The Music of Harry Chapin, Troubadour Quiz

Answer:

All the incorrect options were Pete Seeger or his group, The Weavers', songs.

Harry Chapin was born in New York City in 1942, the second of four brothers. His father was a jazz drummer, and the three youngest brothers (Harry, Tom and Steve) would all pursue musical careers. In 1957, the brothers attended a Weavers' concert in Manhattan, and the folk style of this group inspired Harry's musical style in later life. The three brothers became part of a group that performed Weavers, Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, and Woody Guthrie covers.

However, Harry first pursued a career in filmmaking. His 1968 documentary film about heavyweight boxers, "Legendary Champions", earned an Academy Award nomination. It was in this part of his career that Chapin demonstrated storytelling passion that was authentic and true-to-life, characteristics that would be the very basis of his music storytelling.

In 1971, Harry (acoustic guitar) had formed a quartet with John Wallace (bass), Tim Scott (cello), and Ron Palmer (electric guitar) [No drummer]. They played the small clubs in Greenwich (NYC), with Harry being the only songwriter. This was enough to sign them to a multi-million-dollar contract with Elektra Records in 1972.

Chapin released his debut album, "Heads and Tales", in 1972, which contained one of his biggest hits: "Taxi". It told the story of a cab driver who picked up a fare. In time, they both recognised each other. They used to date while students. She wanted to be an actress, and Harry wanted to learn to fly. Each got what they wanted or at least justified: She was "acting happy inside her handsome home" and Harry was "flying in [his] taxi, taking tips and getting stoned". It was semi-autobiographical (not autobiographical, as some sources suggested). True, the woman in the song, Sue, was based on Chapin's high school sweetheart, Clare Alden MacIntyre. True, Chapin had a taxi licence to supplement his earnings. True, the address given: (16 Parkside Lane) was a reference to where Chapin's taxi was ranked: Parkside Avenue, at Point Lookout (Long Island), New York. However, this "Built from a truth concept" featured in this initial hit was the basis of much of his storytelling. Chapin explained in his biography ("Hello Honey, It's Me" Ira Kantor [2020]), "I believe that a performer owes only emotional reality to his songs, that he should talk about things that he understands intuitively but not necessarily literally". Chapin debuted the song on Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show", which was flooded with requests for an encore. For the first time on the show, Carson brought Harry Chapin back into his studio the next night, for a repeat performance of "Taxi". The album sales in 1972 exceeded one million units.

Chapin's follow-up album, "Sniper and Other Love Songs", was also released later in the same year. The album's title song, "Sniper," was a semi-fictional account of the 1966 University of Texas tower shooting. "Sunday Morning Sunshine" was released as a single and reached the Billboard Hot 100. "Circle" was a simple folk song about the circle of Life. The New Seekers had a hit with a cover version of this song. "Circle" was nearly always included in a live set. It was included in Chapin's first live album, his sixth, "Greatest Stories Live", which demonstrated the power of this song (and Chapin's storytelling ability). The second song on the album, "Better Place To Be", is the unlikely love story between a nightwatchman and an elderly barmaid that only Harry Chapin could tell. It was a hit in Canada.

Chapin's third album, "Short Stories" (1973), was a collection of vignettes about people (as was his fifth studio album ", Portrait Gallery" (1975)). Three of these characters, "Mr Tanner", "Mail Order Annie", and the DJ in "W.O.L.D." were timeless and peppered his live events. "W.O.L.D.", a worldwide hit, told the story of a past-his-prime disc jockey who wandered the US looking for happiness through different DJ jobs. It is told through a phone call to his ex-wife. During the phone call, he realises he is seeking the happiness he once had with his ex-wife, but he was the one who caused the relationship to fail. This was a masterpiece in storytelling.

"Verities and Balderdash", released in 1974, sold 2.5 million units and was Harry Chapin's most successful album, primarily due to the Billboard number one hit, "Cat's In The Cradle". This was initially a poem written by Harry's wife, Sandy, about her first husband, who did not treat his family well. When put to music, the final song told the story about a father who does not find time for his son during the boy's childhood. When the son has grown up, he doesn't have time for his dad. Sandy divorced her husband and, at 31, married Harry, who was 23. Harry adopted Sandy's three kids, and they had two of their own. On the same album, "I Wanna Learn a Love Song" is an autobiographical account of how Sandy and Harry met. Another song on the album, "Shooting Star", was Harry eulogising Sandy.

Chapin's seventh album, "Dance Band on the Titanic" (1979), had a minor hit in Australia with the title track. Chapin explained in a filmed live concert in the same year, that the entertainment industry acts like the Titanic's band; It creates diversions so no one focuses on the iceberg (which was a metaphor for real life).

Harry Chapin released nine studio albums and two live albums. His last album, "Sequel" (1980), featured an encore performance of the Harry and Sue story started in "Taxi". It told the story of how, in their later years, they had both found happiness in ways they did not dream about, but there was no room to rekindle any relationship.

Harry Chapin was a Grammy Award-winning artist and a Grammy Hall of Fame inductee. He died tragically a year later in 1981 in a traffic accident. He brought joy to millions through his storytelling and music. He also fought tirelessly to end world famine, but that's a story for another quiz. Harry Chapin was a troubadour whom few have been able to match.