Harry Chapin’s relatively short career as a singer/songwriter came to an end when he died in a car accident in 1981. He’s probably remembered by the general public mostly for his No. 1 single “Cat’s in the Cradle” in 1974 — but his first single from his first solo album was “Taxi,” which in early 1972 peaked at position 24 on the Billboard charts.
“Taxi” tells the story of a cabbie who quite by chance picks up a woman who gives him an address in the rich part of town. As they drive along, mixing a little bit of small talk with uncomfortable silence, each finally recognizes the other as their former lover from many years ago. They acknowledge each other; chat for a bit; and finally he delivers her to her destination, only to watch her walk right out of his life again.
In recalling their time together, the singer/cabbie thinks about how they shared the dreams of their youth: “She was gonna be an actress, and I was gonna learn to fly.” The brilliance of Chapin’s storytelling is revealed when he returns to the image near the end of the song and turns it on its head:
“But we’d both gotten what we’d asked for
Such a long, long time ago. …
And here, she’s acting happy,
Inside her handsome home.
And me, I’m flying in my taxi,
Taking tips, and getting stoned.”
It’s a bit of a mystery why this song didn’t get any higher than No. 24 on the Billboard charts. Perhaps it was hard to pigeonhole this effort from a debut album that had elements from all over – it could be folk, or rock, or pop, or even (shudder!) adult contemporary. Perhaps at nearly seven minutes long it didn’t fit into the playlists of the day.
Too bad: it’s a great piece of lyric writing and storytelling, matched closely by the inventive and creative musical arrangement. Both elements work together so well that despite the necessarily long length needed to spin this tale to its end, the listener’s interest doesn’t get lost anywhere along the way. And best of all is the inevitability of the ending — “whatever we had once was gone” — is how it often works in the real world. And at the end of the song, Chapin leaves everything right there as is; he doesn’t feel the need to tack on some deus ex machina happy ending where love conquers all …
… until “Sequel.” That is to say, the title track from Harry Chapin’s 1980 album Sequel. Also known perhaps as The Not-on-Elektra-Records-Anymore album Sequel. Perhaps he did it for his fans, or maybe for the money, or maybe he felt some artistic impulse to return to an old idea and update it.
In any case, “Sequel” has the cab driver returning to San Francisco (the same city that served as the location for “Taxi”), but now he’s a famous musician who found success via a “taxi” (“But I ended up taking a taxi, ’cause that’s how I got this far”) … wait a minute. Sure the cabbie’s name in “Taxi” was Harry, but that’s a typical folk and rock music convention to sing a first person character using the singer’s own name, but now it’s “Harry (who is famous because of a “Taxi” and is a successful and well known singer/songwriter).”
Is the whole story autobiographical now? There will be many who will disagree with this, but it seems like any time that rock or pop artists write about their own problems and their own lives, it seems contrived and self centered> The fans don’t want music to serve as a kind of audio second-hand voyeuristic experience; they want music that will inspire them as they get along with their own lives. There seems to be some evidence that Chapin based his original song on some events in his own life, but the beauty of “Taxi” is that it can be taken as a universal story — boy meets girl again and, yes, sometimes they get it to work out the second time, but mostly they just move on.
“Sequel,” however, plays out at best like some drugstore paperback pulp fiction romance; at worst, like a bad Horatio Alger novel. Even the phrasing and dialogue between the two principal characters seems wooden, awkward and clichéd. (“She said ‘I finally like myself; at last I like myself’” — definitely a candidate for a not-so-good lyric writing award if there ever is one).
Musically, there’s not much to find fault with here. There are a few more transitions and key changes and the like in “Sequel” than there were in “Taxi.” The good musicianship of the band plays down to the level of vaguely interesting, but these details and touches feel like technique for technique’s sake, and they don’t add to the story.
Oddly enough, “Sequel” actually fared one notch higher on the Billboard charts — hitting No. 23 in 1980. This time, however, there are a lot more mysteries to figure out. First: Is this song really about Harry Chapin’s life? Second: Even if it isn’t, does the character of Harry really offer Sue money like she was some kind of girl for hire? (No — it’s not the same as a $17.50 tip for a cabbie back in 1972. What an insult, really.) Finally (and maybe most importantly): How did such a bad idea get so far up the charts in the first place?
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I’m a big Harry Chapin fan but I’ve never been too keen on “Taxi” OR “Sequel” for that matter. I always preferred stuff like “Dreams Go By,” “Story of a Life,” “A Better Place to Be,” and even the soul-crushingly depressing, “Mr. Tanner” over “Taxi.”
His 2 songs on parenthood; the well known “Cats In the Cradle” and the lesser known “Tangled Up Puppet” are also favorites of mine.
Tough loss for the singer/songwriter inertia of the later 70’s…
I hadn’t heard the “Sequel” bit till just a few years ago, and it soured the whole thing for me. Now when I hear “Taxi”, I subconciously remind myself that he did NOT follow the story up years later…
And to chime in, I’ve always been a huge fan of “W.O.L.D.”. Reminds me of being kid in the back of my old man’s VW bug in the 70’s (burning my kid ass and legs on the screaming hot Naugahyde seats in the summer).
Chapin stated in interviews when “Taxi” came out that the song was inspired by a chance meeting he had with an old school friend. At the time according to Chapin he had taken a year off from work as a film maker to pursue his music career and now, a year out of work, he was running out of money & his music career was still going nowhere. To make matters worse he had been booted from the band his brothers had and his wife was pregnant – they were already raising the 3 children from her 1st marriage. Harry had decided he needed money ASAP but a year away from the film industry left him few options there, forcing him to go to NY and apply for a license to drive a cab.
Understandably depressed at his lack of success career wise and feeling inadequate as a family provider, his old school friend in their chance meeting asks Harry if he had kept in touch with his old college flame Sue, who had pursued an acting career and was now married to a wealthy husband living well. Harry had not kept in touch but became concerned about the embarrassment of being a Cab driver due to his failed music career and meeting ppl he had known growing up, ppl more successful than him. Although he never did end up driving a cab (his music career started moving forward shortly after) & he never did meet up with Sue the whole incident served as the inspiration for “Taxi” – thus it wasn’t strictly autobiographical but it was partially autobiographical.
“Sequel” was inspired according to Chapin by his wife, who believed he should follow up on the story of the characters, like a sequel in a movie (she recognized the cinematic styling of his long form, narrative song writing). Part of this was in response to questions from fans over the years who always asked if the story was true and if so what ever happened to Sue.
Since Harry didn’t end up driving a Cab he based the Harry Character in the new song off of where his life was now (successful singer). With no idea what happened in real life to Sue Harry chose to turn her life upside down as well, no longer living the life of wealt, married in the mansion on the hill but living a much more modest existance, single, in a working class neighborhood.
The magic of “Taxi” as a story was that while the antagonists were headed in different directions in life ( Harry unsuccessful in his career aspirations driving a Cab for a job & Sue seemingly successful, married & wealthy ) they were in fact much the same….both unsatisfied. Sue didn’t seem happy in her life despite the material success and Harry was unhappy in life, in part because of his failure to attain the success Sue had. It seems in “Taxi” like Sue wants poor Harry to make a stand for her but as he admits in the song he doesnt, just quietly letting her leave, not secure enough to take that chance (“another man never would have let her go….I just stashed the bill in my shirt”).
“Sequel” ultimately is much the same, in reverse. Harry now has the security to pursue her, thanks to his new found career success and stature. His success acting as a validation for him, no longer depressed but confidant. Meanwhile Sue has divorced and walked away from her career and wealth, living a modest & quiet life….but happy, no longer depreased about the choices she is making to maintain a lifestyle that ultimately didn’t validate her. Her validation & confidence came from abandoning the very life that Harry now had, that he once lacked and she once maintained.
In a way it’s the perfect follow up, yet it still keeps Harry & Sue apart, and yet now both happy. The evolution of the characters makes perfect sense given the state of the two antagonists in “Taxi”, right down to the idea that they don’t end up together.
I would agree with much of this analysis, but it points out exactly the problem with “Sequel”: the plot plays like a version of that Seinfeld episode where everything works out “Even Steven.” I still prefer the ambiguous yet realistic parting of the original “Taxi.”