It was raining hard in `Frisco... I remember driving in the rain in the early seventies listening to Harry Chapin's fateful stories on the radio and marveling at his talents and the powerful life lessons he sang about in "Taxi". I also remember driving in the rain ten or so years later and hearing he had been killed in a traffic accident in the eighties, and recall the public reaction to his loss. We were all sad and stunned. No one breathed more life and pathos into the lyrics and delivery of a song then Harry Chapin, and this is the album that launched him onto a unique, memorable and unfortunately truncated career.
It is all here, the wry and wistful "Could You Put Your Lights On, Please", "Greyhound", and "Sometime, Somewhere Wife", and one of my personal favorites, "An Any Old Kind Of Day". Of course, "Taxi" is here, too, and I often listen to this album and wonder what might have been if Harry Chapin hadn't died so young, what other beautiful songs he night have written for us to help guide us through our lives with eyes more opened, arms more outstretched toward each other, and hearts more open and compassionate to all those around us. Sure, it's been a long time now that Harry Chapin is gone, but I can still listen and remember.