Dwight Yoakam- “Fast As You”
Dwight Yoakam’s “Fast as You” combines classic country heartbreak with a muscular rock-and-roll groove. Released in 1993, the song became one of Yoakam’s biggest hits and helped turn his album This Time into the most commercially successful studio album of his career.
Yoakam wrote “Fast as You” himself, creating a narrator who is tired of being the vulnerable one in a troubled relationship. Instead of simply begging someone not to leave, he warns that he may eventually become just as quick to cause pain as the person who has hurt him. That defiant attitude gives the song its edge. It is a breakup song, but it is also a promise that the balance of power could soon change.
The record was produced by Yoakam’s longtime collaborator, guitarist Pete Anderson. Together, Yoakam and Anderson had already developed a distinctive sound built around Bakersfield country, honky-tonk and rockabilly. On “Fast as You,” they pushed that combination even further. Anderson’s driving electric-guitar hook is joined by smoky keyboards, a pounding rhythm section and Yoakam’s unmistakable vocal twang.
Anderson reportedly played a 1959 Fender Stratocaster on the recording. He and the musicians created a tense, circular groove that sounds equally at home on a country dance floor or a rock station. The performance demonstrates why Yoakam never fit comfortably inside one musical category.
“Fast as You” appeared on This Time, released March 23, 1993. The album found Yoakam expanding beyond the lean honky-tonk approach of his earlier records by incorporating elements of soul, pop and roots rock. Anderson later revealed that early Pro Tools technology was used during the album’s production, although it served more as an editing tool than as a complete recording system.
Issued as the album’s third single, “Fast as You” reached No. 2 on Billboard’s country chart, No. 5 on the Canadian country chart and No. 70 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100. It followed two other No. 2 country hits from the album, “Ain’t That Lonely Yet” and “A Thousand Miles from Nowhere.” Remarkably, all three came close to reaching No. 1 without quite getting there.
The performance-based music video, co-directed by Yoakam and Carolyn Beug, captured the excitement of Yoakam and his band onstage. Its energy helped reinforce the song’s reputation as a powerful live number.
More than three decades later, “Fast as You” remains one of Dwight Yoakam’s signature recordings—a fiery mixture of wounded pride, country tradition and unapologetic rock-and-roll attitude.
