APROPOS OF NOTHING #87 - 16 JULY 1981 - HARRY CHAPIN

Available for freelance writing commissions on a variety of subjects including family history, nostalgic Belfast and its famous people, shops, shoppers & shopping (40 years in retailing), the golden age of Hollywood (including westerns) and humorous pieces on life's weird and wonderful. Op-eds, columns, non-fiction book reviews too. 

joecushnan@aol.com & @JoeCushnan

I have a portfolio of features, reviews, poetry and short fiction published in all sorts of places - Belfast Telegraph, Tribune, Ireland's Own, Dalhousie Review, Fairlight Books, Reader's Digest, Reality, Lapwing Poetry, Ink, Sweat & Tears, Spillwords, Dear Reader, Amethyst Review, to name a selection.  Oh, and the odd BBC radio contribution. I wrote a book on retailing, on dealing with job losses and a biography of Stephen Boyd.

This is a series of very short items that have nothing to do with the current news agenda.  Swift diversions for a moment or two.

Apropos of Nothing #87 – 16 July 1981

Harry Chapin, singer/songwriter, philanthropist, political and social activist, with a passion for finding ways to eradicate world hunger, died at 38 on 16 July, 1981.

He was hugely successful and popular with songs like Taxi, W-O-L-D, Cats in the Cradle, Sequel and Remember When the Music.

My favourite of his (and a tough choice amongst so many brilliant songs) is Story of a Life which contains my all-time favourite lyric:

“Sometimes words can serve me well and sometimes words can go to hell……”

Soon after his death in a road traffic accident, I wrote this song lyric.  I have my own simple guitar strum to it, but if any musical collaborator is out there, get in touch.

HARRY'S SONG

You took me to some places

and not once did I say no

from the deck of a sinking ship

to some local radio

you took me higher than an eagle

and you never let me down

you taught me simple lessons

of a world a-spinning round

It's so sad that Harry's gone but I can bring him back

with an electronic needle on a hundred album tracks

it's so sad to lose a singer before the final song

now the angels buy his music

it's so sad that Harry's gone

You made my dreams a little sweeter

and my smile a little wide

you made me laugh a little louder

and cry deep down inside

you took me by the hand

and you told your stories well

when the wheel stopped turning

there was still much more to tell 

It's so sad that Harry's gone but I can bring him back

with an electronic needle on a hundred album tracks

it's so sad to lose a singer before the final song

now the angels buy his music

it's so sad that Harry's gone