Harry Chapin

Harry Chapin (1978)

Harry Forster Chapin (born December 7, 1942 in New York City , † July 16, 1981 in Jericho , New York ) was an American singer , songwriter and director .

Career

In 1968 Chapin wrote and directed the documentary Legendary Champions about heavyweight fights in boxing between 1889 and 1929. The film was nominated for an Oscar for best documentary the following year .

After Chapin, son of the drummer Jim Chapin , had already played in various bands in his youth (including with his brothers Tom and Stephen), he received a record deal from Elektra Records in 1972 and released the album Heads and Tales , which was 60th on the Billboard -LP charts reached. The extracted song Taxi reached number 24 on the charts and was his first single hit. Taxi tells the story of a seedy and drug addicted taxi driver who happens to be chauffeuring his former lover, whom he has not seen in years. In 1972 the smaller hit Sunday Morning Sunshine followed , which reached number 75.

His most successful year was 1974, when he first came to number 36 in the single charts with WOLD . In the song, a disc jockey who left his family years ago calls his wife and describes what he experienced professionally during the years of separation. In the course of the phone call, he realizes that it is no longer possible for him to return. From the fourth LP Verities & Balderdash , released by Elektra, comes the hit Cat's in the Cradle , which became a million seller and made it to number 1 on the American charts in December 1974 . The song describes the story of a man who never had time for his son and is now neglected by the son after he has grown old and the son has left the house.

The following singles could not repeat the success of Cat's in the Cradle : 1975 I Wanna Learn a Lovesong reached number 44, 1976 Better Place to Be number 86 and 1980 sequel , the "continuation" of his song Taxi , number 23. Chapin's songs mostly tell Stories of people who are among the losers in society. The texts often give the impression that they are narrative prose for which music was written. He once characterized his ballads as "stories about ordinary people and cosmic moments in their non-cosmic lives".

death

On July 16, 1981, Chapin was on the Long Island Expressway to a concert in Eisenhower Park, Nassau County , when a truck crashed into his car. Chapin was able to be pulled out of the wreck before it went up in flames and was flown to a hospital in a rescue helicopter. After unsuccessful attempts at resuscitation, a spokesman for the Nassau County Medical Center announced that Chapin had died of a heart attack at the age of 38. It could not be determined whether the heart attack occurred before or after the accident. Harry Chapin was buried in the Huntington Rural Cemetery in Huntington . The words of his epitaph are excerpts from his song I Wonder What Would Happen to This World .

Honors and reception

Chapin gave dozens of concerts for Welthungerhilfe every year , and he donated most of the income from these concerts to this organization. Because of his commitment, a discussion took place in the US House of Representatives in 1986 as to whether one should posthumously honor Chapin's commitment to fighting global hunger through a US order. After Bill Ayres, the chairman of Welthungerhilfe, Marty Rogol, the chairman of the USA for Africa organization, and numerous members of parliament had responded positively to this request, a law passed on May 1, 1986 resolved that Chapin was awarded a medal from the USA Honor commitment to fighting hunger.

On July 16, 1991, ten years after his death, a memorial was held in the United States Congress . Tim Johnson, MP from South Dakota , gave a speech in honor of the deceased under the agenda item Tribute to Harry Chapin and paid tribute to his humanitarian commitment.

The American rock musician Bruce Springsteen gave a laudatory speech on Chapin's 45th birthday in Carnegie Hall in New York in 1987 and contributed a new edition of the Chapin song Remember When the Music to the 1990 Relativity Records sampler Harry Chapin Tribute . There are also numerous new recordings of Chapin's hit Cat's in the Cradle , for example 1989 by Johnny Cash or 1995 by Ricky Skaggs - the most successful cover version was that of the band Ugly Kid Joe from 1993, which reached number 6 on the Billboard charts.

Discography: albums 1972-1980

Selection criterion: All original albums published in the USA during Harry Chapin's lifetime. Source: The information was taken from the album covers or the information brochures accompanying the albums, unless otherwise indicated by a note.

