He Stashed the Bill in His Shirt

 

(Photo by Lynne McAfee/Shutterstock)

I just saw a question on Facebook asking what was the best spoken word part of a rock song.

The answer I saw that most was the famed "Late Lament" in "Nights in White Satin" by The Moody Blues. The poem was spoken by keyboardist Mike Pinder and written by drummer Graeme Edge. 

I'd have to say that would probably be my answer -- at least off the top of my head but there are plenty of spoken-word portions of songs. The answers were all over the place, including the user that suggested John Lennon saying "We hope we passed the audition" at the end of "Get Back."

That's probably a stretch.

But there were others, such as the one who suggested Harry Chapin's reciting of fare conversation in "Taxi."

And she handed me twenty dollars,

For a two fifty fare, she said

"Harry, keep the change."

I've got to admit, that's pretty solid. It's also a pretty special song to me. But then again, Harry Chapin was special.

I knew of Harry as a child, especially for "Cats in the Cradle," his look at the circle of life of a father and son. Any grown man can clearly struggle when Chapin sings: 

And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me

He'd grown up just like me

My boy was just like me

That's not as great as it's made out to be. The sadness in those words is profound.

Another favorite of mine is WOLD, the tale of a radio DJ whose best days are behind him.

To so many of you, "Cats in the Cradle" is probably familiar. A large chunk of you hasn't heard of Harry Chapin (and I guarantee the views on this post will likely be small). 

But Harry matters. Still. He was born in Greenwich Village and was a New Yorker; a true folk singer-songwriter. He fit in the sound of the 70s up to a point but not in the "Laurel Canyon" way that was exploding out of Southern California.

In fact, it's almost ironic that Harry Chapin's music found any chart success but all of his singles charted. In some ways, they almost felt like they didn't fit. The brilliant Joni Mitchell or James Taylor had a more radio-friendly sound, though in Joni's case I'm not sure that was of any interest to her.

Of course, the Eagles were determined to have chart success and then bleed us all of every last dime (nothing wrong with that, of course).

Harry Chapin, though, loved his success because it allowed him to pursue his charitable endeavors, including World Hunger Year (now WhyHunger), which he co-founded with DJ Bill Ayres. An annual Hungerthon is held every year to raise money for the organization.

Harry Chapin was driving to a free benefit concert in East Meadow on Long Island (home of our good friends Mick, Gretchen, and Finn) on the afternoon of July 16, 1981.  He died in an accident on the Long Island Expressway when a truck collided with his VW Rabbit. 

Determined to leave a mark on Long Island, he was buried in Huntington with the words to his song "I Wonder What Would Happen to This World" as his epitaph:

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

Chapin was just 38.