Harry Chapin: Trending quotes (page 2)

“The rock is gonna fall on us," he stood and told the class
The professor put his chalk down and peered out through his glasses
But he went on and said; "I've seen it, high up on the hill
If it doesn't fall this year then very soon it will!”

Harry Chapin

The Rock
Song lyrics, Portrait Gallery (1975)

“She sings the songs without words
Songs that sailors, and blind men, and beggars have heard
She knows more of love than the poets can say
And her eyes are for something that won't go away.”

Harry Chapin

She Sings Songs Without Words
Song lyrics, Verities & Balderdash (1974)

Love , Men , Singing

“Hello my Country
I once came to tell everyone your story
Your passion was my poetry
And your past my most potent glory
Your promise was my prayer
Your hypocrisy my nightmare
And your problems fill my present
Are we both going somewhere?”

Harry Chapin

There Only Was One Choice
Song lyrics, Dance Band on the Titanic (1977)

Problem , Passion , Past , Country

“And we would play together,
like fine musicians should,
And it would sound like music,
and the music would sound good.
But in real life I'm stuck with
that same old formula,
me and my monophonic symphony,
six string orchestra.”

Harry Chapin

Six String Orchestra
Song lyrics, Verities & Balderdash (1974)

Life , Music

“Oh, he was the sun burning bright and brittle
And she was the moon shining back his light a little
He was a shooting star
She was softer and more slowly
He could not make things possible
But, she could make them holy.”

Harry Chapin

Shooting Star
Song lyrics, Verities & Balderdash (1974)

Star , Light , Sun

“Why were the little girls all frightened
To be just what they are
The boys were told to ask themselves
How high how far
The girls were told to reach the shelves
While the boys were reaching stars
That's why little girls were frightened
To be just what they are.”

Harry Chapin

Why Do Little Girls?
Song lyrics, Living Room Suite (1978)

Girl , Star , Boy

“He was a young driver,
just out on his second job.
And he was carrying the next day's pasty fruits
for everyone in that coal-scarred city
where children play without despair
in backyard slag-piles and folks manage to eat each day
about thirty thousand pounds of bananas…”

Harry Chapin

30,000 Pounds of Bananas
Song lyrics, Verities & Balderdash (1974)

Children , Despair

“I spent a week there one afternoon.”

Harry Chapin

About the town of Watertown, New York featured in "A Better Place to Be"

“Step right up young lady
Your two hundred birthdays make you old if not senile
And we see the symptoms there in your rigor mortis smile
With your old folks eating dog food and your children eating paint
While the pirates own the flag and sell us sermons on restraint.”

Harry Chapin

There Only Was One Choice
Song lyrics, Dance Band on the Titanic (1977)

Children , Food , Smile , Dogs

“Strum your guitar sing it kid
Just write about your feelings
not the things you never did
Inexperience, it once had cursed me
But your youth is no handicap
it's what makes you thirsty”

Harry Chapin

There Only Was One Choice
Song lyrics, Dance Band on the Titanic (1977)

Youth , Feeling , Singing

“And the wind will whip your tousled hair,
The sun, the rain, the sweet despair,
Great tales of love and strife.
And somewhere on your path to glory
You will write your story of a life.”

Harry Chapin

Story of a Life
Song lyrics, Sequel (1981)

Love , Life , Sun , Despair

“Something's burning somewhere. Does anybody care?”

Harry Chapin

What Made America Famous?
Song lyrics, Verities & Balderdash (1974)

“And if our future
Lies on the final line
Are we brave enough
To see the signals and the signs?”

Harry Chapin

I Wonder What Would Happen to this World
Song lyrics, Living Room Suite (1978)

Future

“Sometimes I get this crazy dream
And I just take off in my car
But you can travel on ten thousand miles
And still stay where you are.”

Harry Chapin

W*O*L*D
Song lyrics, Short Stories (1974)

Dreams , Cars , Travel

“They put the cold dirt over him and left me on my own
And when at last I looked up I saw I was not alone
So I said— If you're a relative, he had a peaceful end.
She said— My name is Corey— you can say I'm just a friend.”

Harry Chapin

Corey's Coming
Song lyrics, On the Road to Kingdom Come (1976)

Peace

“It took a while, but she looked in the mirror,
And 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."”

Harry Chapin

Taxi
Song lyrics, Heads & Tales (1972)

Sadness , Smile

“You see, I have no real complaints of how you've left your past behind
I guess what gets me worried is you've erased him from your mind.”

Harry Chapin

I Wonder What Happened to Him
Song lyrics, Dance Band on the Titanic (1977)

Past

“But the little boy said…
"There are so many colors in the rainbow
So many colors in the morning sun
So many colors in the flowers and I see every one."”

Harry Chapin

Flowers are Red
Song lyrics, Living Room Suite (1978)

Color , Boy , Flowers , Sun

“I went to sleep with the hope that made America famous.
I had the kind of a dream that maybe they're still trying to teach in school.
Of the America that made America famous…and
Of the people who just might understand
That how together yes we can
Create a country better than
The one we have made of this land,
We have a choice to make each man
who dares to dream, reaching out his hand
A prophet or just a crazy God damn
Dreamer of a fool.”

Harry Chapin

What Made America Famous?
Song lyrics, Verities & Balderdash (1974)

God , People , School , Dreams

“Corey's coming, no more sad stories coming
My midnight-moonlight-morning-glory's coming aren't you girl?
And like I told you, when she holds you
She enfolds you in her world.”

Harry Chapin

Corey's Coming
Song lyrics, On the Road to Kingdom Come (1976)

World , Sadness , Girl