Harry Chapin (1980)

1972: Heads & Tales

Text and music: Harry Chapin - Line-up: Harry Chapin (vocals, acoustic guitar), Ron Palmer (electric guitar, backing vocals), Tim Scott (cello), John Wallace (bass, backing vocals), Steve Chapin (keyboard), Russ Kunkel (drums ) - Arrangement: Fred Kewley - Recording: Elektra Sound Recorder's Studio A, Los Angeles, California; Sound engineer: Bruce Morgan - Producer: Jac Holzman

• A-side: HEADS - Could You Put Your Light on, Please (4:30), Greyhound (5:45), Everybody's Lonely (4:07), Sometime, Somewhere Wife (4:58), Empty (2:57 )
• B-side: TALES - Taxi (6:44), Any Old Kind of Day (4:56), Dogtown (7:30), Same Sad Singer (4:12)
• Catalog number: US = Elektra EKS-75023 - GB (e 1976) = Elektra K 42107
• US LP Charts = # 60

The album was judged very critically by Robert Christgau , he criticized the exaggerated seriousness with which on this album past love is thematized. In his review of the album in the Rolling Stone Chapin, Ben Gerson accuses the latter of proletarizing the activity of taxi driving in the song Taxi and only having the intention of describing the lives of glorious proletarians in order to make it clear: "Harry Chapin is pop's most recent manifestation of radical chic. "

1972: Sniper and Other Love Songs

Text and music: Harry Chapin - Cast: Harry Chapin (vocals, acoustic guitar), Ron Palmer (electric guitar, backing vocals), Tim Scott (cello), John Wallace (bass, backing vocals) - Producer: Fred Kewley

• A-side: Sunday Morning Sunshine (3:30), Sniper (9:50), And the Baby Never Cries (5:00), Burning Herself (3:45)
• B-side: Barefoot Boy (2:30), Better Place to Be (7:35), Circle (3:20), Woman Child (5:15), Winter Song (2:30)
• Catalog number: US = Elektra EKS-75042 - GB (e 1976) = Elektra K 42125

1973: Short Stories

Text and music: Harry Chapin - cast: Harry Chapin (vocals, acoustic guitar), Ron Palmer (electric guitar, vocals), Michael Masters (cello), John Wallace (bass, vocals), Buddy Salzman, Bobby Carlin and Jim Chapin (drums ), Dave Armstrong (harmonica), Jeanne French, Tommi Lee Bradley, Rob White, Jeb Hart (backing vocals), Irving Spice Orchestra - Recording: Connecticut Recording Studios in Bridgeport, Conn. - Arranger and producer: Paul Leka

• A-side: Short Stories (4:35), WOLD (5:15), Song for Myself (5:00), Song Man (3:13), Changes (4:32)
• B-side: They Call Her Easy (4:03), Mr. Tanner (5:08), Mail Order Annie (4:52), There's a Lot of Lonely People Tonight (3:39), Old College Avenue (4 : 25)
• Catalog number: US = Elektra EKS-75065 - GB (e 1976) = Elektra K 42155
• US LP Charts = # 61

In his assessment of the album, Robert Christgau said that Chapin had a problem, he wanted to write songs about the fate of “real people”, but that he hardly met “real people”, so he knew nothing about their lives. Christgau also criticized the sometimes convulsive attempts at rhyming as well as the sometimes factual errors in WOLD , and the songs are often very lengthy.

The title WOLD was released as a single from the album . It was listed for the first time in the US singles charts in January 1974, reached number 36 and stayed under the Hot 100 for 13 weeks. The content of the song is a dialogue in a telephone conversation between the lyric self and his wife, with only the talking parts of the self be reproduced. After years of separation, he calls his wife to ask her what she thought when she heard him again on the radio and how the children reacted to hearing their father on the radio. Years ago he left his family to pursue a career as a disc jockey. After changing engagements, he was now addicted to alcohol and no longer a star in the music industry, and got a job at the regional broadcaster in his original homeland. When he tests the phone to see if he can return to his family, he learns that his wife has long since had another life partner. He has no choice but to finally take refuge in his life lie: "Sure, old girl, I understand - don't have to worry: I'm such a happy man".

