[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 155 (Tuesday, December 16, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1852-E1853]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   URGING NOMINATION OF HARRY CHAPIN IN THE SONGWRITERS HALL OF FAME

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. STEVE ISRAEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 16, 2014

  Mr. ISRAEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the career of 
Harry Chapin, and to urge the Songwriters Hall of Fame to nominate him 
for induction. Harry Chapin is known not only for his powerful 
songwriting but also for his philanthropy and activism, as he spent his 
life fighting hunger and poverty in his Long Island community and 
around the world. His eminence as a songwriter and as an activist 
proves that he is deserving of this honor. I am also submitting for the 
record my letter to the Songwriters Hall of Fame as well as a letter 
from Sandy Chapin, Harry's wife.
  Though his musical career lasted only a decade, Harry Chapin's talent 
lives on through his timeless songs and powerful storytelling. He wrote 
over 400 songs in that time, including classic songs like ``Taxi'' and 
``Cat's in the Cradle;'' released nine albums; and wrote a Broadway 
musical, ``The Night That Made America Famous.'' He also wrote songs 
for television and film. He was inducted into the Long Island Music 
Hall of Fame in 2006.
  Furthermore, Harry's humanitarian work serving the people of Long 
Island deserves to be remembered and honored. He donated half of his 
concert revenue to charity and founded various organizations that 
continue to fight hunger and poverty on Long Island and around the 
world. Harry co-founded WhyHunger, a grassroots organization that 
supports over 8,000 community groups nationwide in their efforts to 
develop innovative programs to eliminate hunger and provide 
sustainable, health food sources. He founded New York City's Hunger 
Hotline and Long Island's first food bank, Long Island Cares, which 
today distributes more than six million pounds of food every year. Long 
Island Cares also provides community members with nutrition education, 
job training, and veterans' services, because Harry understood that 
ending hunger requires addressing the root causes of poverty. In 1977, 
he lobbied Congress and President Carter to establish a Presidential 
Commission on World Hunger, on which he served as an active member. For 
all of his humanitarian work, Harry posthumously received a 
Congressional Gold Medal in 1987. His legacy lives on with the Harry 
Chapin Foundation, which continues to support charities that fight 
hunger and poverty, as well as organizations that support arts 
education.
  Harry Chapin's contributions to music and to the world should not be 
forgotten, and again I encourage his nomination to the Songwriters Hall 
of Fame.
                                                     Steve Israel,


                                     House of Representatives,

                                                December 16, 2014.
     Board Members,
     Songwriters Hall of Fame, New York, NY.
       To the Board Members of the Songwriters Hall of Fame: I 
     write today to ask for full and fair consideration for Harry 
     Chapin, a Long Island treasure, as a nominee for induction 
     into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In his life, Harry Chapin 
     was known not only for writing songs that resonated but also 
     for his philanthropic efforts and activism to combat hunger 
     and poverty both in his Long Island community and around the 
     world. His eminence as a songwriter and as a leader in the 
     fight against poverty and hunger proves him truly deserving 
     of this honor.
       Though his musical career lasted only a decade, Harry 
     Chapin's enduring legacy ensures that his talent will live on 
     through his timeless songs that reverberate across 
     generations. During that brief period, Harry wrote over 400 
     songs, including classics like ``Taxi'' and ``Cat's in the 
     Cradle;'' released nine albums; and wrote a Broadway musical, 
     ``The Night That Made America Famous.'' He also wrote songs 
     for television and film. He was inducted into the Long Island 
     Music Hall of Fame in 2006.
       Harry's unparalleled humanitarian work serving the people 
     of Long Island also deserves recognition. Along with donating 
     half of his concert revenue to charity and founding various 
     organizations to fight hunger and poverty on Long Island and 
     around the world, Harry also served as a powerful voice 
     lobbying Congress and President Carter to establish a 
     Presidential Commission on World Hunger, on which he served 
     as an active member. For all of his humanitarian work, Harry 
     posthumously received a Congressional Gold Medal in 1987. His 
     legacy lives on with the Harry Chapin Foundation, which 
     continues to support charities that fight hunger and poverty, 
     such as Long Island Cares, as well as organizations that 
     support arts education.
       Today, I'm proud to give much deserved recognition to Harry 
     Chapin's contributions to music and to the world in the House 
     of Representatives. Harry's legacy is timeless and should not 
     be forgotten. I once again ask for full and fair 
     consideration for his nomination to the Songwriters Hall of 
     Fame.
           Sincerely,
                                                     Steve Israel,
                                               Member of Congress.
                                  ____
                                  
