1974
Label: Elektra - 7ES 1012,Elektra - 7ES-1012 • Format: Vinyl LP, Album • Country: Canada • Genre: Rock • Style: Folk Rock, Soft Rock

I knew that, but dumb-ass typo on my part. Sometimes no matter how many times you read What Made America Famous? - Harry Chapin - Verities & Balderdash (Vinyl over, you still gloss over your own mistakes. And pathetically enough, I've made my living most of my adult life as a proofreader.

Anyway, fixed it, thanks. Harry Chapin Verities and Balderdash 4. Review Summary: "Something's burning somewhere. Does anybody care? Musically, he was renowned for his storytelling -- his songs depicted memorable characters, some noble, many flawed, but all recognizably human. Chapin entered the public consciousness in with the hit single "Taxi", which reached 24 on the U.

Billboard charts. Over the course of the next few years, his fame grew, thanks to a series of minor hit singles and to a huge amount of American FM radio airplay. Driven mostly by a quietly picked acoustic guitar, and sung in first person as many of Chapin's songs areit follows the relationship between a well-meaning but always-too-busy father and his son, from the cradle almost to the grave.

By the end of the song, the singer is a lonely old man, and of course, the tables have turned -- now it's his son who can never find the time for him. What makes the song so heartbreaking is that neither the father nor the son seem like bad people. Dad just never slowed down LP enough to get his priorities straight, and his son mistakenly learned what was most important in life from watching Dad's example.

While this single doubtlessly spurred the sales of the album, it would be a mistake to think that it's all that Verities has to offer. There are LP songs here in all, and each, in its own way, is a major or minor gem. It's allegedly the story of how Chapin first met his wife Sandy. The heart of the album, however, might be "What Made America Famous", which was released as a Album) single.

It's a hokey-but-effective story about disparate peoples coming together. It follows the conflict between the straight-laced inhabitants of a nameless small town and the "hippies", of whom Chapin's protagonist is a member. Both groups go out of their way to antagonize one another, until one night, a fire breaks out in the broken down slum building where the hippies and other outcasts live. Most of the volunteer firemen are in no rush to rescue their tormentors, except for one nameless man, a middle-aged, overweight plumber, who stands up to his friends and takes the truck out to rescue the others.

Yes, the song is sentimental and emotionally manipulative. It's also delightfully effective. The plumber's heroism doesn't require massive physical strength or super-hero-like toughness -- just the emotional courage to stand up and do the right thing, even when those around you would have you do otherwise.

The track is a monument to the kind of country and world that Chapin dreamed of, where people would put aside their differences to help one another. It's a dream that still resonates today. There are also a pair of songs here that demonstrate Chapin's sense of humor. The first, entitled "30, Pounds of Bananas", is the funniest song about a horrendous and deadly automotive wreck you'll ever hear.

Australian Chart Book — Illustrated ed. St Ives, N. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved August 3, December 28, Retrieved October 9, Recording Industry Association of America. Simon and Schuster. Ultratop July 24, Retrieved January 31, Les classement single. GfK Entertainment Charts. March 18, Retrieved October 7, Irish Singles Chart.

Dutch Top 40 Retrieved August 3, Single Top Top 40 Singles, LP. March 27, Singles Top Swiss Singles Chart. Official Charts Company. Retrieved November 27, GfK Entertainment. January 4, Retrieved June 1, Stichting Nederlandse Top Retrieved December 1, Recorded Music NZ. Belfast Telegraph.

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