Song for Myself is Chapin's swan song to the protest song and hippie movement of the 1960s and at the same time a call to develop a new political song culture. This is a song for himself, you don't have to listen. Ever since he had his wife, he was worried about the future. He has not believed answers in songs like Blowin 'in the Wind for a long time, nor that a little more love will end all problems in this world. He can only believe in what he does himself - and that is to do a very little good for those who are important to him. Nobody has written a protest song since 1963 and everyone just sings Let It Be . His generation should say more, comment on the problems of this world and not just sit in the corner smiling and watch the earth turn.

In his song Changes , Chapin reflects - against the backdrop of the Vietnam War - on the basis of the experience that he sees the singer who had motivated him to also become a singer, making music in a café in front of thirteen people, on the subject of changes. He comes to the conclusion that it was not the world around him that changed, but that the changes took place in people's minds. He takes himself as an example: As a pilot in the US Air Force , he was ready to sacrifice his life for the dreams of America, today he is not even ready to cross a street to help the USA continue in its world of lies to be able to live.

Mr. Tanner runs a dry cleaner in Dayton, Ohio . He has a voluminous sounding baritone and loves to sing. His friends persuade him to go to New York to give concerts there. He scrapes up his savings, goes to New York and actually manages to give a concert. However, the judgments of the New York music critics are devastating, so that he drives back to Dayton in frustration. When his friends asked what it was like in New York, he didn't answer and never sang in front of an audience again, only at night when the laundry room was closed, he sang when folding the laundry - and he enjoyed singing. Chapin was inspired by concert reviews in the New York Times for this song, with the reviews referring to two appearances by Martin Tubridy in 1971 and 1972.

The song Mail Order Annie tells the story of a couple who met through personals. Annie takes the train to a godforsaken area to meet her future husband Harry, whom she doesn't even know personally. Harry picks her up at the train station. When she realizes her situation, she begins to cry. Harry tries to comfort her with the words: "You are not as pretty as I imagined, but looks don't matter out here." Out here in the wasteland there are hardly any neighbors, ultimately just her, him and God. He was just a filthy fellow from the prairies of North Dakota, but she was also just a woman who would have been spat out by the big city - you should go to your future home together now.

There's a Lot of Lonely People Tonight is the monologue of a lyric self to his girlfriend. He was lonely that evening, but so was she, and there were many lonely people that night. He doesn't know whether they both share the same old dream or the same old lie, but one thing he does know, the time together with her would eventually be over. She can meet him wherever and whenever she wants, but should never appear in his dreams. Today she could come to him because he didn't want to sleep alone again.

The song Old College Avenue tells the melancholy story of a man who, after years, returns to his former university town in search of his past. He chooses a rainy autumn day, because in autumn he met his great love. He looks for the house in which they lived, and from the street he sees the window of the little one-room apartment in which they had lived together for a happy six months. Summer did not come that year because she left it to look for summer. With all the temporal and spatial distance that the protagonist has, he has to admit that this memory of her will always remain with him. The song ends with the somewhat theatrical summary: Back then, she took his future with her and left her past behind for him.

1974: Verities and Balderdash

Text and music: Harry Chapin, with the exception of Cat's in the Cradle by Sandy and Harry Chapin - Cast: Harry Chapin (vocals, acoustic guitar), Ron Palmer (electric guitar, vocals), Michael Masters (cello), John Wallace (bass, Vocals) - Arranger and producer: Paul Leka

• A-side: Cat's in the Cradle (3:44), I Wanna Learn a Lovesong (4:19), Shooting Star (4:02), 30,000 Pounds of Bananas (5:45), She Sings Songs Without Words (3 : 31)
• B-side: What Made America Famous? (6:53), Vacancy (4:00), Halfway to Heaven (6:10), Six String Orchestra (5:25)
• Catalog number: Elektra 7E-1012

1975: Portrait Gallery

Rita Coolidge sang with Kris Kristofferson on the Portrait Gallery album

Kris Kristofferson

Text and music: Harry Chapin, with the exception of Tangled up Puppet by Sandy and Harry Chapin - arranger and producer: Paul Leka

