Thursday, October 14, 2010
A Harry Chapin Miscellany
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Harry Chapin’s rocketlike trajectory through the world of music lasted only a few short years before it was abruptly snuffed out. For the benefit of those readers to whom the Harry Chapin biography brought back memories and those readers for whom it opened a whole new world of discovery, the following sampler of Harry Chapin quotable quotes and discography may be useful.
A Harry Chapin Sampler
"The credo of my life is very simply, when in doubt, do something. The errors I make are going to be errors of commission, not omission. I'm out there to live. I'm not frightened, or when I am, I still push."
"Given this short opportunity we call life, it seems to me that the only sensible way--even if you have pessimistic thoughts about the 99 percent possibility that things are going wrong--is to operate on the one percent chance that our lives mean something."
"Yes, we can. Yes, we can dream. Yes, we can believe. If a brave new America is one where we can't dream, I'm very frightened."
"This nation is looking for a vision. We had 'manifest destiny.' We built the railroads, industry, won two wars. We're looking for something grand and good to do. I don't have much hope of it happening, but feeding the world could be that thing."
"The reason I fight for the arts as well as against hunger is because the arts are the qualitative way, are the effective way, are the traditional way we learn to make value decisions about who and what we are."
"The very reason we ask, why world hunger? tells you why we have a hunger problem. There are three necessities of life: water, air and food. It's not a luxury. It's not a cause like cystic fibrosis, cancer, heart disease. You haven't got the option to get those things if you don't have the three necessities.
"So, in a world that has enough food to feed everybody twice over, and yet half a billion people are starving, and a country where there is enough food to feed everybody six times over and yet 20 million Americans are malnourished, there is something really basically wrong in the structure; otherwise we wouldn't have these symptoms."
"Feeding hungry people is important in the short run, but in the long run you've got to realize that powerful forces are creating those hungry people. Those people don't just choose to starve. Our job is to look at those forces and deal with them."
For collectors or would-be collectors of Harry Chapin's music, the following discography makes a good starting place to familiarize yourself with Harry Chapin's oeuvre:
A Harry Chapin Discography
Number in Song Index. Album Title (date, label)
1. Heads & Tales (1972, Electra)
2. Sniper and Other Love Songs (1972, Elektra)
3. Short Stories (1974, Elektra)
4. Verities & Balderdash (1974, Elektra)
5. Portrait Gallery (1975, Elektra)
6. Greatest Stories Live (double album) (1976, Elektra)
7. On the Road to Kingdom Come (1976, Elektra)
8. Dance Band on the Titanic (double album) (1977, Elektra)
9. Living Room Suite (1978, Elektra)
10. Legends of the Lost and Found (double album) (1979, Elektra)
11. Sequel (1980, Boardwalk Records) Harry's last recording before his death. All subsequent albums were issued posthumously.
