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Home > Music > Short Stories

Short Stories
by Harry Chapin

Have you ever been up
Have you ever been down
Have you ever been lost
Have you ever been found
Have you ever been right
Have you ever been wrong
Have you come up short
Can you come along
Have you left a mark
Have you left alone
Have you seen the way
Can you come back home
Short stories
babe just take what they will give
Short stories
that's all it's ever been
Don't you worry 'bout the ending
Babe, before we begin
I have seen the sun
That's behind the rain
I have felt the joy
That's behind the pain
Did you ever go soft
Did you ever run wild
I've been a hundred years old
I been a newborn child
I have found a smile in the midst of tears
I can find a heart in the midst of fear
Don't you know I need you near me
Or my happy ending's gone
And I see now so very clearly
That our story must go on
and on!
If I give myself
Can I ask for you
If I give you hope
Can we make it through
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?

Layout, design, images, and user-contributed text are © Copyright 1996-2017 HarryChapin.com: The Harry Chapin Archive.

"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?" -- Harry Chapin, 1942-1981.

 

 


Harry's Music
Bottom Line Encore Collection
      [Amazon] [iTunes]
Chapin Music
      [iTunes]
Cotton Patch Gospel
      [iTunes]
Dance Band On The Titanic*
      [Amazon] [iTunes]
Essentials
      [Amazon]
Gold Medal Collection
      [Amazon] [iTunes]
Greatest Stories Live*
      [Amazon] [iTunes]
Harry Chapin Tribute
      [Amazon]
Heads & Tales
      [Amazon] [iTunes]
Last Protest Singer
      [Amazon]
Legends Of Lost & Found*
      [iTunes]
Living Room Suite
      [Amazon] [iTunes]
On The Road To Kingdom Come
      [Amazon] [iTunes]
Portrait Gallery
      [Amazon] [iTunes]
Sequel
      [iTunes]
Short Stories
      [Amazon] [iTunes]
Sniper & Other Love Songs
      [Amazon] [iTunes]
Songwriter
      [iTunes]
Story of a Life
      [Amazon]
Verities & Balderdash
      [Amazon] [iTunes]

* = Highly Recommended

The Latest Release

Sniper & Other Love Songs

 
[iTunes]

In 1972, Harry released Sniper & Other Love Songs. Thirty years would pass before the album would ever reach the CD format. Sniper was finally re-released in June, 2002.

Originally given a working title of Sweet City Suite, the album tells the story of various characters one might run into in a city. The album features the original studio versions of Chapin classics "A Better Place to Be" and "Circle." But perhaps more importantly (as those songs are already well-distributed on compilation CDs), the album features seemingly lost Chapin stories, including "And the Baby Never Cries," "Burning Herself," "Barefoot Boy," and "Woman Child."

Sniper is for the seasoned Chapin fan. New fans would do better to check out Greatest Stories Live. But for Chapin fans who have reached the level of the Dance Band on the Titanic album, this is the next step. Slightly over-produced and having a little of the "forced" feel that some of Harry's studio albums possess, this album does not capture the powerfully live Harry Chapin. Nonetheless, it captures Harry's great iconoclastic songwriting--Harry takes the story song to new heights here. But the album works best for those ready for it; don't buy it until you are ready to appreciate it!