XXIII.

TAXI

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 lights

"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, she said

"Sixteen Park side Lane"

Something about her was familiar

I could swear I'd seen her face before

But she said, "I'm sure you're mistaken"

Then she didn't say anything more

It took a while but she looked in the mirror

Then 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 a 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

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

But it's 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

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 gates and the fine trimmed lawns

And she said, "We must get together"

But I knew it'd never be arranged

Then 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, getting stoned

I go flying so high when I'm stoned.....

Songwriter:

CHAPIN, HARRY F.

Published by
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group

Harry Forster Chapin (December 7, 1942 – July 16, 1981) was an American singer-songwriter best known for his folk rock songs.  "Taxi"  and the No. 1 hit "Cat's in the Cradle." - which many people erroneously credit Cat Stephens.

Harry Chapin posthumously was awarded  the Congressional Gold Medal for his humanitarian work, for his fight to end world hunger, in 1987.  In the mid-1970s, Chapin focused on social activism, including raising money to combat hunger in the United States. His daughter Jen said: "He saw hunger and poverty as an insult to America."  Much of the money from sales of his concert merchandise were used to support an organization that he co-founded called "World Hunger Year".  Harry also released a book of poetry, Looking...Seeing, in 1977.

Chapin, w/ his daughter

After the debut of his album Heads and Tales, which included his hit song "Taxi", Harry and three band members (playing cello, bass, electric guitar) who had never met before rehearsed for one week and arranged the songs with cello parts and background vocals.

Elektra Records and Columbia Records actually battled over signing him, and Harry ended up signing w/ Elektra as this smaller company would provide the artist with "greater personal attention to his unique work."  Elektra Records had just merged with Warner Brothers and Atlantic Records to form the mammoth WEA, and Harry Chapin happened to be the first test of who now had the greater artist signing power. The band was in the right place at the right time and were able to negotiate what was said to be the largest recording contract in history for a new artist.

Chapin ultimately signed with Elektra for a smaller advance, but with provisions that were much more valuable. The biggest stipulation in the nine-album deal was that he receive free studio time, meaning he paid no recording costs. It was a move that would ultimately save Chapin hundreds of thousands of dollars over the term of his contract and set a precedent for other musicians.  "This was completely unheard of," said Davis in the Coan book. "There was no such thing as free studio time."

Chapin met Sandy Cashmore (née Gaston), a New York socialite nine years his senior, in 1966, after she called him asking for music lessons. They married two years later. The story of their meeting and romance is told in his song "I Wanna Learn a Love Song." He had two children with her, Jennifer and Joshua, and was stepfather to her three children from a previous marriage, Jaime, Jason and Jonathan. Chapin wrote several songs about her, including "Shooting Star" about their relationship, and "Sandy".

On Thursday, July 16, 1981, just after noon, Chapin was driving in the left lane on the Long Island Expressway at about 65 mph on the way to perform at a free concert scheduled for later that evening at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, New York. Near exit 40 in Jericho he put on his emergency flashers, presumably because of either a mechanical or medical problem (possibly a heart attack). He then slowed to about 15 miles (24 km) per hour and veered into the center lane, nearly colliding with another car. He swerved left, then to the right again, ending up directly in the path of a tractor-trailer truck. The truck could not brake in time and rammed the rear of Chapin's blue 1975 Volkswagen Rabbit, rupturing the fuel tank as it climbed up and over the back of the car, causing it to burst into flames.

The driver of the truck and a passerby were able to get Chapin out of the burning car through a window after cutting the seat belts before the car was engulfed in flames. Chapin was taken by police helicopter to a hospital, where ten doctors tried for 30 minutes to revive him. A spokesman for the Nassau County Medical Center said Chapin had suffered a heart attack and died of cardiac arrest, but there was no way of knowing whether it occurred before or after the accident.

His epitaph is actually are his own words from the song, ""I Wonder What Would Happen to this World." He was 44 years old at the time of his death.  - Source:  wikipedia

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 

XIX.

"Fire And Rain"

"Just yesterday morning, they let me know you were gone.
Suzanne, the plans they made put an end to you.
I walked out this morning and I wrote down this song,
I just can't remember who to send it to.
I've seen fire and I've seen rain. I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end.
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend, but I always thought that I'd see you again.

Won't you look down upon me, Jesus, You've got to help me make a stand.
You've just got to see me through another day.
My body's aching and my time is at hand and I won't make it any other way.
Oh, I've seen fire and I've seen rain. I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end.
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend, but I always thought that I'd see you again.

Been walking my mind to an easy time, my back turned towards the sun.
Lord knows when the cold wind blows it'll turn your head around.
Well, there's hours of time on the telephone line to talk about things to come.
Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground.

Oh, I've seen fire and I've seen rain. I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end.
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend,
but I always thought that I'd see you baby, one more time again, now.

Thought I'd see you one more time again.
There's just a few things coming my way this time around, now.
Thought I'd see you, thought I'd see you, fire and rain, now."

