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

In the short thirty-nine years of the life of Harry Forster Chapin (1942-1981), he man get ond to distinguish himself as a creative genius in doubled fields, ultimately leaving a distinct mark on this world, though he received only moderate public recognition. Professionally, he was a symphonyal performer and songwriter, a film editor, and a political activist and lobbyist, able to reach remarkable heights in all iii fields. In the field of music, Chapin rose to stardom as a rock and plod performer and songwriter during the 1970s, 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 advancement in poetry to create song lyrics which told the story of a display case or group of characters. He was able to weave wonderfully regnant 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 locomote 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 Chapins genuine life experiences and moods, and in this sense, he was able to express more aboveboard 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, fuck and blues elements, revealing his diverse musical background and familiarity with a flesh of styles. The result was a remarkably popular style, which granted Chapin the ability to ease up a strong connection to his audience during... ...o Gardner, another major milepost taking place around 1976, with the completion of perhaps his most statewide piece, an autobiographical song called There Only Was One Choice. In it, Chapin mysteriously fo retold 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 messiah was set free, Keats and Shelly, too soon finished, Charlie Parker would beAnd I fanaticized a cataclysm be soon curtailing me.He also included in the song, the lyrics which provoke come to define his life more than any other tenderness - it once accursed me, but your youth is no handicap, its what makes you thirsty. (From Danceband on the titanic 1977)BibliographyCoan, Peter M. Taxi The Harry Chapin Story. New YorkCarol Publishing Group. C. 1990.Http//www.littlejason.com/chapin/longbio.html