12. Harry Chapin: Anthology (1985, Elektra)
13. Remember When the Music (1987, Dunhill Compact Classics) A re-issue of Sequel with two added tracks.
14. The Gold Medal Collection (1988, Elektra)
15. The Last Protest Singer (1989, Dunhill Compact Classics)
16. The Bottom Line Encore Collection (1997, Rhino)
17. Story of a Life (1999, Rhino)
18. VH1 Behind the Music Collection (2001, Rhino)
The Harry Chapin Song Finder
(Shows song titles and the above numbered albums in which they appear)
And the Baby Never Cries: 2
Anthem: 15
Any Old Kind of Day: 1, 12, 17
Babysitter: 5
Barefoot Boy: 2
Basic Protest Song: 15
A Better Place to Be: 2, 6, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18
Bluesman: 8
Bummer: 5
Burning Herself: 2
Calluses: 14
Caroline: 7, 17 (see Note 1)
Cat's in the Cradle: 4, 6, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18 (see Note 1)
Changes: 3
A Child Is Born: 16
Circle: 2, 6, 12, 14, 17, 18
Commitment and Peter Seeger: 14
Copper: 10
Corey's Coming: 7, 10, 14, 17, 18
Could You Put Your Light On, Please: 1, 17
Country Dreams: 8
Dance Band on the Titanic: 8, 14, 17
Dancin' Boy: 9, 14, 17
The Day They Closed the Factory Down: 10
Dirt Gets under the Fingernails: 5
Dirty Old Man: 14
Dogtown: 1
Dreams Go By: 5, 6, 17
Empty: 1, 17
Everybody's Lonely: 1
Fall in Love with Him: 7
Flowers are Red: 9, 10, 14, 17
Get on With It: 10
God Babe, You've Been Good for Me: 11, 13, 17
Greyhound: 1, 17
Halfway to Heaven: 4
Hokey Pokey: 13
I Do It for You, Jane: 8
I Don't Want to Be President: 15
I Finally Found It, Sandy: 11, 13
I Miss America: 11, 13, 16
I Wanna Learn a Love Song: 4, 6, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18
I Wonder What Happened to Him: 8, 17
I Wonder What Would Happen to this World: 9, 14, 17
If My Mary Were Here: 7, 10, 17, 18
If You Want to Feel: 9
It Seems You Only Love Me When It Rains: 9
Jenny: 9, 17
Last of the Protest Singers: 15
Last Stand: 15, 17
Laugh Man: 7, 17
Legends of the Lost and Found: 10
Let Time Go Lightly: 6, 16 (see Note 2)
Love Is Just Another Word: 6
Mail Order Annie: 3, 10, 14, 17
Manhood: 8
The Mayor of Candor Lied: 7, 17
Mercenaries: 8, 16
Mismatch: 8, 16, 17
Mr. Tanner: 3, 6, 14, 16, 17
My Grandfather: 14
My Old Lady: 8
Northwest 222: 11, 13
November Rains: 15, 17
Odd Job Man: 10
Oh, Man: 13
Old College Avenue: 3, 14, 17
Old Folkie: 10, 16, 17
On the Road to Kingdom Come: 7
One Light in a Dark Valley: 8 (see Note 3)
Paint a Picture of Yourself: 8
The Parade's Still Passing By: 7
Performing: 14
Poor Damned Fool: 9, 10, 17
Pretzel Man: 10
A Quiet Little Love Affair: 15
Remember When the Music: 11, 13, 14
Remember When the Music (Reprise): 11, 13, 14, 17, 18
The Rock: 5, 14, 17
Roll Down the River: 7
Salt and Pepper: 11, 13
Same Sad Singer: 1
Sandy: 5
Saturday Morning: 6 (see Note 4)
Sequel: 1, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18
She Is Always Seventeen: 6, 12, 17
She Sings Songs Without Words: 4, 14
Shooting Star: 4, 14, 17
Short Stories: 3, 17
The Shortest Story: 6
Silly Little Girl: 15
Six-String Orchestra: 4
Sniper: 2, 14, 17, 18
Somebody Said: 9
Someone Keeps Calling My Name: 5, 17
Sometime, Somewhere Wife: 1
Song for Myself: 3
Song Man: 3, 12
Sounds Like America to Me: 15
Star Tripper: 5
Stop Singing Those Sad Songs: 5
Story of a Life: 11, 13, 14, 16, 17
Stranger with the Melodies: 10
Sunday Morning Sunshine: 2, 12, 14, 17, 18
Tangled-Up Puppet: 5, 10, 14, 18 (see Note 1)
Taxi: 1, 6, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18
Thanksgiving Hunger Drives: 14
There Only Was One Choice: 8, 14
There's a Lot of Lonely People Tonight: 3
They Call Her Easy: 3, 17
Thirty Thousand Pounds of Bananas: 4, 6, 12, 16, 17, 18
Up on the Shelf: 11, 13
Vacancy: 4, 17
W*O*L*D: 3, 6, 12, 14, 16, 18
We Grew Up a Little Bit: 8
We Were Three: 10
What Made America Famous: 4, 17
Why Do Little Girls: 9
Why Should People Stay the Same: 8
Winter Song: 2, 14
Woman Child: 2
Word Wizard: 15
You Are the Only Song: 10
You Own the Only Light: 15
Notes
Note 1: Written by Sandy Chapin, Harry's wife.
Note 2: Written and sung by Steve Chapin, Harry's brother.
Note 3: Written by Kenneth Burke, Harry's grandfather.
Note 4: Written and sung by Tom Chapin, Harry's brother.
