From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Harry Chapin
Harry Chapin in concert
Background information
Born	December 7, 1942(1942-12-07) Brooklyn, New York City, U.S.
Died	July 16, 1981 (aged 38) Jericho, Long Island, New York U.S.A.
Genres	Folk rock, folk
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, Musician, Humanitarian, Author, Playwright
Instruments	Vocals, Guitar, Piano, Harmonica
Years active	1964 – 1981
Labels	Elektra Records Boardwalk Records Sequel Records DCC Compact Classics Chapin Productions
Website	Harrychapin.com

Harry Forster Chapin (December 7, 1942 – July 16, 1981) was an American singer and songwriter known for his folk rock songs "Taxi," "W*O*L*D," and the number-one hit "Cat's in the Cradle" as well as his folk musical based on the biblical book of John, "Cotton Patch Gospel." Chapin was also a dedicated humanitarian who fought to end world hunger, with his work being widely recognized as a key player in the creation of the Presidential Commission on World Hunger in 1977.^[1] In 1987, Chapin was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his humanitarian work.

Early life and education

Chapin was born in New York City, the second of four children—including future musicians Tom and Steve—born to Jeanne Elspeth (née Burke) and Jim Chapin. He had English ancestry, his great grandparents having emigrated in the late 19th century. His parents divorced by 1950, with Elspeth keeping custody of their four sons, as Jim spent much of his life on the road as a drummer for Big Band era acts such as Woody Herman. She married Films in Review magazine editor Henry Hart a few years later.

Chapin's first formal introduction to music was while singing in the Brooklyn Boys Choir. It was here that Chapin met "Big" John Wallace, a tenor with a five-octave range, who would later become his bassist and backing vocalist. He began performing with his brothers while a teenager, with their father occasionally joining them on drums.

Chapin graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1960, and was among the five inductees in the school's Alumni Hall Of Fame for the year 2000. He briefly attended the United States Air Force Academy and was then an intermittent student at Cornell University, but did not complete a degree.

He originally intended to be a documentary film-maker, and directed Legendary Champions in 1968, which was nominated for a documentary Academy Award. In 1971, he decided to focus on music. With John Wallace, Tim Scott and Ron Palmer, Chapin started playing in various local nightclubs in New York City.

Recording career

Following an unsuccessful early album made with his brothers, Tom and Steve, Chapin's debut album was Heads & Tales (1972, #60), which was a success thanks to the single "Taxi" (#24). Chapin later gave great credit to WMEX-Boston radio personality Jim Connors for being the DJ who "discovered" this single, and pushed the air play of this song amongst fellow radio programmers in the U.S.

However, Chapin's recording future became somewhat of a controversy between two powerful record companies headed by two very powerful men, Jac Holzman of Elektra Records and Clive Davis of Columbia. According to Chapin's biography Taxi: The Harry Chapin Story by Peter M. Coan, Chapin had agreed in principle to sign with Elektra Records on the grounds that a smaller record label would give greater personal attention to his work. Clive Davis, however, remained undaunted, doubling almost every cash advance offer Chapin received from Holzman. Despite a cordial relationship with Holzman, Davis had a long history of besting Holzman over the years to particular artists, but this was one time that he did not prevail.

Chapin ultimately signed with Elektra for a smaller advance, but with provisions that made it worth the move. The biggest stipulation in the nine-album deal was that he receive free studio time, meaning he paid no recording costs. It was a move that would ultimately save Chapin hundreds of thousands of dollars over the term of his contract and set a precedent for other musicians.

"This was completely unheard of," said Davis in the Coan book. "There was no such thing as free studio time."

Chapin's follow-up album, Sniper and Other Love Songs (1972, #160), was less successful despite containing the Chapin anthem "Circle" (a big European hit for The New Seekers). His third album, Short Stories (1974, #61), was a modest success. Verities & Balderdash (1974, #4), released soon after, was much more successful, bolstered by the chart-topping hit single "Cat's in the Cradle", based upon a poem by his wife. Sandy Chapin had written the poem inspired by her first husband's relationship with his father and a country song she heard on the radio.^[2] When Harry's son Josh was born, he got the idea to put music to the words and recorded the result. "Cat's in the Cradle" was Chapin's only number one hit, shooting album sales skyward and making him a millionaire.

He also wrote and performed a Broadway musical The Night That Made America Famous. Additionally, Chapin wrote the music and lyrics for Cotton Patch Gospel, a musical by Tom Key based on Clarence Jordan's book The Cotton Patch Version of Matthew and John. The original cast soundtrack was produced by Tom Chapin, and released in 1982 by Chapin Productions.

Chapin's only UK hit was "W*O*L*D", which reached #34 in 1974. His popularity in the UK owed much to the championing of BBC disc jockey Noel Edmonds. The song's success in the U.S. was championed by WMEX jock and friend of Chapin's Jim Connors who in part inspired the song. The national appeal of the song was a result of disc jockeys playing it for themselves, since the song dealt with a much-traveled DJ, problems in his personal life, and his difficulty with aging in the industry. This song was also a significant inspiration (though not the only one) for Hugh Wilson, who created the popular television series about DJs and radio, WKRP in Cincinnati.