• A-side: Dreams Go by (4:44), Tangled up Puppy (3:42), Star Tripper (4:17), Babysitter (4:34), Someone Keeps Calling My Name (6:21)
• B-side: The Rock (4:15), Sandy (2:47), Dirt Gets Under the Fingernails (3:45), Bummer (9:57), Stop Singing These Sad Songs (2:53)
• Catalog number: Elektra 7E-1041

Sandy is a love song that Chapin wrote for his wife Sandy. In the first two stanzas, Chapin addresses what his wife means to him , often using metaphors from nature. In the third stanza he justifies the importance that his wife has for him with the fact that she is his mirror, that she possesses the secret of all that is wildness and freedom. He sees the world in his wife because for him she means the world.

Stop Singing These Sad Songs consists of two parts. In the first part, the lyric self is asked to stop writing these sad songs, to tell about the good times. The cold and hard truth has been heard far too often and one no longer wants to hear the old heartbreaking, sad songs. In the second part it replies that one simply shouldn't pay attention to his lyrics, rhymes are coincidence with him anyway. Actually, it just wanted to help carry loads, but it had to smile every time it saw the person opposite happily hop down the street, mile after mile.

1976: Greatest Stories - Live

(Double album) - Text and music: Harry Chapin, with the exception of Saturday Morning by Tom Chapin, Let the Time Go Lightly by Stephen Chapin and Cat's in the Cradle by Sandy and Harry Chapin

Live song recording: November 7th and 8th, 1975 at the Civic Auditorium in San Diego, California, and on November 9th, 1975 at the Community Theater in Berkeley, California. - Line-up: Harry Chapin (vocals, acoustic guitar), Stephen Chapin (piano, synthesizer, background vocals), Tom Chapin (acoustic and electric guitar, banjo, background vocals), John Wallace (bass, background vocals), Mike Masters (cello), Doug Walker (lead guitar), Howie Fields (drums) - Recording: Wally Heider Recording, Sound Engineer: Ken Caillat - Producers: Stephen Chapin and Fred Kewley

Studio recording of the songs She Is Always Seventeen , Love Is Just Another Word and The Shortest Story : Summer 1975 - Cast: Harry Chapin (vocals, acoustic guitar), Stephen Chapin (piano), Mike Masters (cello), Alan Schwartzberg (drums), John Tropea (electric guitar), Don Payne (bass), Tim Moore (piano), Paul Leka (piano), Bob Springer (congas), Ron Bacchiocchi (synthesizer); John Wallace, Christine Faith, George Simms, Dave Kondziela, Frank Simms, Mary Mundy, Betse Wagner, Sue White, Kathy Ramos (backing vocals) - Arranger and producer: Paul Leka

• 1st page: Dreams Go by (4:43), WOLD (4:46), Saturday Morning (3:01), I Wanna Learn a Love Song (4:52)
• 2nd page: Mr. Tanner (4:45), A Better Place to Be (9:17), Let Time Go Lightly (4:34)
• 3rd page: Cat's in the Cradle (3:51), Taxi (6:37), Circle (6:54)
• 4th page: 30,000 Pounds of Bananas (10:45), She's Always Seventeen (4:19), Love Is Just Another Word (4:37), The Shortest Story (2:27)
• Catalog number: Elektra 7E-2009

1976: On the Road to Kingdom Come

Text and music: Harry Chapin - Line-up: Harry Chapin (vocals, acoustic guitar), Stephen Chapin (keyboard, vocals), Ron Evanuik (cello), Howie Fields (drums), John Wallace (bass, vocals), Doug Walker (guitar , Vocals), Bobbye Hall (percussion); Carolyn Dennis, Donna Fein, Muffy Hendrix, Sharon Hendrix (vocals) - Sound engineer: Robert Ludwig - Producer: Stephen Chapin

• A-side: On the Road to Kingdom Come (5:28), The Parade's Still Passing By (3:23), The Mayor of Condor Lied (8:21), Laugh Man (3:31)
• B-side: Corey's Coming (5:38), If My Mary Were Here (3:36), Fall in Love with Him (3:50), Caroline (3:38), Roll Down the River (4:26)
• Catalog number: Elektra 7E-1082

Corey's Coming is the story of a railroad man who makes friends with the teenage first-person narrator of the story. The railroad attendant keeps telling Corey's lyrical self that one day she will come, that everything will be fine then, that he will be happy when his Corey comes. At some point the railroad attendant dies and the first-person narrator regularly visits the railroad attendant's grave in friendship. One day he meets an old woman at the grave, when the first-person narrator asks her why she is laying flowers on the grave, she replies that she is Corey, just an acquaintance and friend of the deceased.

