But music was his life

[Oeditpus Rex]

it was not his livelihood
And it made him feel so happy
and it made him feel so good
And he sang from his heart
and he sang from his soul
He did not know how well he sang
it just made him whole




God, I miss Harry Chapin. :cry:

[Heidi]

1. Me, too.

:(

[wildhorses]

2. ...and I took off to find the sky

Taxi Lyrics
Harry Chapin

It was raining hard in 'Frisco,
I needed one more fare to make my night.
A lady up ahead waved to flag me down,
She got in at the light.

Oh, where you going to, my lady blue,
It's a shame you ruined your gown in the rain.
She just looked out the window, and said
"Sixteen Parkside Lane".

Something about her was familiar
I could swear I'd seen her face before,
But she said, "I'm sure you're mistaken"
And she didn't say anything more.

It took a while, but she looked in the mirror,
And she glanced at the license for my name.
A smile seemed to come to her slowly,
It was a sad smile, just the same.
And she said, "How are you Harry?"
I said, "How are you Sue?
Through the too many miles
and the too little smiles
I still remember you."

It was somewhere in a fairy tale,
I used to take her home in my car.
We learned about love in the back of the Dodge,
The lesson hadn't gone too far.
You see, she was gonna be an actress,
And I was gonna learn to fly.
She took off to find the footlights,
And I took off to find the sky.

Oh, I've got something inside me,
To drive a princess blind.
There's a wild man, wizard,
He's hiding in me, illuminating my mind.
Oh, I've got something inside me,
Not what my life's about,
Cause I've been letting my outside tide me,
Over 'till my time, runs out.

Baby's so high that she's skying,
Yes she's flying, afraid to fall.
I'll tell you why baby's crying,
Cause she's dying, aren't we all.

There was not much more for us to talk about,
Whatever we had once was gone.
So I turned my cab into the driveway,
Past the gate and the fine trimmed lawns.
And she said we must get together,
But I knew it'd never be arranged.
And she handed me twenty dollars,
For a two fifty fare, she said
"Harry, keep the change."
Well another man might have been angry,
And another man might have been hurt,
But another man never would have let her go...
I stashed the bill in my shirt.

And she walked away in silence,
It's strange, how you never know,
But we'd both gotten what we'd asked for,
Such a long, long time ago.

You see, she was gonna be an actress
And I was gonna learn to fly.
She took off to find the footlights,
And I took off for the sky.
And here, she's acting happy,
Inside her handsome home.
And me, I'm flying in my taxi,
Taking tips, and getting stoned,
I go flying so high, when I'm stoned.

[Ptah]

3. That's my favorite Harry Chapin song, wildhorses.

How did you get inside my head?

:hi:

[wildhorses]

5. there is a private path with sunflowers--

I just followed the trail;):hi:

[Ptah]

6. cool

:hug:

[wildhorses]

8. -----

:hug:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. Good morning, my dear Oeditpus Rex..........

I don't believe I've ever heard these songs, but I have to tell you...

These lyrics, and the ones wildhorses posted, are so very beautiful....

They move me enormously.........

Thank you for them............ :hug:

[av8rdave]

10. If you get the opportunity, listen to some of his records....

He was a wonderful songwriter and storyteller.

[Bossy Monkey]

12. Peg...

Mister Tanner was a cleaner from a town in the Midwest.
And of all the cleaning shops around he'd made his the best.
But he also was a baritone who sang while hanging clothes.
He practiced scales while pressing tails and sang at local shows.
His friends and neighbors praised the voice that poured out from his throat.
They said that he should use his gift instead of cleaning coats.

But music was his life, it was not his livelihood,
and it made him feel so happy and it made him feel so good.
And he sang from his heart and he sang from his soul.
He did not know how well he sang; It just made him whole.

His friends kept working on him to try music out full time.
A big debut and rave reviews, a great career to climb.
Finally they got to him, he would take the fling.
A concert agent in New York agreed to have him sing.
And there were plane tickets, phone calls, money spent to rent the hall.
It took most of his savings but he gladly used them all.

But music was his life, it was not his livelihood,
and it made him feel so happy and it made him feel so good.
And he sang from his heart and he sang from his soul.
He did not know how well he sang; It just made him whole.

The evening came, he took the stage, his face set in a smile.
And in the half filled hall the critics sat watching on the aisle.
But the concert was a blur to him, spatters of applause.
He did not know how well he sang, he only heard the flaws.
But the critics were concise, it only took four lines.
But no one could accuse them of being over kind.

(spoken) Mr. Martin Tanner, Baritone, of Dayton, Ohio made his
Town Hall debut last night. He came well prepared, but unfortunately
his presentation was not up to contemporary professional standards.
His voice lacks the range of tonal color necessary to make it
consistently interesting.
(sung) Full time consideration of another endeavor might be in order.

He came home to Dayton and was questioned by his friends.
Then he smiled and just said nothing and he never sang again,
excepting very late at night when the shop was dark and closed.
He sang softly to himself as he sorted through the clothes.
Music was his life, it was not his livelihood,
and it made him feel so happy and it made him feel so good.
And he sang from his heart and he sang from his soul.
He did not know how well he sang; It just made him whole.



Harry always said it was a true story, at least the newspaper review. You can hear the chorus here (disc 1, track 11) with Big John Wallace, bass player, singing the part of Mr. Tanner: http://www.amazon.com/Harry-Chapin-Story-Life/dp/samples/B00001WRKR/ref=dp_tracks_all_1/002-2948054-8968025?ie=UTF8#disc_1
Can you tell I was a big fan?
Better version was on this record, and Amazon gives a different snippet: http://www.amazon.com/Greatest-Stories-Live-Harry-Chapin/dp/B000002GYZ/sr=8-3/qid=1161552132/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3/002-2948054-8968025?ie=UTF8

Edit: There's some Chapin on Youtube, but not "Mister Tanner." However, "Taxi," posted above by wildhorses, is there: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lISal7chAjo

[bertha katzenengel]

7. omg, hear, hear, Rex

:cry:

[av8rdave]

9. I had the priviledge of seeing him perform twice

He came to perform at the Academy a couple of times when I was there. He actually attended the Acaedemy for a brief time. During his intermissions, he would come out and sit on the edge of the stage and just talk and answer questions - what a great guy. The second time I saw him, I actually wound up sitting on the floor immediately in front of the stage, and as it turns out was sitting next to his wife. She was nice to talk with as well.

[speedoo]

11. I miss him too.

He left us so many great songs.:thumbsup:

[hfojvt]

13. I finally went to church today

After the first hymn, a remake of 'Onward Christian Soldiers' the lady in front of me says 'you should be in the choir'. I thought that was kinda ironic since I was only singing melody, unable to sing either the bass or tenor part on my own and then I also had to drop down an octave because the melody part was getting too high.

Why do I keep saying melody? Is that some kind of invocation?

I used to like Chapin's songs on the radio, but I am afraid I do not have any on CD or on my computer.