Harry Chapin: Quotes about life

“All my life's a circle;
But I can't tell you why;
Season's spinning round again;
The years keep rollin' by.”

Harry Chapin

Circle
Song lyrics, Sniper and Other Love Songs (1972)

Life , Season

“All my life's a circle;
Sunrise and sundown;
Moon rolls thru the nighttime;
Till the daybreak comes around.”

Harry Chapin

Circle
Song lyrics, Sniper and Other Love Songs (1972)

Life

“And if a woman
She used a life line
As something more than
Some man's servant mother wife time
Well I wonder what would happen to this world.”

Harry Chapin

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

Life , World , Time

“No straight lines make up my life;
And all my roads have bends;
There's no clear-cut beginnings;
And so far no dead-ends.”

Harry Chapin

Circle
Song lyrics, Sniper and Other Love Songs (1972)

Life , Dead

“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

“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

“Music was his life, it was not his livelihood,
And it made him feel so happy and it made him feel so good.
And he sang from his heart and he sang from his soul.
He did not know how well he sang; It just made him whole.”

Harry Chapin

Mr. Tanner
Song lyrics, Short Stories (1974)

Life , Music , Feeling , Soul

“And all the trips you know you missed
And all the lips you never kissed
Cut through you like a knife.
And now you see stretched out before thee
Just another story of a life.”

Harry Chapin

Story of a Life
Song lyrics, Sequel (1981)

Life , Kiss

“You know I need a dream
Like I need my breath
We need to take the life
Before we get the death
You know I need your love
Like I need the light
Yes I need the chance
Can it be tonight?”

Harry Chapin

Short Stories
Song lyrics, Short Stories (1974)

Love , Life , Death , Dreams

“I was quite surprised to find out all the places that he knew
And so I asked the townfolk if his stories were true
They said— Old John was born here, he's lived here all his life
He's never had a woman, let alone a wife.
And very soon you'll find out as you check around
That no one named Corey's ever lived in this town
So I chided the old man 'bout the truth that I had heard
He smiled and said— Reality is only just a word.”

Harry Chapin

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

Life , Truth , Smile , Reality

“This commitment to end world hunger, and my music and story songs, are ways of dealing with the world as I see it. I'm playing 200 concerts per year-- half of them benefits-- all of them attempts at getting across the footlights to people I would enjoy spending time with in non-concert situations. And over the past 4 years of musical fun, millions of dollars have been raised for things I believe in. Telling stories of our time, building a lasting body of work, new songs, new records, new audiences, new challenges, and still that painfully exciting process of growth that can make one's life into a richly woven tapestry.”

Harry Chapin

All My Life's a Circle, Autobiographical statement on a concert program, circa 1980 http://harrychapin.com/articles/bio.shtml

Life , Hunger , People , World

“He looks at the city where no one had known him.
He looks at the sky where no one looks down.
He looks at his life and what it has shown him.
He looks for his shadow it cannot be found.”

Harry Chapin

Sniper
Song lyrics, Sniper and Other Love Songs (1972)

Life

“There are lessons to life
That the lovers got to learn
There are corners out there
You know they're waitin' somewhere
And you've got to be prepared to turn
There are callouses that come
That the lovers got to earn
In the years of your youth
You can't be fire proof
You know you've got to get burned.”

Harry Chapin

If You Want to Feel
Song lyrics, Living Room Suite (1978)

Life , Youth , Lovers , Learning

“Now sometimes words can serve me well
Sometimes words can go to hell
For all that they do.
And for every dream that took me high
There's been a dream that's passed me by.
I know it's so true
And I can see it clear out to the end
And I'll whisper to her now again
Because she shared my life.
For more than all the ghosts of glory
She makes up the story,
She's the only story
Of my life.”

Harry Chapin

Story of a Life
Song lyrics, Sequel (1981)

Life , Dreams , Hell

“Now if a man tried
To take his time on Earth
And prove before he died
What one man's life could be worth,
Well I wonder what would happen to this world.”

Harry Chapin

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

World , Life , Time