Chapman helped restore songwriters to the spotlight in the '80s. The multi-platinum success of Chapman's eponymous 1988 debut was unexpected, and it had lasting impact. Although Chapman was working from the same confessional songwriter foundation that had been popularized in the '70s, her songs were fresh and powerful, driven by simple melodies and affecting lyrics. At the time of her first album, there were only a handful of artists performing such a style successfully, and her success ushered in a new era of songwriters that lasted well into the '90s. Along with 10,000 Maniacs and R.E.M., Chapman's liberal politics proved enormously influential on American college campuses in the late '80s.
Official Website: http://www.tracychapman.com
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Material World
Tracy Chapman Lyrics
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Material world
Don't see the links of chain
Binding blood
Our own ancestors
Are hungry ghosts
Closets so full of bones
Call it upward mobility
But you've been sold down the river
Just another form of slavery
And the whole man-made white world
Is your master
You in your fancy
Material world
Create in your own image
A supreme god
Your virgin Mary
Your holy ghosts
Claimed to be pure of heart
Have hands that are stained with blood
You in your fancy
Material world
Don't see the links of chain
Binding
blood
Tracy Chapman's "Material World" is a commentary on the excesses and superficiality of contemporary American culture. The song's lyrics criticize the illusion of progress and upward mobility in a society built on the enslavement and oppression of others, past and present. Chapman describes a world where people are obsessed with material possessions and social status, while ignoring the deep-seated inequalities that underlie the system.
The opening lines of the song set the tone for its critique: "You in your fancy material world, don't see the links of chain binding blood." This line refers to the fact that modern societies are built on the exploitation and enslavement of others, both in the present and in the past. Chapman reminds listeners that their ancestors were also once victims of this system, and that they continue to suffer today in different forms.
In the second verse, Chapman describes the irony of a society that claims to be "pure of heart" but is in fact tainted by the blood of its victims. She contrasts the image of a "virgin Mary" and "holy ghosts" with the reality of the violence that has been committed in the name of religion and ideology. The song ends with the same warning: "Don't see the links of chain binding blood." For Chapman, the only way to break free from the material world is to confront the past and acknowledge the reality of the present.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: TRACY L CHAPMAN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind