The Centre Cannot Hold

Somewhere in the afterlife, Harry Foster Chapin is playing a screamingly funny, posthumously written song regarding his own death. Which he co-wrote with James Joyce.

Maybe.

Harry Chapin was an American folk singer, probably best known for songs like Taxi, W*O*L*D and 30,000 Pounds of Bananas. He is also the writer and original performer of Cats in the Cradle – not, as is often claimed, Cat Stevens. Chapin was a poet of the everyday, chronicling the hopes and fears, the failures and the triumphs, of Anytown, USA. His nuanced work remains an excellent anodyne to the more saccharine visions of the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies. He also wrote possibly the funniest song ever to describe a real fatal road accident (the afore-mentioned 30,000 Pounds of Bananas).

He was also a fierce idealist, working on the boards of many charities, and donating an estimated third of all his concert earnings to various charitable causes. He was particularly active in supporting the arts, and in the fight against poverty and hunger.

Chapin died in a car accident that was most likely caused by him suffering a heart attack behind the wheel. He was only 38 years old.

The world is poorer for his passing.

Referenced in:

Ode to Harry – M.O.D.

This is my blog, so this is not an apology, just an explanation: I feel very strongly indeed about the work of Mr. Chapin. And in 28 years, this is the first chance I’ve found to eulogise him. Now for the love of whatever you hold holy, track down his music. I can’t say for sure that you won’t be sorry, but I’d be extremely surprised if you were.