Harry Forster Chapin: Musician, Song Writer, Film Editor and Political Activist

In the short thirty-nine years of the life of Harry Forster Chapin (1942-1981), he managed to distinguish himself as a creative genius in multiple fields, ultimately leaving a distinct mark on this world, though he received only moderate public recognition. Professionally, he was a musical performer and songwriter, a film editor, and a political activist and lobbyist, able to reach remarkable heights in all three fields. In the field of music, Chapin rose to stardom as a rock and roll performer and songwriter during the 1970's, introducing the world to a new style of music he created and popularized, the story-song. Within this new framework, Chapin was able to use his interest and proficiency in poetry to create song lyrics which told the story of a character or group of characters. He was able to weave wonderfully powerful tales of the lives of his characters in a few short stanzas, applying many traditional story-line techniques; a rising action which lead to a climax, followed by a falling action which usually revealed an unexpected twist, offering a recognizable message in the last few lyrics of the song. The subjects of these songs were generally based on Chapin's real life experiences and moods, and in this sense, he was able to express more honestly the feeling associated with the stories. Furthermore, Chapin went a step further by adding music to his stories, accentuating the changes in tone of the stories with musical accompaniments. His musical style contained many folk, rock and roll, jazz and blues elements, revealing his diverse musical background and familiarity with a variety of styles. The result was a remarkably popular style, which granted Chapin the ability to generate a strong connection to his audience during...

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...o Gardner, another major milestone taking place around 1976, with the completion of perhaps his most comprehensive piece, an autobiographical song called "There Only Was One Choice". In it, Chapin mysteriously foretold of his tragic death at a young age:

When I started this song I was still thirty-three.

The age that Mozart died and Sweet Jesus was set free,

Keats and Shelly, too soon finished, Charlie Parker would be

And I fanaticized a tragedy be soon curtailing me.

He also included in the song, the lyrics which have come to define his life more than any other:

Inexperience - it once accursed me,

but your youth is no handicap, it's what makes you thirsty.

(From "Danceband on the Titanic" 1977)

Bibliography:

Coan, Peter M. Taxi: The Harry Chapin Story. New York:Carol Publishing Group. C. 1990.

Http://www.littlejason.com/chapin/longbio.html