Chapin's recording of "The Shortest Story", a song he wrote about a dying child and featured in his 1976 live/studio album Greatest Stories Live, was named by author Tom Reynolds in his book I Hate Myself And Want To Die as the second most depressing song of all time.

By the end of the decade, Chapin's contract with Elektra (which had since merged with Asylum Records under the control of David Geffen) had expired, and the company made no offer to renew it. A minor deal with Casablanca fell through, and Chapin settled on a simple one-album deal with Boardwalk Records. The Boardwalk album, though no one knew it at the time, would be his final work.

The title track of his last album, Sequel, was a follow up to his earlier song "Taxi", reuniting the same characters ten years later. The songs Chapin was working on at the time of his death were subsequently released as the thematic album The Last Protest Singer.

Personal life

Chapin met Sandy Cashmore (née Gaston), a New York socialite nine years his senior, in 1966, after she called him asking for music lessons. They married two years later. The story of their meeting and romance is told in his song "I Wanna Learn a Love Song". He fathered two children with her, Jennifer and Joshua, and was stepfather to her three children by a previous marriage.

Philanthropic work

Chapin was resolved to leave his imprint on Long Island. He envisioned a Long Island where the arts flourished and universities expanded and humane discourse was the norm. "He thought Long Island represented a remarkable opportunity," said Chapin's widow, Sandy.^[3]

Chapin served on the boards of the Eglevsky Ballet, the Long Island Philharmonic, Hofstra University. He energized the now-defunct Performing Arts Foundation (PAF) of Huntington.

In the mid-1970s, Chapin focused on his social activism, including raising money to combat hunger in the United States. His daughter Jen said: "He saw hunger and poverty as an insult to America"^[4]. He co-founded the organization World Hunger Year with legendary radio DJ Bill Ayres, before returning to music with On the Road to Kingdom Come. He also released a book of poetry, Looking...Seeing, in 1977. Many of Chapin's concerts were benefit performances (for example, a concert^[5] to help save the Landmark Theatre in Syracuse, New York), and sales of his concert merchandise were used to support World Hunger Year.

Chapin's social causes at times caused friction among his band members and then-manager Fred Kewley. Chapin donated an estimated third of his paid concerts to charitable causes, often performing alone with his guitar to reduce costs.

One report quotes his widow saying soon after his death — "only with slight exaggeration" — that "Harry was supporting 17 relatives, 14 associations, seven foundations and 82 charities. Harry wasn't interested in saving money. He always said, 'Money is for people,' so he gave it away." Despite his success as a musician, he left little money and it was difficult to maintain the causes for which he raised more than $3 million in the last six years of his life ^[6]. The Harry Chapin Foundation was the result.

Death

Harry Chapin's gravestone

On Thursday, July 16, 1981, just after noon, Chapin was driving in the left lane on the Long Island Expressway at about 65 mph on the way to perform at a free concert scheduled for later that evening at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, NY. Near exit 40 in Jericho he put on his emergency flashers, presumably because of either a mechanical or medical problem (possibly a heart attack). He then slowed to about 15 miles (24 km) per hour and veered into the center lane, nearly colliding with another car. He swerved left, then to the right again, ending up directly in the path of a tractor-trailer truck. The truck could not brake in time and rammed the rear of Chapin's blue 1975 Volkswagen Rabbit, rupturing the fuel tank by climbing its back and causing it to burst into flames.

The driver of the truck and a passerby were able to get Chapin out of the burning car through the window and by cutting the seat belts before the car was completely engulfed in flames. He was taken by police helicopter to a hospital, where ten doctors tried for 30 minutes to revive him. A spokesman for the Nassau County Medical Center said Chapin had suffered a heart attack and "died of cardiac arrest," but there was no way of knowing whether it occurred before or after the accident. In an interview years after his death, Chapin's daughter said "My dad didn't really sleep, and he ate badly and had a totally insane schedule."^[4]

Even though Chapin was driving without a license, his driver's license having previously been revoked for a long string of traffic violations, his widow Sandy won a $12 million decision in a negligence lawsuit against Supermarkets General, the owners of the truck.

Chapin was interred in the Huntington Rural Cemetery, Huntington, New York. His epitaph is taken from his song "I Wonder What Would Happen to this World." It is:

Oh if a man tried

To take his time on Earth

And prove before he died

What one man's life could be worth

I wonder what would happen

to this world

Legacy

On December 7, 1987, on what would have been his 45th birthday, Chapin was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his campaigning on social issues, particularly his highlighting of hunger around the world and in the United States. His work on hunger included being widely recognized as a key player in the creation of the Presidential Commission on World Hunger in 1977.^[7] He was also the inspiration for the anti-hunger projects USA for Africa and Hands Across America, which were organized by Ken Kragen, who had been Chapin's manager.^[8] Kragen, explaining his work on these benefit events, said, "I felt like Harry had crawled into my body and was making me do it."^[9]

A biography of Chapin entitled Taxi: The Harry Chapin Story, by Peter M. Coan, was released following his death. Although Chapin had cooperated with the writer, following his death the family withdrew their support. There is some debate about the accuracy of the details included in the book.

Dr. James Dobson often quotes the entirety of "Cat's In The Cradle" to illustrate dynamics of contemporary American families. "Cat's In The Cradle" was also re-recorded by hard rock group Ugly Kid Joe in 1992 and once again topped the charts. A country version was also recorded by Ricky Skaggs in 1995. It was sampled by Canadian singer Sarah McLachlan, and subsequently by Darryl McDaniels of Run DMC in 2006 after the rapper's discovery that he was adopted in infancy. Jason Downs also recorded an "updated" version of the song entitled "Revenue".

"Cat's in the Cradle" was used in an episode of The Simpsons, in an episode of King of the Hill, and in an episode of Family Guy, and was featured in Shrek The Third. The song has also been heard many other times on television and film.

"Cat's in the Cradle" ranked number 186 of 365 on the RIAA list of Songs of the Century.

Chapin was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame on October 15, 2006.

The rock band M.O.D. wrote an irreverent song about Chapin's death called "Ode To Harry". Hector released a Finnish-language cover version of his song "Six String Orchestra". The cover can be heard under the name "Monofilharmoonikko" as the sixth track of the 1977 album H.E.C.; it was released as a single as well.

The Harry Chapin Playground at the intersection of Columbia Heights and Middagh Street in Brooklyn Heights was named in his honor. It is believed that he played here when he was a child.

A graduate student apartment complex, Harry Chapin Apartments at Stony Brook University on Long Island, is named after Chapin.

The Lakeside Theatre at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, New York, was renamed "Harry Chapin Lakeside Theatre" during a memorial concert held one month after his death, as a tribute to his efforts to combat world hunger.

The comedy team The Smothers Brothers have often performed a version of "Six String Orchestra" when they tour and perform with local symphonies. The song usually takes about 10 to 15 minutes to complete as they stop and banter back and forth. Dick usually stops the song to sarcastically tell Tommy what great guitar playing he did.

In the 1980 film One Trick Pony musician Paul Simon portrays Jonah, an aging rock star famous for a 1960s protest song. In one scene Jonah is approached at an airport by Hare Krishna followers. To their "Hare Krishna?" Jonah responds "Harry Chapin".

Extended family

Chapin often remarked that he came from an artistic family. His father Jim Chapin and brothers Tom Chapin and Steve Chapin are also musicians, as are his daughter, Jen Chapin, and two of his nieces (see the Chapin Sisters). His paternal grandfather was an artist who illustrated Robert Frost's first two books of poetry; his maternal grandfather was the philosopher Kenneth Burke.

Notable musicians in their own right, Tom and Steve Chapin sometimes performed with Harry throughout his career, as is especially evident on the live albums Greatest Stories Live and Legends of the Lost and Found. He also performed with them before his solo career took off, as seen on the album Chapin Music! Chapin's family members and other long-time bandmates have continued to perform together from time to time in the decades since his death.

Discography

LPs:

• Chapin Music! (1966, Rock-Land Records)
• Heads & Tales (1972, Elektra)
• Sniper and Other Love Songs (1972, Elektra)
• Short Stories (1973, Elektra)
• Verities & Balderdash (1974, Elektra)
• Portrait Gallery (1975, Elektra)
• Greatest Stories Live (Double Album, 1976, Elektra)
• On the Road to Kingdom Come (1976, Elektra)
• Dance Band on the Titanic (Double Album, 1977, Elektra)
• Living Room Suite (1978, Elektra)
• Legends of the Lost and Found (Double Album, 1979, Elektra)
• Sequel (1980, Boardwalk Records)
• Anthology of Harry Chapin (1985, Elektra)
• Remember When the Music (1987, Dunhill Compact Classics)
• The Gold Medal Collection (1988, Elektra)
• The Last Protest Singer (1988, Dunhill Compact Classics)
• Harry Chapin Tribute (1990, Relativity Records)
• The Bottom Line Encore Collection (1998, Bottom Line / Koch)
• Story of a Life (1999, Elektra)
• Storyteller (1999, BOA Records)
• Onwards and Upwards (2000, Harry Chapin Foundation)
• VH1 Behind the Music: The Harry Chapin Collection (2001, Elektra)
• The Essentials (2002, Elektra)
• Classics (2003, Warner Special Products)
• Heads and Tales / Sniper and Other Love Songs (2004, Elektra. Double CD re-release of first two albums with bonus tracks)
• Introducing... Harry Chapin (2006, Rhino Records)

Singles

Video / DVD releases

• An Evening With... Harry Chapin (also known as "The Book of Chapin") (1998)
• Rockpalast Live (2002)
• Remember When: The Anthology (2005)
• You Are the Only Song (also known as "The Final Concert") (2006)

References

External links

• Harry Chapin Foundation
• Website by the Chapin family
• Harry Chapin at the Internet Movie Database
• Harry Chapin (founder) page on Long Island Cares/Harry Chapin Food Bank website
• HarryChapin.com — a fan site
• Harry Chapin at classicbands.com — Contains many details about the accident that took his life.
• World Hunger Year website
• Harry Chapin
• The Howie Fields years — The site of Chapin's drummer Howie Fields giving details of all the band shows played from 1975 to 1981
• Harry Chapin at Find a Grave

From Wikiquote

Oh, if a man tried
To take his time on earth
And prove before he died
What one man's life could be worth,
I wonder what would happen to this world.

Harry Chapin (7 December 1942 – 16 July 1981) was an American singer, songwriter, and social activist.

Sourced

• Thanksgiving. Remember junior high school, high school, elementary school, everybody bringing in cans for the hungry people? Remember that? Just imagine, if somebody, when you were in fifth, sixth grade, if the principle had the gonads to say on Monday: 'Children, it was the most single, wonderful outpouring of generosity that this school has ever seen. More cans of food feeding a hundred and ninety-three families came to this school than ever before. We only have one problem and we’re gonna deal with it this coming week. We’re gonna cancel our regular classes and what we’re gonna talk about is: what are those people gonna eat next week?’ Now doesn’t that sound like a sensible educational system that dealt with those kind of questions?
  • On Thanksgiving hunger drives

• My grandfather was a painter. He died at age eighty-eight, he illustrated Robert Frost’s first few books of poetry, and he was looking at me and he said, “Harry, there’s two kinds of tired. There’s good tired and there’s bad tired.” He said, “Ironically enough, bad tired can be a day that you won. But you won other people’s battles, you lived other people’s days, other people’s agendas, other people’s dreams. And when it’s all over, there was very little you in there. And when you hit the hay at night, somehow you toss and turn; you don’t settle easy. It’s that good tired, ironically enough, can be a day that you lost, but you don’t even have to tell yourself because you knew you fought your battles, you chased your dreams, you lived your days and when you hit the hay at night, you settle easy, you sleep to sleep with adjust and you say ‘take me away’”. He said, “Harry, all my life I wanted to be a painter and I painted; God, I would have loved to have been more successful, but I painted and I painted and I’m good tired and they can take me away.” Now, there is a process, in your and my lives, in the insecurity that we have about a prior-life or an afterlife, God- I hope there is a God. If He is- If He does exist, He’s got a rather weird sense of humor however. But let’s just- But if there’s a process that will allow us to live our days, that will allow us that will allow us that degree of equanimity towards the end looking at the black, implacable wall of death, to allow us that degree of peace, that degree of non-fear, I want in.
  • about his grandfather

• I spent a week there one afternoon.
  • about the town of Watertown, New York featured in "A Better Place to Be"

• I never really drove a cab, but I do have a hack license in case of emergencies – like no money."
  • On "Taxi" to Rolling Stone; July 6, 1972

• Here’s a song that I could probably talk about for two weeks.
  • On "Sniper"

• Frankly, this song scares me to death.
  • On "Cat's In The Cradle" relating to his relationship with his son, Josh.

I have a little trouble getting my songs are the radio cause they’re too long, but this one snuck onto the charts for about fifteen minutes.

• • On "W*O*L*D"

Songs

• You see, I have no real complaints of how you've left your past behind
  I guess what gets me worried is you've erased him from your mind.
  • "I Wonder What Happened to Him"

• You see, dream-lover of a lady, what shakes me to the core
  Is the thought as you caress me, you've done this all before
  I think about the future with me out and others in
  Will I, too, have disappeared like I've never ever been?
  • "I Wonder What Happened to Him"

• I'm in the danceband on the Titanic
  Singing "Nearer my God to thee"
  and the iceburgs on the starboard bow
  Won't you dance with me?
  • "Danceband On the Titanic"

• And I know you're frightened
  By my laughter
  But you're not afraid
  To hold my pain
  You see I'm never sure
  Just what you're after, Babe
  But it seems you only love me
  When it rains.
  How come you only love me when it rains?
  • It Seems You Only Love Me When It Rains

• Music was his life, it was not his livelihood,
  And it made him feel so happy and it made him feel so good.
  And he sang from his heart and he sang from his soul.
  He did not know how well he sang; It just made him whole.
  • "Mr. Tanner"

• Mr. Martin Tanner, a baritone, of Dayton, Ohio made his Town Hall debut last night. He came well prepared, but unfortunately his presentation was not up to contemporary professional standards. His voice lacks the range of tonal color necessary to make it consistently interesting.
  Full time consideration of another endeavor might be in order.
  • "Mr. Tanner"

• She sings the songs without words
  Songs that sailors, and blind men, and beggars have heard
  She knows more of love than the poets can say
  And her eyes are for something that won't go away.
  • She Sings Songs Without Words

• Short stories
  that's all it's ever been
  Don't you worry 'bout the ending
  Babe, before we begin
  I have seen the sun
  That's behind the rain
  I have felt the joy
  That's behind the pain.
  • "Short Stories"

• You know I need a dream
  Like I need my breath
  We need to take the life
  Before we get the death
  You know I need your love
  Like I need the light
  Yes I need the chance
  Can it be tonight?
  • "Short Stories"

• There's a vacancy, won't you come to me
  And fill my empty spaces
  I'm a motel man in a promised land
  That's filled with empty faces
  So won't you bring your sorrows bring your dreams,
  It's a place for you to be
  There's no more tomorrow or that's how it seems
  Won't you come to me? I've got a vacancy
  • "Vacancy"

• Why did the little girls grow crippled
  While the little boys grow strong
  The boys allowed to come of age
  The girls just came along
  The girls were told sing harmonies
  The boys could all sing songs
  That's why little girls grew crippled
  While little boys grew strong.
  • "Why Do Little Girls?"

• Why were the little girls all frightened
  To be just what they are
  The boys were told to ask themselves
  How high how far
  The girls were told to reach the shelves
  While the boys were reaching stars
  That's why little girls were frightened
  To be just what they are.
  • "Why Do Little Girls?"

• I am the morning DJ... At W.O.L.D.
  Playin' all the hits for you... Wherever you may be.
  The bright good morning voice... Who is heard, but never seen!
  Feelin' all of 45.... Goin' on 15.
  • W*O*L*D

• Sometimes I get this crazy dream
  And I just take off in my car
  But you can travel on ten thousand miles
  And still stay where you are.
  • W*O*L*D

A Better Place to Be

• And the broad who served the whisky
  She was a big old friendly girl.
  And she tried to fight her empty nights
  By smilin' at the world.

• She said, "I don't want to bother you,
  Consider it's understood.
  I know I'm not no beauty queen,
  But I sure can listen good."

• "I am the midnight watchman down at Miller's Tool and Die.
  And I watch the metal rusting, and I watch the time go by.
  A week ago at the diner I stopped to get a bite.
  And this here lovely lady she sat two seats from my right.
  And Lord, Lord, Lord she was alright.
  Oh she was so damned beautiful that she'd warm a winter's frost.
  But she was long past lonely, and well nigh unto lost.
  Now I'm not much of a mover, or a pick-em-up easy guy,
  But I decided to glide on over, and give her one good try.
  And Lord, Lord, Lord she was worth a try."

• "And it shamed me into silence, as quietly she said,
  'If you want me to come with you, then that's all right with me.
  Cause I know I'm going nowhere, and anywhere's a better place to be.
  Anywhere's a better place to be.'"

• "The moonlight shown upon her as she lay back in my bed.
  It was the kind of scene I only had imagined in my head.
  I just could not believe it, to think that she was real.
  And as I tried to tell her she said 'Shhh.. I know just how you feel.
  And if you want to come here with me, then that's all right with me.
  'Cause I've been oh so lonely, lovin' someone is a better way to be.
  anywhere's a better way to be.' "

• "I did not want to share her with the world or break the mood,
  So before she woke I went out and brought us both some food.
  I came back with my paper bag, to find out she was gone.
  She'd left a six word letter saying 'It's time that I moved on.'"

• The waitress took a bar rag, and she wiped it across her eyes.
  And as she spoke her voice came out as something like a sigh.
  She said "I wish that I was beautiful, or that you were halfway blind.
  And I wish I weren't so dog-gone fat, I wish that you were mine.
  And I wish that you'd come with me, when I leave for home.
  For we both know all about loneliness, and livin' all alone."

Cat's in the Cradle

Cat's in the Cradle was written with his wife Sandy Chapin.

• My child arrived just the other day,
  He came to the world in the usual way.
  But there were planes to catch, and bills to pay.
  He learned to walk while I was away.
  And he was talking 'fore I knew it, and as he grew,
  He'd say, "I'm gonna be like you, dad.
  You know I'm gonna be like you."

• And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
  Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
  "When you coming home, dad?" "I don't know when,
  But we'll get together then.
  You know we'll have a good time then."

Circle

• All my life's a circle;
  Sunrise and sundown;
  Moon rolls thru the nighttime;
  Till the daybreak comes around.

• All my life's a circle;
  But I can't tell you why;
  Season's spinning round again;
  The years keep rollin' by.

• No straight lines make up my life;
  And all my roads have bends;
  There's no clear-cut beginnings;
  And so far no dead-ends.

• I found you a thousand times;
  I guess you done the same;
  But then we lose each other;
  It's like a children's game;
  As I find you here again;
  A thought runs through my mind;
  Our love is like a circle;
  Let's go 'round one more time.

Corey's Coming

• I was quite surprised to find out all the places that he knew
  And so I asked the townfolk if his stories were true
  They said— Old John was born here, he's lived here all his life
  He's never had a woman, let alone a wife.
  And very soon you'll find out as you check around
  That no one named Corey's ever lived in this town
  So I chided the old man 'bout the truth that I had heard
  He smiled and said— Reality is only just a word.

• They put the cold dirt over him and left me on my own
  And when at last I looked up I saw I was not alone
  So I said— If you're a relative, he had a peaceful end.
  She said— My name is Corey— you can say I'm just a friend.

• Corey's coming, no more sad stories coming
  My midnight-moonlight-morning-glory's coming aren't you girl?
  And like I told you, when she holds you
  She enfolds you in her world.

Flowers are Red

• The little boy went first day of school
  He got some crayons and started to draw
  He put colors all over the paper
  For colors was what he saw
  And the teacher said.. "What you doin' young man?"
  "I'm paintin' flowers" he said
  She said... "It's not the time for art young man
  And anyway flowers are green and red
  There's a time for everything young man
  And a way it should be done
  You've got to show concern for everyone else
  For you're not the only one."

• And she said...
  "Flowers are red young man
  Green leaves are green
  There's no need to see flowers any other way
  Than they way they always have been seen."

• But the little boy said...
  "There are so many colors in the rainbow
  So many colors in the morning sun
  So many colors in the flowers and I see every one."

• But there still must be a way to have our children say...
  "There are so many colors in the rainbow
  So many colors in the morning sun
  So many colors in the flower and I see every one." (Live version)

I Wanna Learn a Love Song

• I come fresh from the street,
  fast on my feet, kind a lean and lazy;
  not much meat on my bones, and a whole lot alone,
  and more than a little bit crazy.
  The old six string was all I had
  to keep my belly still,
  and for each full hour lesson I gave
  I got a crisp ten dollar bill.

• She was married for seven years
  to a concrete castle king.
  She said she wanted to learn to play the guitar
  and to hear her children sing.
  So I'd show up about once a week
  in my faded tight-legged jeans
  with a backlog full of hobo stories
  and dilapidated dreams.

• She said, "I wanna learn a love song full of happy things."
  She said, "I wanna learn a love song; won't you let me hear you sing?"
  She said, "I wanna learn a love song, I wanna hear you play."
  She said, "I wanna learn a love song before you go away."

I Wonder What Would Happen to this World

• Now if a man tried
  To take his time on Earth
  And prove before he died
  What one man's life could be worth,
  Well I wonder what would happen to this world.

• And if a woman
  She used a life line
  As something more than
  Some man's servant mother wife time
  Well I wonder what would happen to this world.

• And if our future
  Lies on the final line
  Are we brave enough
  To see the signals and the signs?

• If we say that no one's out there
  And we say we're goin' nowhere
  And we avoid the question
  Is this all that it means?

• Oh, if a man tried
  To take his time on earth
  And prove before he died
  What one man's life could be worth,
  I wonder what would happen to this world.

If You Want to Feel

• Oh God they got you gun shy
  You know your skin's as cold as ice
  Your eyes are double filtered babe
  You're so afraid to be nice
  There's no way you're ready
  To let your defenses down
  Though I won't come on heavy
  There is a lesson that I've found.

• If you try to look
  But you don't touch
  Then you won't touch
  But you'll never feel
  And if you don't feel
  You'll never cry
  And if you don't cry
  Then you'll never heal

• There are lessons to life
  That the lovers got to learn
  There are corners out there
  You know they're waitin' somewhere
  And you've got to be prepared to turn
  There are callouses that come
  That the lovers got to earn
  In the years of your youth
  You can't be fire proof
  You know you've got to get burned.

Remember When the Music

• Remember when the music
  Came from wooden boxes strung with silver wire
  And as we sang the words, it would set our minds on fire,
  For we believed in things, and so we'd sing.

• Oh all the times I've listened, and all the times I've heard
  All the melodies I'm missing, and all the magic words,
  And all those potent voices, and the choices we had then,
  How I'd love to find we had that kind of choice again.

• And I feel that something's coming, and it's not just in the wind.
  It's more than just tomorrow, it's more than where we've been,
  It offers me a promise, it's telling me "Begin",
  I know we're needing something worth believing in.

The Rock

• "The rock is gonna fall on us," he stood and told the class
  The professor put his chalk down and peered out through his glasses
  But he went on and said; "I've seen it, high up on the hill
  If it doesn't fall this year then very soon it will!"

• We've more important studies than your fantasies and fears
  You know that rock's been perched up there for a hundred thousand years.

• He went up on the mountain beside the giant stone
  They knew he was insane so they left him alone
  He'd given up enlisting help for there was no one else
  He spent his days devising ways to stop the rock himself
  One night while he was working building braces on the ledge
  The ground began to rumble the rock trembled on the edge.

• He ran under it with one last hope that he could add a prop
  And as he disappeared the rock came to a stop.

• The people ran into the street but by then all was still
  The rock seemed where it always was or where it always will be
  When someone asked where he had gone they said: "Oh he was daft.
  Who cares about that crazy fool." And then they'd start to laugh.

• But high up on the mountain
  When the wind is hitting it
  If you're watching very closely
  The rock slips a little bit...

Shooting Star

• Oh, he was the sun burning bright and brittle
  And she was the moon shining back his light a little
  He was a shooting star
  She was softer and more slowly
  He could not make things possible
  But, she could make them holy.

• He was dancing to some music
  No one else had ever heard
  He'd speak in unknown languages
  She would translate every word
  And then when the world was laughing
  At his castles in the sky
  She'd hold him in her body
  Till he once again could fly.

Six String Orchestra

• The very day I purchased it,
  I christened my guitar
  as my monophonic symphony,
  six string orchestra.

• I'd play at all the talent nights,
  I'd finish, they'd applaud.
  Some called it muffled laughter,
  I just figured they were odd.
  So I went up for an encore,
  but they screamed they'd had enough.
  Or maybe I just need a group
  to help me do my stuff.

• And so I'd dream a bass will join me,
  and fill the bottom in. And maybe now some lead guitar
  so it would not sound so thin.
  I need some drums to set the beat
  and help me keep in time.
  And way back in the distance,
  some strings would sound so fine.

• And we would play together,
  like fine musicians should,
  And it would sound like music,
  and the music would sound good.
  But in real life I'm stuck with
  that same old formula,
  me and my monophonic symphony,
  six string orchestra.

Somebody Said

• Somebody said...We got to find the words
  Got to, got to be an answer there
  Somebody said that...You never get heard
  'Cause nobody really cares

• Somebody said...Where are the dreamers
  Somebody said...Dead
  Somebody said...Here comes the holy rollers
  Tryin' to sell us all the screamers instead.

Story of a Life

• And the wind will whip your tousled hair,
  The sun, the rain, the sweet despair,
  Great tales of love and strife.
  And somewhere on your path to glory
  You will write your story of a life.

• And all the trips you know you missed
  And all the lips you never kissed
  Cut through you like a knife.
  And now you see stretched out before thee
  Just another story of a life.

• Now sometimes words can serve me well
  Sometimes words can go to hell
  For all that they do.
  And for every dream that took me high
  There's been a dream that's passed me by.
  I know it's so true
  And I can see it clear out to the end
  And I'll whisper to her now again
  Because she shared my life.
  For more than all the ghosts of glory
  She makes up the story,
  She's the only story
  Of my life.

Taxi

• It took a while, but she looked in the mirror,
  And she glanced at the license for my name.
  A smile seemed to come to her slowly,
  It was a sad smile, just the same.
  And she said, "How are you Harry?"
  I said, "How are you Sue?
  Through the too many miles
  and the too little smiles
  I still remember you."

• There was not much more for us to talk about,
  Whatever we had once was gone.
  So I turned my cab into the driveway,
  Past the gate and the fine trimmed lawns.
  And she said we must get together,
  But I knew it'd never be arranged.
  And she handed me twenty dollars,
  For a two fifty fare, she said
  "Harry, keep the change."
  Well another man might have been angry,
  And another man might have been hurt,
  But another man never would have let her go...
  I stashed the bill in my shirt.

• And she walked away in silence,
  It's strange, how you never know,
  But we'd both gotten what we'd asked for,
  Such a long, long time ago.

• You see, she was gonna be an actress
  And I was gonna learn to fly.
  She took off to find the footlights,
  And I took off for the sky.
  And here, she's acting happy,
  Inside her handsome home.
  And me, I'm flying in my taxi,
  Taking tips, and getting stoned,
  I go flying so high, when I'm stoned.

Sequel

Sequel (to the song "Taxi")

• You see, ten years ago it was the front seat
  Drivin' stoned and feelin' no pain.
  Now here I am straight and sittin' in the back
  Hitting Sixteen Parkside Lane.

• And the look on her face as she opened the door
  Was like an old joke told by a friend.
  It'd taken ten more years but she'd found her smile
  And I watched the corners start to bend.

• She said I've heard you flying high on my radio
  I answered "It's not all it seems"
  That's when she laughed and she said, "It's better sometimes
  When we don't get to touch our dreams."

• That's when I asked her where was that actress
  She said "That was somebody else"
  And then I asked her why she looked so happy now
  She said "I finally like myself, at last I like myself."

• I guess it's a sequel to our story
  From the journey 'tween heaven and hell
  With half the time thinking of what might have been
  and half thinkin' just as well.
  I guess only time will tell.

