I can't tell you exactly why but for some reason Harry Chapin's light is a big part of my consciousness right now. Harry Chapin died, way too young at 38, in a car crash in 1981. He was a big part of my musical life growing up as we used to listen to the 8 track of his live album in a giant Suburban on trips or just around town when I was a kid.
His most famous song "Cats in the Cradle" is pretty cool but some of his other music is beauty without musical reference for me. Some of it's fun like 30,000 Pounds of Bananas and some of it is touchingly poignant, like Taxi.
I read about his life on wikipedia a few things that were fascinating:
His daughter Jen said: "He saw hunger and poverty as an insult to America" and
Chapin donated an estimated third of his paid concerts to charitable causes, often performing alone with his guitar to reduce costs
Part of me is really surprised that there hasn't been a movie made about his life and if it has been made already it probably should be remade with a serious marketing blitz.
He's just a cool dude and it's unfortunate he was taken from us. Check out the video below, the love and emotion just flow so freely when he plays, it rocks.
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