Harry Chapin’s rocketlike trajectory through the world of music lasted only a few short years before it was abruptly snuffed out. For the benefit of those readers to whom the Harry Chapin biography brought back memories and those readers for whom it opened a whole new world of discovery, the following sampler of Harry Chapin quotable quotes and discography may be useful.
A Harry Chapin Sampler
"The credo of my life is very simply, when in doubt, do something. The errors I make are going to be errors of commission, not omission. I'm out there to live. I'm not frightened, or when I am, I still push."
"Given this short opportunity we call life, it seems to me that the only sensible way--even if you have pessimistic thoughts about the 99 percent possibility that things are going wrong--is to operate on the one percent chance that our lives mean something."
"Yes, we can. Yes, we can dream. Yes, we can believe. If a brave new America is one where we can't dream, I'm very frightened."
"This nation is looking for a vision. We had 'manifest destiny.' We built the railroads, industry, won two wars. We're looking for something grand and good to do. I don't have much hope of it happening, but feeding the world could be that thing."
"The reason I fight for the arts as well as against hunger is because the arts are the qualitative way, are the effective way, are the traditional way we learn to make value decisions about who and what we are."
"The very reason we ask, why world hunger? tells you why we have a hunger problem. There are three necessities of life: water, air and food. It's not a luxury. It's not a cause like cystic fibrosis, cancer, heart disease. You haven't got the option to get those things if you don't have the three necessities.
"So, in a world that has enough food to feed everybody twice over, and yet half a billion people are starving, and a country where there is enough food to feed everybody six times over and yet 20 million Americans are malnourished, there is something really basically wrong in the structure; otherwise we wouldn't have these symptoms."
"Feeding hungry people is important in the short run, but in the long run you've got to realize that powerful forces are creating those hungry people. Those people don't just choose to starve. Our job is to look at those forces and deal with them."
For collectors or would-be collectors of Harry Chapin's music, the following discography makes a good starting place to familiarize yourself with Harry Chapin's oeuvre:
A Harry Chapin Discography
Number in Song Index. Album Title (date, label)
1. Heads & Tales (1972, Electra)
2. Sniper and Other Love Songs (1972, Elektra)
3. Short Stories (1974, Elektra)
4. Verities & Balderdash (1974, Elektra)
5. Portrait Gallery (1975, Elektra)
6. Greatest Stories Live (double album) (1976, Elektra)
7. On the Road to Kingdom Come (1976, Elektra)
8. Dance Band on the Titanic (double album) (1977, Elektra)
9. Living Room Suite (1978, Elektra)
10. Legends of the Lost and Found (double album) (1979, Elektra)
11. Sequel (1980, Boardwalk Records) Harry's last recording before his death. All subsequent albums were issued posthumously.
12. Harry Chapin: Anthology (1985, Elektra)
13. Remember When the Music (1987, Dunhill Compact Classics) A re-issue of Sequel with two added tracks.
14. The Gold Medal Collection (1988, Elektra)
15. The Last Protest Singer (1989, Dunhill Compact Classics)
16. The Bottom Line Encore Collection (1997, Rhino)
17. Story of a Life (1999, Rhino)
18. VH1 Behind the Music Collection (2001, Rhino)
The Harry Chapin Song Finder
(Shows song titles and the above numbered albums in which they appear)
And the Baby Never Cries: 2
Anthem: 15
