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Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 100 general entries. We are selecting 30 for display.
Special Topics
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 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
 Chapin, Harry
| Chapin wrote and directed a documentary film that was nominated for an Academy Award in 1968. What was it called? | Remembering Harry Chapin
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'Legendary Champions'. A documentary about heavyweight boxing champions from 1882-1929 included clips with Jack Dempsey, James Jeffries, Jess Willard and others. Chapin wrote the music for 'Gospel', 'Cutting Loose' also had a bit part in 'Mother and Daughter'.
Car accident enroute to a concert. Chapin was on his way to one of his many benefit concerts at the time he was involved in a car accident on the Long Island Expressway near Jericho, New York. Medical reports indicate Chapin also suffered a major heart attack, but to this day, it's not clear if the attack occurred before or after the accident. During his lifetime, Chapin had raised over five million dollars for various causes, most notably world hunger.
'Taxi'. In the song, Harry, the former cab driver, had become a famous singer while Sue had gotten a divorce.
| In one of Chapin's concert favorites, Scranton, PA was inundated in one horrific accident by 30,000 pounds of what? | Remembering Harry Chapin
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Bananas. Chapin alternately ended the song with 'Yes, We Have No Bananas'.
| In the song 'Mr. Tanner', the title character, a cleaner of clothes, tried his hand at what occupation? | Remembering Harry Chapin
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Singer. As Chapin tells it, 'Music was his life, it was not his livelyhood'. When he finally got the chance to sing professionally, 'no one could accuse (the critics) of being overkind', so he returned and only sang to himself thereafter.
Miller's Tool And Die. '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...'
'The Night That Made America Famous'. The show garnered two Tony award nominations. 'Chapin' was the name of a musical at the Hollywood Improvisation Theatre based on his stories. 'Balderdash' and 'Tails' are two of Chapin's albums.
Make A Wish. Harry often contributed songs to his brother's show.
10. 'My son turned ten just the other day...' 'Cats' was Chapin's only song to reach Number One on the U.S. charts.
Tulsa, OK. 'So I drifted on down to Tulsa, Oklahoma to do me a late night talk show...' They are the only two towns mentioned in the song.
Greenwich Village. Harry, born one year after the attack on Pearl Harbor, was the son of Jim Chapin, a drummer who performed with the likes of Tommy Dorsey and Woody Herman. In the 70's, Jim opened many of his son's concerts with his own Dixieland jazz band.
Fly. 'She was gonna be an actress and I was gonna learn to fly...'
Sue. ...and she said, 'How are ya, Harry?' I said 'How are ya, Sue'...
San Francisco. 'It was rainin' hard in 'Frisco'...
| In the final stanza, the driver's summation says that they both got what they were looking for. In the end, she's "acting happy" and in the end, he's "getting ___ ."? | Harry Chapin Classic "Taxi" Lyrics
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stoned. Harry Chapin died too young. He was killed in car crash on July 16, 1981, at the age of 38.
Twenty dollars. "And she handed me twenty dollars,
For a two fifty fare, she said
'Harry, keep the change.'"
| What are the missing words from this set of lyrics: "Oh, I've got something inside me, To drive a princess ____. There's a wild man, wizard, He's hiding in me, illuminating my ____."? | Harry Chapin Classic "Taxi" Lyrics
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blind & mind. Harry Chapin really turns up the emotion (at least in the studio-recorded version) as he belts out this particular set of lyrics.
Acting. The singer goes on to tell us: "You see, she was gonna be an actress."
Dodge. Visions of their past start with his reminiscing:
"I used to take her home in my car.
We learned about love in the back of the Dodge."
Harry and Sue. Just after they finally recognize the other: "And she said, 'How are you Harry?'/I said, 'How are you Sue?'"
Sixteen Parkside Lane. The telling line goes: "She just looked out the window, and said
'Sixteen Parkside Lane'".
Rain. The song begins with the atmospheric conditions and the place: "It was raining hard in 'Frisco". Also, the taxi driver laments in front of his fare, "It's a shame you ruined your gown in the rain."
San Francisco. The initial line starts with "It was raining hard in 'Frisco", a common abbreviation for San Francisco, California, USA.
| From which song does this lyric come?
"I whistled 'round today, and I skipped off a footloose jig,
To the hurdy-gurdy music of the street" | The Story Songs of Harry Chapin
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Any Old Kind of Day. First released on Harry's LP "Heads and Tales", this is the tale of a fairly ordinary day, but one which leaves the singer thinking.
| From which song does this lyric come?
"Old John Joseph was a man with two first names
They left him in the railroad yard when they took away the trains" | The Story Songs of Harry Chapin
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Corey's Coming. From the LP "On the Road to Kingdom Come", this song tells the story of an old hermit who insists that someone named Corey (perhaps his daughter?) will return to him one day. One of Harry's lesser-known songs, it tells a great story nonetheless.
Circle. Harry wrote this song for his brother Tom's children's TV show, "Hot Dog", and it became a sing-along staple of Harry's concerts. As of October, 2004, Tom Chapin is still performing.
| From which song does this lyric come?
"What I'd really like, Dad, is to borrow the car keys
See ya later, can I have them, please" | The Story Songs of Harry Chapin
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Cats in the Cradle. Co-written with his wife Sandy, this song tells the story of a father's indifference toward his son, which turns in later years, to the son's indifference toward him. A very ironic, well written song, it was by far Harry's biggest hit.
| From which song does this lyric come?
"Don't ask me if I made love to her, or which one of us started to cry,
Don't ask me why she wouldn't take the money that I left,
If I answered at all, I'd lie." | The Story Songs of Harry Chapin
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Sequel. Written and released shortly before Harry's death, "Sequel" was a follow up on the characters from "Taxi", Harry and his erstwhile lover Sue, and how they had changed in the ten years or so since "Taxi" first introduced them to us.
Mail Order Annie. The tale of a sod buster from North Dakota's first meeting with his mail-order bride, "Mail Order Annie" first appeared on Harry's "Short Stories" LP.
Tangled-up Puppet. Written from a father's point of view, the song observes the growing pains of a teen-aged girl.
| Which of Harry's songs contained the following words?
"Well, where you going to, my lady blue
It's a shame you ruined your gown in the rain" | The Story Songs of Harry Chapin
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Taxi. "Taxi" was Harry Chapin's breakthrough hit, although, clocking in at about 6 1/2 minutes, it was too long for most radio stations' playlists.
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