Monday November 30, 2020 “WOLD” Harry Chapin

If James Brown is the godfather of soul, Harry Chapin may be the godfather of story songs.

There are so many musical narratives created by Harry Chapin that you might think it was difficult to pick just one, but that would be wrong.  Having a certain affinity for songs that relate to radio DJs, “WOLD” was the first and only choice for me.

Harry Chapin, who briefly attended the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs,  and was then an intermittent student at Cornell University in New York State, understood that if you wrote a song about DJs it was more likely to get played on the radio by those same DJs. 

In the beginning, Harry Chapin was  performing with his brothers Tom and Steve as The Chapins (always thought that Steve should have changed his name to Dick and then they could have been known as Tom, Dick & Harry) singing in the Greenwich Village scene around Bob Dylan time.  But when Harry released his debut album/CD as a solo artist it raced to number one on the legs of the so famous song “Taxi” putting an immediate end to The Chapins.  Harry Chapin has indicated that “Taxi”was nearly biographical.

In addition to writing so many truly interesting songs Harry Chapin was a noted philanthropist using his theory on performing that for every two concerts he did he would do one for a charitable cause.  He co-founded WHY Hunger and worked diligently to eradicate world hunger before his untimely death in an automobile accident on the Long Island Expressway at age 38, ironically driving himself to perform at a benefit concert.

Stay safe and well...another melancholy story song with an unhappy ending, but I have found that many of these are.

Hello Honey, it's me

What did you think when you heard me back on the radio?

What did the kids say when they knew it was their long lost daddy-o?

Remember how we listened to the radio

And I said "That's the place to be"

And how I got the job as an FM Jock the day you married me?

It was two kids and I was was into AM rock

But I just had to run around

It's been ages since I left you babe

Let me tell you 'bout what's gone down

 [Chorus]

I am the morning DJ at W*O*L*D

Playing all the hits for you wherever you may be

The bright good-morning voice who's heard but never seen

Feeling all of forty-five going on fifteen

 The drinking I did on my last big gig, it made my voice go low

They said that they liked the young sound when they let me go

So I drifted on down to Tulsa, Oklahoma to do me a late night talk show

Now I worked my way down home again, here to Boise, Idaho

That's how this business goes 

[Chorus]

 I been making extra money doing high school sock hops

I'm a big time guest MC

You should hear me talking to the little children

And listen what they say to me

Got a spot on the top of my head, just begging for a new toupee

And a tire around my gut from sitting on my butt

But it's never gonna go away

Sometimes I get this crazy dream

That I just take off in my car

But you can travel on ten thousand miles and still stay where you are

I've been thinking that I should stop disk jockeying

And start that record store

Maybe I could settle down if you'd take me back once more

OK Honey, I see

I guess he's better than me

Sure, Girl, I understand

You don't have to worry; I'm such a happy man

W*O*L*D, W*O*L*D, W*O*L*D, W*O*L*D, W*O*L*D*

I am the morning DJ at K*A*H*J

Playing all the hits for you, playing 'em night and day

The bright good morning voice who's heard but never seen

Feeling all of forty-five, going on fifteen

I am the morning DJ at W*O*L*D, W*O*L*D, W*O*L*D, W*O*L*D