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Up On The Shelf
by Harry Chapin

I used to play the trumpet once but now I play guitar
Somebody told you it's more mellow.
Well I've played a lot of music since but I really haven't grown that far
Somebody said that you're just yellow.

So I keep it up on the shelf
And it's funny how you keep it all to yourself
Hey honey, could there ever be,
Should there ever be,
Could there ever be something else?

You know I used to swing my silver sword, the dragons hit the ground
Whatever happened to the maidens?
Well I'd swing my silver sword again and they would all fall down
Would you leave them lying there where you had laid them?

And I used to have a country once, where it's gone I do not know.
Where do you think you might have lost it?
I used to raise the flag at dawn, but that was very long ago
Maybe you can find it where you tossed it.

Well I tossed it up on the shelf
And it's funny how you've kept it all for yourself
Hey honey, could there ever be,
Should there ever be,
Could there ever be something else?

I used to say my prayers boys, I used to sing the hymns
Even the echo's disappearing.
They've broken the stained windows, the cathedral's getting dim.
Then what is this dirge that we are hearing?

Well it comes from up on the shelf
And it's funny how you sing it only for yourself
Hey honey, could there ever be,
Should there ever be,
Could there ever be something else?

Well, I used to have a lover once, I used to have a friend
How in the hell you ever find one?
My song is almost over now, my story's at an end
You lived yourself a good life but a blind one.

Well I've hidden there up on the shelf
And it's funny how you've kept it all for yourself
Hey honey, could there ever be,
Should there ever be,
Could there ever be something else?

Harry's Music

Bottom Line Encore Collection       [Amazon] [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] 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!