New topic
Printable| Author | Message |
Harry Chapin "underrated and Not appreciated" There have been many artists in our time that are not honored for what they did, but i think one of the biggest misses would have to be Harry Chapin. Easily one of the most "giving" artists of of the last 35 years, harry would play 300 shows a year and donate almost the money made to Hunger Relief, I wish some of the artists today who charge $300 a ticket for a show, would practice what they preach when they say Music is a "Gift". Whether U liked harry's music or not U cannot get past his efforts to "feed the World" long before Bob Geldof and Bono were around. I know the question has often been asked where would Lennon be today if he were alive, but I have often asked myself now almost 25 years to the day Harry died (July 16th, 1981) where would he be, and honestly i can say, that he would probably be a 63 year old guy still "giving" and playing the clubs.
I guess it really disturbs when i hear artists playing show and talking about the gift of music and then getting $300 a ticket and then not giving any of that to help out somewhere in the world, if only Harry were alive, im sure he would give them an ass kicking, knowing how he never took crap from anyone. [Edited 5/8/06 21:30pm] "We went where our music was appreciated, and that was everywhere but the USA, we knew we had fans, but there is only so much of the world you can play at once" Magne F | |
- E-mail - orgNote -  Report post to moderator |
Timely topic for me. I know next to nothing about Harry Chapin, but I heard Taxi for the first time tonight, and was enraptured by it. Beautiful song. | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
"Cat's In The Cradle" has quite a message.
If I remember correctly Harry used to play live with his guitar and a cello player which made his songs more intimate and haunting. [Edited 5/8/06 22:49pm] "The first time I saw the cover of Dirty Mind in the early 80s I thought, 'Is this some drag queen ripping on Freddie Prinze?'" - Some guy on The Gear Page | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
I think another great thing was how his label stuck by him, Harry never really sold alot of records, he was lucky when he charted in the Top 50, he really couldnt get airplay because his songs were long, obviously most know for "Cats in the Cradle", there are alot more amazing tracks from this man. On the "ironic" note Harry's 1972 hit "taxi" was followed in 1981 with "Sequel" which was the sequel to Taxi, the song was charting around the time Harry was killed in an auto accident on his way to a benefit show, but both Taxi and Sequel peaked at number 22. I beleive Harry only had one other Top 40 hit which was "W*O*L*D, with all that said Harry didnt sell many records, he had a very loyal following, but his label stuck with him, without the threat of dropping him, something that wouldnt happen today.
Some other of Harrys Gems to look for "A better place to be" "Mr Tanner" "Story of a life" "Remember when the Music" "Shooting Star" "Flowers are Red" "The Sniper (AMAZING AMAZING!) there are so many others but these are my faves plus the few "hits" "We went where our music was appreciated, and that was everywhere but the USA, we knew we had fans, but there is only so much of the world you can play at once" Magne F | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |