Harry Chapin – Greatest Stories Live
Joe Siegler
- AllMyVinyl #110
- Band: Harry Chapin
- Album Title: Greatest Stories Live
- Release Date: 23 Apr 1976
- Date purchased: 28 May 2022
- Location purchased: Half Price Books
- Color of vinyl: black
- Number of discs: 2
- Links: [ Wikipedia | Discogs | Band Website | Complete album on Youtube ]
“You know the years go by and your voice gets lower and all things can change so fast..
Still nothing can set off your heartbeat as when you return yourself to your past.”
This one holds some massive MASSIVE memories for me. It came out in 1976 when I was 11 years old, and at that time, my entire family unit was still together. My parents had myself and my brother (who was 6 at this point), and we did you know the usual family stuff. However, my parents well, were IMO never right for each other. So in 79 they separated and divorced a little after that. My father will come up in this story again later on. But in this part of it, I have memories of listening to this album a lot in the 70’s – used to be family time involved listening to records, and this was one I remember well from back in this era. I also remember an old Janis Ian album my mom was into which is probably why I like the song “At Seventeen”, but I digress. I have several memories of the four of us listening to this Harry Chapin live record. I know Chapin has eight studio albums, a few compilations, and two live albums.
He died at age 38 in a car crash on the way to a free benefit concert when struck by an 18 wheeler. It sucks as he was a great dude – outside of his music, he was well known for working in the areas of hunger – helping people with the basic human need of well, eating. He was on a few presidential groups on the subject, and it was a big deal to him. The hunger group remains active today, and there’s a Harry Chapin foundation that exists to continue his philanthropic work. So it’s not just music that made him cool to me – was all this other stuff to the betterment of man in general.
But it was his music that was the main draw for me. He does what’s generally described as “folk rock”. It’s not quite rock and roll (although I’ve heard recordings that his band COULD do that), and it wasn’t straight up folk rock either – kind of straddled both. I think that’s kind of why it appeals to me. Straight up folk rock is not my thing (I’m a metal head after all) – but a good song is a good song no matter what genre it is, and there’s a handful of folk rock songs I can get into. But Harry’s music was a bit of both, and I liked that sound. But more than that Harry was a great storyteller. While ultimately every song tells some kind of story, Harry’s were true narratives. Some were based on real events (I Wanna Learn a Love Song), and some were not (Taxi), but even for the ones that weren’t you believed they were real. IT wasn’t until relatively recently that I looked up “16 Parkside Lane” and found out it doesn’t really exist – that’s the address from the song “Taxi” (and it’s sequel song). That brings up another thing, Harry was the first artist I’d ever run into that did a direct sequel to one of his songs. Taxi was a big hit for Harry in 1972, and in 1981 on what turned out to be his final album he did a proper sequel to the song called “Sequel” (the album was called that too). It started off with the last line of Taxi and kept going. That we got more of “Harry & Sue” from Taxi was great. Had he lived, he joked about doing a third in the series, but I digress.
On top of all these stories, the draw of my own family being interwoven with childhood memories of this is strong for me. I’ll write about it later, but Harry’s most well known song (Cats in the Cradle) was one that I couldn’t listen to for decades due to issues with my own father in years gone by. That’s a bad memory. But it’s like everything else in life – good and bad. Back in the 70’s the family would have owned this on vinyl. However, my parents divorce, my mom moving out with new new husband some time later, my own move to Texas, and the general move away from vinyl in general meant the original copy we had as a family got lost. I know I’ve written in this series about my vinyl collection being in my mom’s basement. Unfortunately the old copy of this Chapin live album wasn’t in there. I have no idea where that copy went. In the 80’s I was the only one in the family I remember playing records still, and I didn’t have it then when I still lived back home. So it’s gone. Somewhere over time I picked up a copy of it on CD, because those memories were still there, and I genuinely did enjoy the record as a piece of music, not just what it represented from my past. I still have that. Jump forward to 2022, and my wife and I were out with our son who wanted to go to Half Price Books. As you do when killing time in half price books you look through the vinyl to see if there’s anything you might want. 95% of the time there’s nothing, but this time on the 28th of May 2022 I struck gold. There was a vinyl copy of this album – Harry Chapin’s Greatest Stories Live there. It was in fair (if not great) shape, and the price was super great – a double vinyl for just $6.99. YOINK! I snapped that up in a heartbeat – my wife was with me and knows what the album means to me, so she got happy about the find. It’s still my single favorite “find” when poking through Half Price Books’ shelves. It made me super happy to find that on vinyl again – I have looked from time to time, but with shipping I didn’t want to do it, or the price wasn’t good enough, etc… It ended up playing quite well, so I was very pleased to be able to connect to my past with this again. For some reason playing the CD never had quite the same resonance – I needed the vinyl to reconnect fully with my past. Now I had it again and was able to listen to the songs. And such a great collection of songs they were.
So lets get into the songs.. I always felt it wasn’t like a proper Greatest Hits album because it’s not a curated list of tracks – it was basically a concert cut down to fit on an album. At a concert you mostly play your hits – but not all of them. There’s a few on here I probably wouldn’t otherwise put on a Greatest Hits album – not that they’re bad, just not the ‘Greatest”.
One weird quirk about the vinyl before I start playing the songs. When bands have double albums, they’re usually listed as sides 1/2/3/4 or A/B/C/D – you expect the first disc to flip sides, then change disc and flip sides. Not this one. Disc 1 has Sides 1 & 4, and Disc 2 has Sides 2 & 3. If you want to play the album in the proper order, you need to change the disc more than you would on what I would call a “traditional” double album. It’s really weird. I don’t think I have another vinyl that does that.
Finally, the songs…
Dreams Go By – This one is probably the song that I feel the least “story” connection to. I mean it has one, but I’ve never paid attention to the lyrics for this one – an outlier in that regard with Harry. It’s a great album opener (and presumably concert), too. It’s got a happy upbeat vibe to it. It starts off with Harry interacting with the audience, which is an ongoing thing through the entire song. I love how into it they are. The audience starting off the song with 1-2 – 1-2-3-4 was SUPER loud. Either they really WERE that loud, or the crowd mic was right in the middle of the audience. But it’s a fun song even if I don’t know what the song is about (seems to be about passage of time for a couple as they age from reading lyrics).
WOLD – “I am the morning DJ at WOLDDDDDDDDD…” One of my favorite core songs and the first evidence of Harry’s big story telling. This one is about a radio DJ who bounces from gig to gig, and tries to keep things going in his life while being on the road. I always loved this story. It’s one of his songs I can tell you the lyrics from memory too. One of the songs on the album, I can close my eyes and let it wash over me – it still feels good about 50 years later. Even now I’m tempted to do just that and write later, but I generally need the songs going to make these bits of writing work for me. I really enjoyed this when I was younger, because at that time I was all about the radio, so I viewed the song as some “insight” into the life of the people on the other side of my radio. It’s fiction of course, but I didn’t know that when my age was around 10 or so. This live version has some bits that I enjoy more than the studio version. The bridge in the middle is sung by Harry’s brother Tom (who was also in the band) – that was a nice aural change of pace. Not like Waters & Gilmour in Floyd, you expect that – you don’t expect anyone else but Harry signing lead in a Harry song. The other thing I really loved here was customized lyrics. The first line of this section has the lyric “I am the morning DJ at WOL-DDDD”, but live Harry would replace WOLD with call letters of a station in the town he was in. In this particular recording, he called out “I am the Morning DJ at KHJ” (an AM radio station in LA) – which got the crowd going. I always wanted to see Harry live to hear him say WYSP or WMMR (shout out to 70’s Philly rock radio). Never got the chance. I also found it amusing that they have a line of lyric that says “theres a tyre around my gut from sitting on my butt”, but they don’t actually say “butt” – they play a sound. That always amused me. Like a lot of Chapin songs, when this one finished, I had to play it again – his songs are that great that you need to hear ’em more than once when you listen.
Saturday Morning – This is a song that’s sung fully by Tom Chapin, Harry’s brother. It sounds a little different than the others – it’s more towards the country/folk side of things. It’s mostly just an acoustic guitar, vocals, and just a splash of bass guitar in there for flavor. I always wondered why this was on there – when I was younger, I was like “This isn’t Harry – I don’t care for this!”. As I’ve aged, I’ve appreciated the song a bit more, but in terms of structure it’s more of a conventional song than the usual “Harry story” structure. It’s pleasant enough, but not one of my favorites.
I Wanna Learn a Love Song – This is one of the “real” songs – it’s the story of how Harry met his wife. Some years ago I read a biography and it told a story about the major dick Harry’s wife’s first husband was. That part of the story wasn’t mentioned in the song at all, but the bit about wanting to play the guitar and “hear my children sing” was real apparently, Harry was hired as an instructor, and over time the two became attracted to each to the point where it became physical. I mean it all worked out in the end, they stayed together got married and all that, but at the start it was more of a “messing around with another man’s wife” type of thing. When I was very young, this song didn’t do anything for me, but as I got older, learned about women, sex, relationships, this song had a bigger attraction to me because I loved the story here. I will say this, though I prefer the studio version of this to the live version. The reason for that is that when they go into the last verse when this part happens.. “I came one week and the den was darkAnd she met me at the door / And we sat on the couch and we sang and talked / Till I could not sing no more” Harry’s vocal delivery is lower, like he’s trying to be quiet singing that part of the song. That’s missing a bit from the live version. The production gives his vocals there a more quiet, almost etherial sound to me. I always wondered what his wife thought of the song. Or the ex husband. This line of lyric sums it all up for me… “It took another man’s wife in the real world life to make this boy a man”
Mr. Tanner – This is another of his big hits, but not one that was ranked terribly high for me. However, it’s got a great story about a launderer from Dayton OH who had a gift for singing. That’s the song’s story – it’s based on a real life person, though – his name was Martin Tubridy – someone who didn’t know he was the inspiration for this song until the 90’s somewhere. It’s one that I like for Harry’s vocal delivery in the chorus (“And it made him feel so happy and it made him feel so good”) – it’s the biggest draw for me. Musically it’s just “ok” – not bad at all, but it doesn’t set me on fire like other songs on the album.
A Better Place To Be – A song about someone described as a “midnight watchman” who is sitting lonely and eventual opens up to a waitress after having some gin. These lyrics were the draw for me that there’s always hope in the darkness, even though it may not seem like it…
“If you want to come here with me
then that’s all right with me
because I’ve been oh so lonely
Loving someone is a better way to be.”
The way Harry delivers the lyrics “I am the midnight watchman” for the first time reminds me a bit of the way he sings WOLD – not that it sounds the same, but it’s got the same general vibe. It’s also the second longest track on the album at 9:59. I usually skipped this as it’s mostly the same kind of song from front to back, I get the feeling if you like Don McLean’s “American Pie”, you’d probably like this song. I’m indifferent to it – there’s no huge musical hook for me for this one. This version of the song was released as a single from this album which is a surprise given its length. This song is kind of what I call the “soft middle” of the album. Honestly, it’s my least favorite on the album – bit too long and it doesn’t really go anywhere musically.
Let Time Go Lightly – Another song sung by one of Harry’s brothers – this time Steve. The book I read talked about them all being in a band together before Harry went solo, so I always assumed Harry having his brothers sing here was a way to keep that old feeling they had in the past alive by all singing together. This song is mostly driven by a piano – it’s got a nice sound to the piano playing, and I find Steve’s voice smoother than the other two Chapin brothers, so I liked this better of the “non Harry songs” on the album. It’s pretty much JUST Steve and the piano. A quiet song and is credited to Steve, not written by Harry. I love this line of lyric from the song.. “I let time go lightly when I’m here with you..” It’s a nice thought when I put that thought along with thoughts of my own wife. It’s actually a very good quiet song. Not all of them work for me, but this one does. The lyrics of the song make me feel like I should be more easy going with my life and especially my wife – someone who bears the brunt of “angry me” fare more than she should. Maybe I should let more things go by lightly. Might make life a bit smoother.
Cat’s in the Cradle – Well, here it is. Harry Chapin’s “Stairway”. If you know a single song from Harry, it’s this one. This song has the deepest connection to my past, and some of the hardest memories. I mean the song is about a father and son who weren’t particularly close despite the kid wanting that. This is where I follow up on my story from the past. As I mentioned earlier, my parents divorced when I was around 13-ish (it’s a grey area cuz they were separated before that and he was gone a lot so the point he exited my life was fuzzy). Because my parents weren’t terribly close towards the end of the marriage my memories of that part of my life insofar as family goes aren’t great. Always wanted my dad around, and he wasn’t – the middle verse about throwing the ball around was the one I could relate to more than any other – the kind of thing I would have wanted to do more with my dad and didn’t/couldn’t. I’d see him from time to time after they were divorced, but that part of my life died at that point they broke up, so when I had to revisit it or think about it, this song didn’t help. Then in the mid 80’s somewhere my father’s dad died, and we begged him to come back and see his dad before he died, and he didn’t. That made me angry and I didn’t talk to my father at all beyond a few words here and there during any of that time – it took me a few decades to get over that and allow myself to talk to him again. But during all that time, I could not listen to this song. The first couple of notes are distinctive, so if I’d hear Cradle come on, I’d go “NOPE” and skip it. Never intentionally put it on because Cradle was just too painful for me to listen to. I’d still listen to Chapin music, just not THIS one, because well, I couldn’t. It wasn’t until MUCH later than I was able to listen to the song again, and while I can now, it’s still a painful track for me. I think it took me having my own kids to be able to make peace with that from the past in my life. Musically, it’s a banger of a song, Harry’s vocal delivery is married super well with the lyrics and the music being played.
The wrap this up, the final verse was about “My boy was just like me” – I was always determined to NOT be that kind of father – I’ve always been there for my two kids – all the stupid painful school recital things, graduation stuff, I *HAD* to be there as I wanted to be PART of my kids life. Even writing this shit is hard, as my dad is now gone (died of Dementia in the fall of 2023 – the man I knew was gone long before that), so that stuff is REALLY gone – the song has a different sadness for me now. But in the end, it’s a powerful song because it delivers emotion – in a way that no other song can with me. I did force myself to listen to the whole thing for this, despite my stated unease with it.
Cradle was also covered by the band “Ugly Kid Joe” – theirs is more of a rock feel (especially in the chorus). It’s not full on metal or anything (despite their hard rock status), but it was nice. They produced a music video that went with the lyrics, something Harry never did, but his music was released in a different era (the UKJ v version came out in 1992 when this was a thing.
Taxi – Another one of the songs that I can close my eyes to and let it wash over me. One of my absolute favorite songs of his – Top shelf by far – in fact they might need a stand on the top shelf to get it higher. A song about breakups, relationships, sex, and well, people living life. Taxi was about the character “Harry” was in this song. This was one of the earliest songs I ever heard that talked about sex (learned about love in the back of a Dodge) – I didn’t know what that meant when I first heard it at a single digit age, wasn’t until later I figured it out, but it was a “life lesson” song for me – when I was younger I focused on the actual “taxi” part – I thought it was about cars somewhat – young me didn’t know. Musically it flows so well from piece to piece both in local delivery and music. The middle part is just heavenly. Harry’s bass player was Jon “Big John” Wallace – but he had a voice that sounds almost female when he sings in a high register. It’s a joy when it’s used as it’s an AWESOME accent. Big John sings the middle part of this song and man you wish he’d sing more – it’s definitely the kind of music that can sooth your soul – it’s glorious stuff. I’ve been known to repeat songs I like a lot on vinyl when they finished. This listen I replayed Big John’s middle part again. Loved how the lyrics obfuscated the meaning behind the characters professions until the end.
The song ends with the line “And hell, she’s acting happy inside her handsome home – and me I’m flying in my taxi, taking tips and getting stoned…” That line of lyrics was revised 8 years later when Harry continued the story in the song “Sequel”, which I adored (and already mentioned). But if you liked Taxi, you’ll love Sequel – but the second one isn’t on this album.
Circle – This is a song with a wide difference between the studio and live version. The studio version is 3:24, and the live version is 7:20 – that’s because the live version is more of an audience participation song with the chorus. I will say this – despite the live one being 7:20, it doesn’t feel like it. When I looked that up for this writing, I was surprised to hear it was that length, I thought it was MUCH shorter. Live he (and is brothers) sing the regular song, and then goes off and has other band members sing the song, trying to get the entire audience to sing the song. The chorus gets repeated a lot – the lyrics for that are..
“All my life’s a circleSunrise and sundownThe moon rose through the nighttimeTill the day break comes aroundAll my life’s a circleBut I can’t tell you whyThe seasons spinning round againThe years keep rolling by”
It’s quite comical in the live version to hear some of the individual band members sing this. There’s a line when he says “I have a funny feeling that we’ll all be together again” – something I always glommed onto in my life before I started going to concerts. In my head back then I would think he was hanging on until I could get there to see him myself. Silly, but the thoughts of a kid. I love what his cello player Mike did with it. Little surprised Big John didn’t get his own callout for this. The audience gets into it, clapping, singing. This particular version always gave me the feeling that a Harry Chapin show was a party – hearing the crowd have so much fun on this recording in the final rendition of the chorus was a foundational memory for me as to what a concert SHOULD be like.
30,000 Pounds of Bananas – “Harry – it SUCKS!” This song is for me a comedy song. I mean the subject matter isn’t, but the way it’s executed on this live version certainly is played that way. The song is based off a real life event in 1965 when a truck crashed while carrying a load of bananas. Harry’s version is based on that event, but the narrative in the song is enhanced with some things that didn’t really happen (like the real life truck driver was not beheaded). As the song continues on in its story it gets faster and faster – and really is a country song – but I didn’t care. It works on every level. I also loved when Big John would sing in a SUPER Low voice “Of bananaaaaaaaaaaaaas” – it was a moment to wait for in the song. The live version is so superior to the studio track because the audience is clapping along with the the whole thing, singing along – it carries on the feeling I mentioned on the prior song (Circle). The studio version of the song is over about halfway through, and then we get into the fun.
He starts talking about how much trouble he had ending the song. I never knew if that was real or not or just something they made up for live concerts. Harry would tell two endings, both of them delivered with a funny story, the ending, and then it would end with one of his brother saying “Harry – it sucks!” – which to an 11 year old (me) listening for the first time in 1976 was the funniest thing ever. I had no idea you could say things like that in songs – totally a different time. But “Harry it Sucks” was funny as hell. The song had two like that, and then the “real” ending about how he found out about the story originally. It’s a 10 minute long pile of fun that gets you clapping, singing, and laughing even though I’m at home decades away from what’s on my vinyl disc. I love it every time I listen to it. EVERY TIME. I did find out some time later that on some concerts towards the end of his life Harry added an additional “ending” to the proceedings, making the song even longer. That version is even sillier and you can hear it here.
This is a song my brother and I always loved because of the comedy of it. My brother is five years younger than me so for us two kids to repeatedly hear “IT SUCKS” was funny as hell to a couple of single digit old kids. To this day we can still go “Harry, it sucks” and make the other one laugh.
Now I have to confess, this is usually where I checked out of the album, because the remaining three songs on the album after here are studio tracks, and I felt “Eww, what’s that doing here?” – it was a different time in my life, when I was more sectioned off with my choices – “What are you doing mixing live and studio tracks?” Because of this, when I listen today, these will be almost new to me (at least that’s what I’m expecting). I’ve obviously heard them in the past, but I usually stopped the album after bananas to be honest. One interesting little quirk though. The digital version, the cassette version, and the CD version only have “The Shortest Story” after bananas. Only original vinyl prints have Seventeen & Love there too. So that tells me that the copy I have is an original 1976 pressing, just not the one I had with my family back in another decade.
Edit: I’ve found that the current digital version includes all the songs, but three extra songs are listed as live when they’re not.
She is Always Seventeen – This song has a piano sound that reminds me of Billy Joel at times. Not that Chapin needs to copy anyone, but the piano reminds me of that. It also has a guitar sound I can’t quite place. It’s got a nice fast pace to it which I enjoy. Lyrically the song is about staying young at heart as you go through life (at least that’s my take). It has a twang guitar sound which pops up a few times in this – I wish I could place what it is. When I started listening to it, the song kicked into my memory so I must have heard it a few times – just one I’ve forgotten about. I did enjoy it. Perhaps not the best of the best, but enjoyable enough. Not a “story” song like Taxi, Wanna Learn, or WOLD – but has a nice message to the lyrics for sure.
Love is Just Another Word – This song has a bit of a different sound for Harry. It has actual female backup singers. It’s a sound I don’t recall hearing before – definitely not in his biggest hits. It’s also got a bit of a disco vibe to the music in places. This was on the 1976 original, so it was record back in that era. It’s a catchy track for sure, but perhaps not as memorable as the big hits on the album.
The Shortest Story – At 2:26, it’s the shortest song on the album for sure. It’s a super quiet song – mostly just Harry and an acoustic guitar. Well, perhaps not 100% that – but it’s the dominant sound on the song. Lyrically it seems to tell the life of a person from birth to death in that short time. With that in mind, the title makes more sense. This is a quiet way to end the album, and honestly, I would have preferred this end with either Circle or Bananas as that’s the vibe I think of when I think of this album, not the soft quiet in the corner little piece that’s mostly Harry and a guitar. Not that those are bad – those are quite good, but I didn’t think it was the right choice to end THIS album.
So endeth this journey for me through an album that means a LOT to me. Of the other 109 albums I’ve done in this series before this one – NONE OF THEM has the ability to draw out emotion from me like this one. From the cheery vibe of something like Dreams Go By and Circle to the thought inducing stuff like “Wanna Learn a Love Song”, and just great story telling like Taxi or WOLD, and to the emotional wreckage I’m usually left in with Cat’s In the Cradle… This album runs the gamut for me. It was a bit exhausting writing all of this stuff today. I did all of it today as well. A few of the songs I listened to a couple of times – got emotional about my father and grandfather again – but enjoyed the journey doing this. I’m not sure who would get anything out of this except perhaps my wife and mother who are probably the only two other people that know all of this stuff about me and this album. Perhaps my brother too – but it’s mostly about bananas with him. :)
One final thing I wanted to put in here. As I age, and these things will start to become further and further in the past, I don’t want to forget about them, so that I get them down somewhere “on paper” is important to me. The memories (both good and bad) that are brought to the front of my mind when listening to this are important to me because they’re from a time that’s long gone in my family both by time and by the reality that all four of us aren’t on the planet anymore.. The memory of what this means to my complete family unit is not something I want to lose, so if life takes me in place that I have problems remembering them down the line, I don’t want them forgotten about, so I wanted others to know too.
Thank you for reading and thank you to Harry (both Chapin and my father) for things in life.
“Oh if a man tried
To take his time on Earth
And prove before he died
What one man’s life could be worth
I wonder what would happen to this world”
These lyrics are some that Harry wrote for one of his songs, and appear on his tombstone.
