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Home > Music > Star Tripper

Star Tripper
by Harry Chapin

I have made a little music in some corners of the land
I have fused some crystal images from common grains of sand
And if I haven't reached the heavens, I've surely learned to fly
I've been caught up in the soaring and the touching of the sky


But the startripper's coming on back home now
It's a crazy blind man's journey he's been on
The startripper's lost and all alone now
And it's your face he'd like to look upon
Yes, he's praying that you won't be long gone


They put you in a capsule, they send you towards the sun
They carve you into plastic before you orbit's done
And all the scribes and seers they chorus out your name
Though the photographs and headlines change the story stays the same


So the startripper's coming on back home now
It's a crazy blind man's journey he's been on
The startripper's lost and all alone now
And it's your face he'd like to look upon
Yes, he's praying that you won't be long gone


I thought that I was soaring like an eagle
I thought that I was roaring like the wind
I thought that I had surely reached the end now
But I can't remember anywhere I've been


Was I looking for a star or something else behind it?
Whatever I was looking for, I surely dod not find it
And for all my sky high journeys the only thing I know
Is that you almost always lose yourself when you let yourself go


So the startripper's coming on back home now
It's a crazy blind man's journey he's been on
The startripper's lost and all alone now
And it's your face he'd like to look upon
Yes, he's praying that you won't be long gone


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
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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
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Last Protest Singer
      [Amazon]
Legends Of Lost & Found*
      [iTunes]
Living Room Suite
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On The Road To Kingdom Come
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Portrait Gallery
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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!