There Only Was One Choice

• Strum your guitar sing it kid
  Just write about your feelings
  not the things you never did
  Inexperience, it once had cursed me
  But your youth is no handicap
  it's what makes you thirsty

• When I started this song I was still thirty-three
  The age that Mozart died and sweet Jesus was set free
  Keats and Shelley too soon finished, Charley Parker would be
  And I fantasized some tragedy'd be soon curtailing me
  Well just today I had my birthday
  I made it thirty-four
  Mere mortal, not immortal, not star-crossed anymore
  I've got this problem with my aging I no longer can ignore
  A tame and toothless tabby can't produce a lion's roar

• Hello my Country
  I once came to tell everyone your story
  Your passion was my poetry
  And your past my most potent glory
  Your promise was my prayer
  Your hypocrisy my nightmare
  And your problems fill my present
  Are we both going somewhere?

• Step right up young lady
  Your two hundred birthdays make you old if not senile
  And we see the symptoms there in your rigor mortis smile
  With your old folks eating dog food and your children eating paint
  While the pirates own the flag and sell us sermons on restraint

• And while blood's the only language that your deaf old ears can hear
  And still you will not answer with that message coming clear
  Does it mean there's no more ripples in your tired old glory stream
  And the buzzards own the carcass of your dream?

• B-U-Y Centennial
  Sell 'em pre-canned laughter
  America Perennial
  Sing happy ever after

• Good dreams don't come cheap
  You've got to pay for them

Thirty Thousand Pounds of Bananas

• He was a young driver,
  just out on his second job.
  And he was carrying the next day's pasty fruits
  for everyone in that coal-scarred city
  where children play without despair
  in backyard slag-piles and folks manage to eat each day
  about thirty thousand pounds of bananas...

• He was picking speed as the city spread its twinkling lights below him.
  But he paid no heed as the shivering thoughts of the nights
  delights went through him.
  His foot nudged the brakes to slow him down.
  But the pedal floored easy without a sound.
  He said "Christ!"
  It was funny how he had named the only man who could save him now.
  He was trapped inside a dead-end hellslide,
  riding on his fear-hunched back
  was every one of those yellow green
  I'm telling you thirty thousand pounds of bananas.
  Yes, there were thirty thousand pounds of bananas.

• And he said "God, make it a dream!"
  as he rode his last ride down.
  And he sideswiped nineteen neat parked cars,
  clipped off thirteen telephone poles,
  hit two houses, bruised eight trees,
  and Blue-Crossed seven people.
  it was then he lost his head,
  not to mention an arm or two before he stopped.

• You know the man who told me about it on the bus,
  as it went up the hill out of Scranton, Pennsylvania,
  he shrugged his shoulders, he shook his head,
  and he said (and this is exactly what he said)
  "Boy that sure must've been something.
  Just imagine thirty thousand pounds of bananas.
  Yes, there were thirty thousand pounds of mashed bananas.
  Of bananas. Just bananas. Thirty thousand pounds.
  of Bananas—not no driver now. Just bananas!"

What Made America Famous

• It was the town that made America famous.
  The churches full and the kids all gone to hell.
  Six traffic lights and seven cops and all the streets kept clean.
  The supermarket and the drug store and the bars all doing well.

• Something's burning somewhere. Does anybody care?

• We were the kids that made America famous.
  The kind of kids that long since drove our parents to dispair.
  We were lazy long hairs dropping out, lost confused, and copping out.
  Convinced our futures were in doubt and trying not to care.

• He rolled on up in the fire truck
  And raised the ladder to the ledge
  Where me and my girl and a couple of kids
  Were clinging like bats to the edge.
  We staggered to salvation,
  Collapsed on the street.
  And I never thought that a fat man's face
  Would ever look so sweet.

• I went to sleep with the hope that made America famous.
  I had the kind of a dream that maybe they're still trying to teach in school.
  Of the America that made America famous...and
  Of the people who just might understand
  That how together yes we can
  Create a country better than
  The one we have made of this land,
  We have a choice to make each man
  who dares to dream, reaching out his hand
  A prophet or just a crazy God damn
  Dreamer of a fool

• There's something burning somewhere.
  Does anybody care?
  Is anybody there?

About Harry Chapin

• "Harry, it sucks." ~ Steve Chapin on hearing Harry's alternate ending to 30,000 Pounds of Bananas.

• "I believe that my brother was a great man. But, unlike most other great men, his greatness did not come from diminishing those around him. He made himself great, in part, by finding the best in those around him." ~ James Chapin

• "There's been a lot of talk about 'How can we fill Harry's shoes?' The answer to that is that the challenge of Harry's life was NOT one of 'following in his footsteps' or 'filling his shoes.' The challenge is in filling our OWN shoes: We carry on Harry's work not just because we loved and admired him. We do so because it is the proper work of us all." ~ James Chapin

External links

Wikipedia has an article about:

Harry Chapin

<math>Insert non-formatted text here</math>[[Image:[[Image:Example.jpg]][[Image:[[Image:Example.jpg]][[Image:[[Image:Example.jpg]]]]]]]]

• Lyrics to Harry Chapin songs at The Harry Chapin Archive
• Harry Chapin Foundation
• Website by the Chapin family