                                               September 15, 2013.
     Board Members,
     Songwriters Hall of Fame, New York, NY.
       Board Members of the Song Writers Hall of Fame: I am 
     writing to ask that you might consider Harry Chapin as one of 
     your

[[Page E1853]]

     next recipients for the Songwriters Hall of Fame Award. While 
     reading your news letter about the recipients for 2008 Awards 
     I couldn't help but think that Harry is long overdue for a 
     honor such as this.
       Harry Chapin earned a devoted audience during the '70s, 
     through his music and his charity work as a social activist. 
     Harry wrote and recorded a reasonably large body of work 
     before his death in 1981. Though many may not know all of 
     Harry's songs (he wrote over 400), his legion of fans 
     continue to buy his CD's, as well as attempt to unearth lost 
     recordings by the man to this day.
       Harry Chapin is remembered by a generation of music fans as 
     one of America's greatest musical storytellers and 
     troubadours, but as Ralph Nader said, ``to talk about Harry 
     Chapin only as a singer-composer is like viewing Theodore 
     Roosevelt as a state assemblyman or Babe Ruth as a pitcher. 
     More that any other entertainer in his generation, Harry was 
     a citizen-artist.''
       Harry's albums, musical plays and TV contributions are 
     listed as follows:
       Chapin Music (1966, Rock-Land Records) Harry's early years 
     with brothers Tom and Steve.
       Heads and Tales (1972, Elektra) Harry's first album with 
     Elektra, was released in the summer of 1972 and became a 
     success thanks to the hit single ``Taxi,'' which soon became 
     the songwriter's signature tune. Taxi became the most 
     requested song in America for ten weeks in a row and earned 
     Harry a Grammy nomination as best new artist.
       Sniper and Other Love Songs (1972, Elektra)
       Short Stories (1973, Elektra) This album it spent 23 weeks 
     on the charts due to the success of the single ``W.O.L.D.,'' 
     a story about the life of a disc jockey.
       Verities & Balderdash (1974, Elektra) This album became his 
     biggest hit, becoming a gold record. The album's success was 
     benefited by the number-one single ``Cat's in the Cradle,'' a 
     song about an inconsiderate, career-oriented father that was 
     based on a poem written by Sandy Chapin, his wife. He earned 
     another Grammy nomination as best male vocal performer.
       Portrait Gallery (1975, Elektra) his follow-up to Verities 
     and Balderdash. The album performed respectably, peaking at 
     number 53.
       The Night That Made America Famous In the mean time, Harry 
     had been working on his musical which opened on February 26, 
     1975. The show earned two Tony nominations.
       Make a Wish Harry won an Emmy award in the spring for his 
     contributions of songs to ABC television's children's series 
     Make a Wish, which was hosted by his brother Tom. At that 
     time Harry also co-founded World Hunger Year, a charity 
     designed to raise money to fight international famine; the 
     organization earned over $350,000 in its first year.
       Greatest Stories Live (Double Album, 1976, Elektra) This 
     double album, became the singer/songwriter's second gold 
     album, peaking at number 48. Chapin was becoming more 
     politically active throughout 1976, as evidenced by his role 
     as a delegate at that summer's Democratic Convention.
       Dance Band on the Titanic (Double Album, 1977, Elektra) 
     This album was also on the charts.
       Living Room Suite (1978, Elektra) The following year, Harry 
     Chapin met with President Jimmy Carter, discussing the need 
     for a Presidential Commission on Hunger; he also released 
     Living Room Suite that summer, which peaked at number 133.
       Legends of the Lost and Found (Double Album, 1979, Elektra) 
     His second live album.
       Sequel (1980, Boardwalk Records) Harry signed with 
     Boardwalk Records, releasing Sequel; the title track of the 
     album was a sequel to his first hit single, ``Taxi,'' and 
     became his last Top 40 hit before his death.
       Mothers & Daughters: The Loving War (1980, ABC Friday Night 
     Movie) Harry wrote the music for this TV production.
       Cotton Patch Gospel (1981) The off-Broadway premiere of 
     Cotton Patch Gospel, original score by Harry Chapin received 
     praise as ``The best music Harry Chapin ever wrote'' by--
     David Marsh, Rolling Stone Magazine. This was his last after 
     a career as one of the great American folk singers and one of 
     the great humanitarians having raised over 5 million dollars 
     for World Hunger.
       Anthology of Harry Chapin (1985, Elektra)
       Remember When the Music (1987, Dunhill Compact Classics)
       The Gold Medal Collection (1988, Elektra)
       The Last Protest Singer (1988, Dunhill Compact Classics)
       Harry Chapin Tribute (1990, Relativity Records)
       The Bottom Line Encore Collection (1998, Bottom Line/Koch)
       Story of a Life (1999, Elektra)
       VHI Behind the Music The Harry Chapin Collection (2001, MTV 
     Networks)
       Sequel (2001, re-mastered and re-released on CD Chapin 
     Productions LLC)
       Sniper and Other Love Songs (Re-mastered and re-released on 
     CD 2002, Wounded Bird Records)
       The Last Protest Singer (2002, re-mastered and re-released 
     on CD Chapin Productions LLC)
       Harry Chapin Songwriter (2002) Originally produced in 1975 
     for the educational series Pipeline, this CD closes the 
     distance between listener and performer. A real treat for any 
     aspiring musician, who, regardless of his status as a Harry 
     Chapin fan, will no doubt gain a clear and simple outline for 
     writing a successful song. The disc is broken down into five 
     parts: a short, friendly introduction, the second part, a 
     soulful, acoustical version of a previously unrecorded gem 
     called ``Too Many Miles.'' The third part is the meat of the 
     disc. Harry talks of the difference between ``attitudinal'' 
     songs and his own unique style of story songs. He then goes 
     through the process of building a chorus and its verses, 
     discussing the pitfalls of first-time songwriter, strategies 
     for successful rhyming, and finding a ``zinger.'' In the 
     fourth part Harry plays a short upbeat track off the Portrait 
     Gallery album, ``Stop Singing These Sad Songs.'' In the fifth 
     and final part, he conveys easily such concepts as tonal 
     consistency and ``architectural constants.'' The conversation 
     closes with Harry talking about what is plainly evident 
     throughout Songwriter, his ``joy of doing it.''
       Heads and Tales/Sniper and Other Love Songs (2004, Elektra. 
     Double CD re-release of first two albums with bonus tracks)
       Legends of the Lost and Found (Double Album, 2005, re-
     mastered and re-released on CD, Chapin Productions LLC)
       Introducing. Harry Chapin (2006)
       Harry Chapin Cat's In the Cradle and Other Songs (2008, 
     Elektra)
       Harry performed more than 250 concerts every year, and 
     donated the proceeds for half of them to charity. After his 
     concerts, he would go into the lobby and sign autographs and 
     sell records, T-shirts and song books. And every penny he 
     took in would go to charity, especially the battle to end 
     world hunger. He spent four months nearly single-handedly 
     successfully lobbying both Congress and President Carter to 
     form a Presidential Commission on Domestic and International 
     Hunger and Malnutrition, activity serving as a member of the 
     commission.
       On Sunday July 26, 1981, Ralph Nader wrote in the Sunday 
     New York Times: ``We hope that Taxi is sung as long as there 
     are taxis and lovers with long memories. And we hope as well 
     that Harry Chapin's legacy will include not only his music 
     but his citizenship, so that others may learn of his example 
     and emulate it. For he was a model of what Justice Felix 
     Frankfurter once referred to as the highest position in a 
     democracy--the office of citizen. That was no third-rate folk 
     singer (as he called himself), only a first rate American.''
       Harry Chapin was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall 
     of Fame on October 15, 2006.
       I have enclosed a copy of the CD, Harry Chapin Songwriter 
     as a gift to you, thinking that you may find it an 
     appropriate piece considering my request. May you enjoy it!
           Sincerely,
                                                    Sandra Chapin,
     Chapin Productions LLC.

                          ____________________