1977: Dance Band on the Titanic

(Double album) - Text and music: Harry Chapin, with the exception of I Do It for You Jane by Sandy and Harry Chapin and One Light in a Dark Valley by Kenneth Burke (Chapin's grandfather) - Cast: Harry Chapin (vocals, acoustic guitar) , Stephen Chapin (keyboard, vocals), John Wallace (bass, vocals), Dough Walker (guitar), Howie Fields (drums), Kim Scholes (cello) - Recording: Secret Sound Studios, New York - Arranger and producer: Stephen Chapin

• 1.page: Dance Band on the Titanic (5:11), Why Sould People Stay the Same (4:44), My Old Lady (3:48), We Grew Up a Little Bit (5:07)
• 2nd page: Bluesman (5:12), Country Dreams (4:44), I Do It for You, Jane (5:04), I Wonder What Happened to Him (4:06)
• 3rd page: Paint a Picture of Yourself (Michael) (3:49), Mismatch (4:57), Mercenaries (5:40), Manhood (3:46)
• 4th page: One Light in a Dark Valley (3:21), There Only Was One Choice (14:06)
• Catalog number: Elektra 9 E-301

In 1977 Chapin released the concept album Dance Band on the Titanic , in which he addressed the topos of doom. Almost simultaneously and independently, the epic poem appears sinking of the Titanic by Hans Magnus Enzensberger , in which he discussed the sinking in the head, the realization of the futility of political poetry. Despite all the futility of what it is doing, the lyrical self realizes in the final song that it has to go on - even knowing that what it is doing is futile. In the final song, There Was Only One Choice , Chapin reflects on his political and musical career, only to conclude that he had no other option to change the consciousness of the population in the USA than by writing political songs.

In the title song Dance Band on the Titanic , Chapin addresses the topos of doom using the example of the Titanic . As a lyrical self, he tells the story of a young musician who has received an engagement in the Titanic dance band. He countered his mother's fears with the remark that not even God could sink this ship. This belief in the omnipotence of technology over nature appears repeatedly in the song, for example when a young man believes he can use the Morse code to send a message to God. In a modification of the topos of the dance on the volcano, the moment of the catastrophe is described, that one is dancing in the ballroom, because although there are icebergs everywhere around the ship, a catastrophe cannot happen at all. After the collision with the iceberg, the chaplain demands that women, children and clergy be allowed into the lifeboats first. Soon all the lifeboats will be occupied, only the musicians will no longer find a place. When the ship sinks, the dance band continues playing, playing Nearer My God to Thee as the last song before the ship's sinking and its own sinking .

Country Dreams tells the story of a lost childhood dream. The protagonist works with forty other telephone operators at a property marketing company and tries to win over the phone to people interested in properties in the green belt around New York. He and his wife used to dream of living on a small farm in the country. His wife, now a teacher, hates him for his job and wants him to quit his job because he is selling the rural idyll, in which both have always dreamed of living, to those interested in building. But he can't find another job. His request to his wife at the end of the song expresses his helplessness: Everything will be fine, he knows that he promised to quit the job a long time ago - but: she should give him a little more time.

I Do It for You Jane is about the failure of a musical marriage. A young musician hears a singer in a club and falls in love with her. In the next two years he became successful, a star. After a while the two get married. He buys his wife houses in New York, London and Malibu and is constantly on tour himself. When the two have a child, the woman gives up her career as a singer and takes care of the child. However, he continues to live the life of a successful music star because success creates a hunger for more. He's hardly at home, the two of them become estranged. In the chorus he affirms that it does everything just for her. In the closing verse he asks his wife Jane where she is now.