Writer(s): Amanda R. Hunt-Taylor, James Taylor
Copyright: Emi Blackwood Music Inc., Country Road Music, Randy Scruggs Music, Warner-tamerlane Publishing Corp. 


Background and composition

"Taylor has related different versions of what the song is about.

On the VH1 series Story Tellers, Taylor said the song was actually about several incidents during his early recording career. The second line of the song, "Suzanne the plans they made put an end to you," refers to Suzanne Schnerr, a childhood friend of his who committed suicide while he was in London, England, recording his first album. In that same account, Taylor said he had been in a deep depression after the failure of his new band The Flying Machine to coalesce (the lyric "sweet dreams and Flying Machines in pieces on the ground"; the reference is to the name of the band rather than a fatal plane crash, as was long rumored).

In 2005, during an interview on NPR, Taylor explained to host Scott Simon that the song was written in three parts:

The first part was indeed about Taylor's friend Suzanne, who died while Taylor was in London working on his first album after being signed to Apple Records. Friends at home, concerned that it might distract Taylor from his big break, kept the tragic news from him, and he only found out six months later.

The second part details Taylor's struggle to overcome drug addiction and depression.

The third part deals with coming to grips with fame and fortune, looking back at the road that got him there. It includes a reference to James Taylor and The Flying Machine, a band he briefly worked with before his big break with Paul McCartney, Peter Asher, and Apple Records.


Carole King played piano on the song. Drummer Russ Kunkel used brushes rather than sticks on his drum kit and Bobby West played cello in place of a bass guitar to "underscore the melancholy on the song"." - Source: directly from WIKI

XV.

Prayers For Rain 

The Cure

You shatter me your grip on me a hold on me so dull it kills

You stifle me infectious sense of hopelessness and prayers for rain

I suffocate I breathe in dirt and nowhere shines but desolate

And drab the hours all spent on killing time again all waiting for the rain

You fracture me your hands on me a touch so plain so stale it kills

You strangle me entangle me in hopelessness and prayers for rain

I deteriorate I live in dirt and nowhere glows but drearily and tired

The hours all spent on killing time again all waiting for the rain

You fracture me your hands on me a touch so plain so stale it kills

You strangle me entangle me in hopelessness and prayers for rain

Prayers for rain

Prayers for rain

Prayers for rain

Songwriters

SMITH, ROBERT JAMES / GALLUP, SIMON / O'DONNELL, ROGER / THOMPSON, PORL / TOLHURST, LAURENCE ANDREW / WILLIAMS, BORIS

IX.

Riders on the storm

Riders on the storm

Into this house we're born

Into this world we're thrown

Like a dog without a bone, an actor out on loan

Riders on the storm

There's a killer on the road

His brain is squirming like a toad

Take a long holiday

Let your children play

If you give this man a ride, sweet family will die

Killer on the road, yeah

Girl, you gotta love your man

Girl, you gotta love your man

Take him by the hand

Make him understand

The world on you depends, our life will never end

Gotta love your man, yeah

Riders on the storm

Riders on the storm

Into this house we're born

Into this world we're thrown

Like a dog without a bone, an actor out on loan

Riders on the storm

Riders on the storm

Riders on the storm

Riders on the storm

Riders on the storm

Artists/Band:  The Doors
Album:  LA Woman
Credits: John Densmore / Robby Krieger / Ray Manzarek / Jim Morrison

Riders on the Storm was the last song Jim Morrison recorded with the Doors. He made a trip to France and died there. The single, Riders on the Storm" was released in June, 1971,  Prior to it's release they performed the song live twice, Once in Dallas, and later in New Orleans.

"According to band member Robby Krieger, it was inspired by the song "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend". Also, Jim Morrison mentions spree killer Billy Cook, in passing, during at least one interview. Cook killed six people, including a young family, while hitchhiking to California. In all likelihood, the Cook murders were inspiration for the song's lyric, "There's a killer on the road/his brain is squirming like a toad/if you give this man a ride/sweet family will die.. " -wiki

"Morrison developed an alcohol dependency. He died at the age of 27 in Paris, allegedly of a heroin overdose. No autopsy was performed, and the exact cause of Morrison's death is still disputed. Jim Morrison's grave is located at Père Lachaise cemetery in eastern Paris." -wiki

V.

The Rain Song

This is the springtime of my loving-

the second season I am to know

You are the sunlight in my growing-

so little warmth I've felt before.

It isn't hard to feel me glowing-

I watched the fire that grew so low.

It is the summer of my smiles-

flee from me Keepers of the Gloom.

Speak to me only with your eyes

it is to you I give this tune.

Ain't so hard to recognize-

These things are clear to all from

time to time. Ooooh...

Talk Talk-

I've felt the coldness of my winter

I never thought it would ever go

I cursed the gloom that set upon us...

But I know that I love you so

but I know that I love you so.

These are the seasons of emotion

And like the winds they rise and fall

This is the wonder of devotion-

I see the torch we all must hold.

This is the mystery of the quotient-

Upon us all a little rain

must fall, Just a little rain?

ooooh, yeah yeah yeah!

Artist:   Led Zeppelin

Album:   Houses Of The Holy