Portrait Gallery - Harry Chapin
Track List:
Dreams Go By
Tangled up Puppet
Star Tripper
Babysitter
Someone Keeps Calling My Name
The Rock
Sandy
Dirt Gets Under the Fingernails
Bummer
Stop Singing These Sad Songs
A lot of songs I don’t know
I recognize Dreams Go By and I can sing along to it. I also recognize Tangled up Puppet because of the use of triplets in the chorus, I have looked at the chords a few times but never bothered to try to learn the songs.
Star Tripper is interestings. It tells a story that is not overtly different than the one told in W.O.L.D. but with a slightly different perspective. This is the story from an disinterested observer. The Star Tripper is the man who sought his dreams at the expense of his family. We don’t know how the Star Tripper is met returning home and if the story.
Babysitter is a fond retelling of a 12 year old boy being raped by a his 16 year old female babysitter.
Someone Keeps Calling My Name seems like interviews with children and their coming of age and realizing their place in the world. The 4 year old is excited about learning to ride a bike. The 10 year old is worried about his parent’s relationship. The 12.5 year old is attuned to global warming (this was 1975 for fuck sakes if only). The 15 year old has an awareness of global political affairs and is asking what they are supposed to do about the mess that is being handed to them.
The Rock is a story about about a town with a rock that peers over it. One citizen believes the rock will crash down upon the town. Everyone else disregards him. He eventually goes to the rock just as it starts to fall. The town starts to panic, he sacrifices himself and stops the rock. The town then ignores his sacrifice and continues life as normal…for now.
Sandy is a lovesong.
Dirt Gets Under the Fingernails is a slow burn. A story about 2 people in a relationship that are unhappy, not with one another but with where they are and they both try to make changes to better their lives.
Bummer is a song that I don’t recognize by name but I think I have heard it before going off the intro and a quick scan of the lyrics. A story of a juvenile delinquent who is subsequently drafted to go to Vietnam. Where he is involved in a brutal massacre after which he is awarded as a hero. He fails to adapt to society and ends up being killed by police.
Stop Singing These Sad Songs is a song that I imagine was a response to hearing the request for happy songs as most of Chapin’s work isn’t uplifting
