Few musicians have the magic that reaches inside the listener and touches the soul. Harry Chapin had that amazing ability. Born in 1942, Harry grew up in Brooklyn and formed a rock’n roll band with his brothers while in high school. After graduation, Harry went on to Cornell University studying philosophy. His love of music drew him back to NYC and he dropped out of Cornell, choosing instead to write a musical screen play. He earned a meager living giving guitar lessons in his Brooklyn apartment and married a woman he’d met while at Cornell.
In 1971 he decided to return to the music business full time and recruited a backing band which included bassist John Wallace, guitarist Ron Palmer and a talented cellist named Tim Scott. The band began performing at gigs all across the city and within a year landed a recording deal with Elektra Records.
Harry’s music was an instant hit, largely due to the success of the six-minute long tune, “Taxi” which became one of Harry’s signature songs. Another song with an equally amazing amount of magic was “I Wanna Learn A Love Song” which was originally written for his wife, Sandra. That first album, titled “Heads And Tails” was released in the summer of 1972. Later that same year Harry released another album titled “Sniper And Other Love Songs” which met with much less success than his first.
In the spring of 1973 Harry released a third album, “Short Stories” which included the legendary “W.O.L.D.”, a chilling tale about the life of a local disk jockey. That song eventually became an FM radio classic much the same as “Taxi”.
After recording a fourth album, “Verities And Balderdash”, which included the hit single, “Cat’s In The Cradle”, Harry stopped touring with the band and began work on a musical production titled “The Night That Made America Famous.” The show opened February 26th, 1975 and closed April 6th. Despite a relatively short run, the show earned two Tony Nominations. Chapin also won an Emmy award that spring for his contributions to ABC Television’s “Make A Wish” children’s series.
In late 1975 Chapin released “Portrait Gallery”. It was a fascinating collection of tunes but didn’t have the mass appeal that Harry’s earlier productions had experienced. Harry’s second gold album released in the spring of 1976m titled “Greatest Stories - Live”. It was a double-album and did much to revive his musical career. Late in 1976 Harry created another album, “On The Road To Kingdom Come” followed by another double album, “Dance Band On The Titanic” in 1977. Two other albums released in 1978, Living Room Suite” and “Legends Of The Lost And Found” met with limited success.
Chapin switched recording labels in 1980, choosing to work with a smaller company known as Boardwalk Records. He recorded and album that same year titled “Sequal”. The title track was the second installment of the story behind his original hit, “Taxi”.
On the afternoon of July 16th, 1981 out on the Long Island Expressway near exit 40, Harry Chapin took his last ride on the Hitchcock Railway. Late in the evening out on Highway 70 near Los Cruces, New Mexico it’s possible to hear the haunting lyrics of Harry’s tunes and footsteps walking on the wind.