Harry's brother Tom Chapin, who on Living Room Suite participated

1978: Living Room Suite

Text and music: Harry Chapin - Line-up: Harry Chapin (vocals, acoustic guitar), Stephen Chapin (keyboards), John Wallace (bass, vocals), Dough Walker (lead guitar), Kim Scholes (cello), Howie Fields (drums), Tom Chapin (guitar, banjo) - recording: Secret Sound Studios, New York, sound engineers: Jack Malken and Michael Barry - arranger: Stephen Chapin - producer: Chuck Plotkin

• A-side: Dancin 'Boy (3:40), If You Want to Feel (5:03), Poor Damned Fool (4:35), I Wonder What Would Happen to This World (3:28), Jenny (4 : 45)
• B-side: It Seems You Only Love Me When It Rains (4:41), Why Do Little Girls (5:03), Flowers Are Red (4:28), Somebody Said (5:13)
• Catalog number: Elektra 6 E-142

Harry Chapin with John Wallace (left) and Yvonne Cable (right), 1980

1980: Sequel

Text and music: Harry Chapin - Line-up: Harry Chapin (vocals, acoustic guitar), Stephen Chapin (keyboard), John Wallace (bass, backing vocals), Dough Walker (guitar, backing vocals), Howie Fields (drums), Yvonne Cable (cello ), Joe Lala (percussion); Rhodes, Chalmers & Rhodes (backing vocals) - Recording: Criteria Recording Studios, Miami, Florida, sound engineers: Don Gehman and Chuck Kirkpatrick; Nimbus 9 Recording Studios, Toronto, Canada, sound engineers: Jim Frank and Rick Hrycyna - violins and wind instruments arranged and conducted by Mike Lewis - producers: Howard Albert and Ron Albert for the production company Fat Albert Production Inc.

• A-side: Sequel (6:35), I Miss America (5:20), Story of a Life (5:15), Remember When the Music (3:50)
• B-side: Up on the Shell (3:50), Salt and Pepper (4:15), God Babe, You've Been Good for Me (3:20), Northwest 222 (3:45), Finally Found It Sandy (4:35), Remember When the Music - Reprise (3:50)
• Catalog number: Boardwalk Entertainment 26 16 001

Chart placements

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)	Remarks
		US
1972	Heads & Tales	US60 gold (27 weeks)US
	Sniper and Other Love Songs	US160 (8 weeks) US
1973	Short stories	US61 (23 weeks) US
1974	Verities & Balderdash	US4th gold (33 weeks)US
1975	Portrait Gallery	US53 (8 weeks) US
1976	Greatest Stories - Live	US48 × 2 Double platinum (19 weeks)US	Live album
	On the Road to Kingdom Come	US87 (6 weeks) US
1977	Dance Band on the Titanic	US58 (10 weeks) US
1978	Living Room Suite	US133 (8 weeks) US
1979	Legends of the Lost and Found - New Greatest Stories Live	US163 (3 weeks) US	Live album
1980	Sequel	US58 (15 weeks) US

More albums

• 1988: Gold Medal Collection (US:platinum)

Singles

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		UK	US
1972	Taxi Heads & Tales	-	US24 (16 weeks) US
	Sunday Morning Sunshine Sniper and Other Love Songs	-	US75 (6 weeks) US
1974	WOLD Short Stories	UK34 (5 weeks) UK	US36 (13 weeks) US
	Cat's in the Cradle Verities & Balderdash	-	US1 gold (19 weeks)US	Text by his wife Sandy Chapin
1975	I Wanna Learn a Love Song Verities & Balderdash	-	US44 (9 weeks) US
1976	Better Place to Be (Parts 1 & 2) Greatest Stories - Live	-	US86 (3 weeks) US	Live version
1980	Sequel Sequel	-	US23 (14 weeks) US	Continuation of the song Taxi