Any Old Kind of Day: 1, 12, 17
Babysitter: 5
Barefoot Boy: 2
Basic Protest Song: 15
A Better Place to Be: 2, 6, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18
Bluesman: 8
Bummer: 5
Burning Herself: 2
Calluses: 14
Caroline: 7, 17 (see Note 1)
Cat's in the Cradle: 4, 6, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18 (see Note 1)
Changes: 3
A Child Is Born: 16
Circle: 2, 6, 12, 14, 17, 18
Commitment and Peter Seeger: 14
Copper: 10
Corey's Coming: 7, 10, 14, 17, 18
Could You Put Your Light On, Please: 1, 17
Country Dreams: 8
Dance Band on the Titanic: 8, 14, 17
Dancin' Boy: 9, 14, 17
The Day They Closed the Factory Down: 10
Dirt Gets under the Fingernails: 5
Dirty Old Man: 14
Dogtown: 1
Dreams Go By: 5, 6, 17
Empty: 1, 17
Everybody's Lonely: 1
Fall in Love with Him: 7
Flowers are Red: 9, 10, 14, 17
Get on With It: 10
God Babe, You've Been Good for Me: 11, 13, 17
Greyhound: 1, 17
Halfway to Heaven: 4
Hokey Pokey: 13
I Do It for You, Jane: 8
I Don't Want to Be President: 15
I Finally Found It, Sandy: 11, 13
I Miss America: 11, 13, 16
I Wanna Learn a Love Song: 4, 6, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18
I Wonder What Happened to Him: 8, 17
I Wonder What Would Happen to this World: 9, 14, 17
If My Mary Were Here: 7, 10, 17, 18
If You Want to Feel: 9
It Seems You Only Love Me When It Rains: 9
Jenny: 9, 17
Last of the Protest Singers: 15
Last Stand: 15, 17
Laugh Man: 7, 17
Legends of the Lost and Found: 10
Let Time Go Lightly: 6, 16 (see Note 2)
Love Is Just Another Word: 6
Mail Order Annie: 3, 10, 14, 17
Manhood: 8
The Mayor of Candor Lied: 7, 17
Mercenaries: 8, 16
Mismatch: 8, 16, 17
Mr. Tanner: 3, 6, 14, 16, 17
My Grandfather: 14
My Old Lady: 8
Northwest 222: 11, 13
November Rains: 15, 17
Odd Job Man: 10
Oh, Man: 13
Old College Avenue: 3, 14, 17
Old Folkie: 10, 16, 17
On the Road to Kingdom Come: 7
One Light in a Dark Valley: 8 (see Note 3)
Paint a Picture of Yourself: 8
The Parade's Still Passing By: 7
Performing: 14
Poor Damned Fool: 9, 10, 17
Pretzel Man: 10
A Quiet Little Love Affair: 15
Remember When the Music: 11, 13, 14
Remember When the Music (Reprise): 11, 13, 14, 17, 18
The Rock: 5, 14, 17
Roll Down the River: 7
Salt and Pepper: 11, 13
Same Sad Singer: 1
Sandy: 5
Saturday Morning: 6 (see Note 4)
Sequel: 1, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18
She Is Always Seventeen: 6, 12, 17
She Sings Songs Without Words: 4, 14
Shooting Star: 4, 14, 17
Short Stories: 3, 17
The Shortest Story: 6
Silly Little Girl: 15
Six-String Orchestra: 4
Sniper: 2, 14, 17, 18
Somebody Said: 9
Someone Keeps Calling My Name: 5, 17
Sometime, Somewhere Wife: 1
Song for Myself: 3
Song Man: 3, 12
Sounds Like America to Me: 15
Star Tripper: 5
Stop Singing Those Sad Songs: 5
Story of a Life: 11, 13, 14, 16, 17
Stranger with the Melodies: 10
Sunday Morning Sunshine: 2, 12, 14, 17, 18
Tangled-Up Puppet: 5, 10, 14, 18 (see Note 1)
Taxi: 1, 6, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18
Thanksgiving Hunger Drives: 14
There Only Was One Choice: 8, 14
There's a Lot of Lonely People Tonight: 3
They Call Her Easy: 3, 17
Thirty Thousand Pounds of Bananas: 4, 6, 12, 16, 17, 18
Up on the Shelf: 11, 13
Vacancy: 4, 17
W*O*L*D: 3, 6, 12, 14, 16, 18
We Grew Up a Little Bit: 8
We Were Three: 10
What Made America Famous: 4, 17
Why Do Little Girls: 9
Why Should People Stay the Same: 8
Winter Song: 2, 14
Woman Child: 2
Word Wizard: 15
You Are the Only Song: 10
You Own the Only Light: 15
Notes
Note 1: Written by Sandy Chapin, Harry's wife.
Note 2: Written and sung by Steve Chapin, Harry's brother.
Note 3: Written by Kenneth Burke, Harry's grandfather.
Note 4: Written and sung by Tom Chapin, Harry's brother.
Labels: Harry Chapin, Harry Chapin Discography