Individual evidence

1. ^ Whitburn, Joel: Top LPs 1945-1972 . Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research, 1973, p. 29
2. ↑ This and all following single chart listings according to: Whitburn, Joel: Top Pop Singles 1955-1993 . Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Ltd., 1994, p. 102
3. ^ " Stories of ordinary people and cosmic moments in their non-cosmic lives "; quoted from: Bronson. Fred: The Billboard Book of Number One Hits . 3rd revised and expanded edition. New York City, New York: Billboard Publications, 1992, p. 386
4. ^ Description of the circumstances of death in the Harry Chapin Archive
   Disco, Punk, New Wave, Heavy Metal, and More: Music in the 1970s and 1980s . Britannica Educational Publishing, 2012, p. 85
   Annual Obituary, 1981 . Janet Podell, Thomson Gale Verlag , 1982, p. 451
   The Tombstone Tourist: Musicians . Scott Stanton, Simon & Schuster , 2003, p. 39
   Historical Gazetteer of the United States . Paul T. Hellman, Routledge , 2006, p. 780
5. ^ House of Representatives. Ninety-Ninth Congress. Second Session on HR 1207. A Bill to Award a Special Gold Medal to the Family of Harry Chapin. May 1, 1986
6. ↑ Tim Johnson. Congressional Record. Tuesday July 16, 1991. TRIBUTE TO HARRY CHAPIN. CR page E-2565
7. ↑ The chart listings according to: Whitburn, Joel: Top Pop Albums 1955-1996 . Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Ltd., 1996, p. 142
8. ^ Christgau, Robert: Rock Albums of the 70s. A critical guide . New York City, New York: Da Capo Press Inc., 1981, p. 76
9. ↑ Ben Gerson: "Records - Harry Chapin: Heads & Tales". In: Rolling Stone , May 25, 1972 issue
10. ^ Christgau, Robert: Rock Albums of the 70s. A critical guide . New York City, New York: Da Capo Press Inc., 1981, pp. 76f
11. ↑ "OK honey, I see - guess he's better than me."
12. ^ "I was in your air force; Uncle Sam, you owned my brain "
13. ↑ "You had me on your honor roll, for your dreams I would die; / now I would not even cross the street to help you live a lie."
14. ↑ Tubrify Makes Debut song . In: New York Times, March 28, 1971 issue
15. ^ Tubridy, a Bass-Baritone, Performs in 2nd Recital Here . In: New York Times, February 17, 1972 issue
16. ↑ "There's you babe, and there's me and there's God"
17. ↑ "Mail Order Annie, let's you and me go home"
18. ↑ but don't you meet me in my dreams
19. ↑ 'cause I don't wanna sleep alone again
20. ↑ "But summer never came that year, it's what you went to find."
21. ↑ "And you took my future with you and you left your past behind."
22. ↑ "Mama don't you worry, none, even God couldn't sink this ship"
23. ↑ "In a morse code frenzy tapping: Please God - SOS"
24. ↑ "Winning whets the appetite. I had to have more. "
25. ↑ "Your smile is growing cold."
26. ↑ "Where are you now Jane - for I love you so."
27. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: US UK
28. ^ The Billboard Albums by Joel Whitburn , 6th Edition, Record Research 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7
29. ↑ ^{a b} Harry Chapin in the gold / platinum database of the RIAA (USA)
30. ↑ Top Pop Singles 1955-2006 by Joel Whitburn , Record Research 2007, ISBN 978-0-89820-172-7

literature

• Laufenberg, Frank / Hake, Ingrid: Rock and Pop Lexicon. Vol. 1: ABBA - Kay Kyser . Düsseldorf / Vienna: Econ Verlag, 1994, p. 249f - ISBN 3-612-26101-0 .
• Pareles, John / Romanowski, Patricia (Eds.): The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia Of Rock & Roll . London: Rolling Stone Press, 1983, p. 94 - ISBN 0-671-44071-3 .
• Stambler, Irwin: The Encyclopedia Of Pop, Rock And Soul . 3rd revised edition, New York Citry, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989, pp. 109-111 - ISBN 0-312-02573-4 .

Web links

• Chapin family website
• HarryChapin.com More info
• Harry Chapin at Allmusic (English)
• Harry Chapin at Music VF
• Literature by and about Harry Chapin in the catalog of the German National Library
• Harry Chapin in the Internet Movie Database (English)