In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, there is going to be a lot of cleaning up in the following days. There are some trees down in Queens NY, like the one above, but other areas were hit much worse. The damage has spread all the way from the New Jersey coast to Ohio and beyond, causing problems and leaving people without power in a number of states. In the words of Bob Dylan, as performed below by Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, we hope you found shelter from the storm.
One of the best songs set in San Francisco is Harry Chapin‘s “Taxi.” The song is one of those great story songs that is able to take a long compelling tale and wrap it into a song you can listen to again and again.
“Taxi” and Initial Reactions
“Taxi” is about lost chances and lost loves. When you hear that first line setting the song in San Francisco you know you are in for a great ride from a master storyteller as shown in this Soundstage performance.
The song originally appeared on Chapin’s 1972 album Heads and Tales, but I first got to know the song from hearing my sister play the album Greatest Stories Live (1976) over and and over and over again (especially the song about bananas). I have another friend in Cleveland who loves the song too.
But not everyone loved the song when it was released. Ben Gerson noted in a Rolling Stone magazine review, “The opening melody is merely banal, but more seriously, Harry doesn’t know how to construct a story.” But the song survived the review to become beloved by many Harry Chapin fans.
Inspiration for the Song
“Taxi” begins with rain falling on the streets of San Francisco. Yet, the story about Harry and Sue was inspired by a real event in New York. Chapin, who briefly attended the United States Air Force Academy and did have an interest in flying, revealed that there was some truth to the story in “Taxi,” although it is not all true.
Chapin never drove a taxi, but the song was inspired by an encounter with old lover when he went to get a taxi license. As Chapin later explained on a 1980 concert program, “I set into New York City to sign up for a hack license. On the way I meet an old girlfriend who has married money instead of becoming an actress, and I contemplate the irony of ‘flying in my taxi.'”
Skying?
I have often wondered about some of the words in the falsetto segment, sung on the recording by John Wallace. Wikipedia reports the verse as the following, noting that “skying” is an obscure slang word for going around naked along the lines of what later became called “streaking.” Baby’s so high, that she’s skying Yes she’s flying, afraid to fall I’ll tell you why baby’s crying Cause she’s dying, aren’t we all…
“Sequel”
The tale in “Taxi” is perfect as it is, but Chapin later returned to the characters in “Sequel,” bringing them together for a reunion of sorts. Again, the song begins in San Francisco where “Taxi” left us and takes us on a journey with a somewhat more happy ending.
“Sequel” features Harry’s return to San Francisco where he goes looking for Sue. Check out “Sequel”:
“Sequel” ends with the line, “I guess only time will tell,” making us wonder what happened to Harry and Sue. Unfortunately, we will never get a third song about them. In 1981, Harry Chapin died near exit 40 on the Long Island Expressway when he crashed with a tractor-trailer truck, perhaps after he had a heart attack while driving.
In 1987, Chapin was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his work on social issues, including his work raising awareness about hunger around the world. Today, the Harry Chapin Foundation continues his good work.
For our readers in the path of Hurricane Sandy, we wish you safety through the storm. Here in New York, they are shutting down the subways and making other preparations. Meanwhile, the residents have been out stocking up to prepare for the worst. It’s interesting to see the choices folks are making at the grocery stores in the face of possibly being holed up without power and refrigeration for some time. It seems the pessimists are grabbing up the water jugs, while the optimists are buying ice cream.
As a Bruce Springsteen fan, I cannot think of the name “Sandy” without thinking of “Fourth of July (Sandy),” one of the great early E Street Band songs. In this early recording, featuring the late Danny Federici and Clarence Clemons, the band performs at the Capital Center in Landover, Maryland on August 15, 1978. (The audio is a little off from the video, but it is still a cool video.)
Almost every line in the song is an arresting image in itself, whether the singer is telling us about the “tilt-a-whirl down on the south beach drag” or that “the cops finally busted Madame Marie for tellin’ fortunes better than they do.” Here and in the original, Springsteen sings to Sandy, “Love me tonight, and I promise I’ll love you forever.” But I have heard him change the words in other versions to an even more honest line, “Love me tonight, and I promise . . . I promise there won’t be any promises.”
In Songs (1998), Springsteen explained that he wrote “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)” in mid-1973 after moving in with a girlfriend in a garage apartment five minutes from Asbury Park in Bradley Beach, NJ. The 23-year-old wrote it as “a goodbye to my adopted hometown and the life I’d lived there before I recorded. Sandy was a composite of some of the girls I’d known along the Shore.” He later explained the themes he was trying to address, “I used the boardwalk and the closing down of the town as a metaphor for the end of a summer romance and the changes I was experiencing in my own life.”
When the band planned to record the song, Springsteen hired a church children’s choir to sing on the track. But the kids did not show up on the day of the recording, so Suki Lahav — the wife of Springsteen’s sound engineer — sang the backing track and they overdubbed her voice to make it sound like a choir. It’s her voice you hear on “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)” on The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle (1973).
In the late 1980s, I took a road trip with a friend from Cleveland to New York, and along the way we stopped in Asbury Park. I was surprised to discover then that there actually was a fortune teller there named Madam Marie. She was closed that day, so I did not get my fortune told. But it made me realize how Springsteen was able to take things from real life and transform them into great poetry. Although Madam Marie is no longer in Asbury Park because she passed away in 2008, here is hoping that Asbury Park and other areas along the shore survive Hurricane Sandy.
What is your favorite version of “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)”? Leave your two cents in the comments.
In honor of a big win by the San Francisco Giants, in this year’s edition of World Series Songs featuring songs related to the championship team’s name or locale, we get the opportunity to look at the timeless song “San Francisco Bay Blues.” Also, check out our past Super Bowl Songs.
“San Francisco Bay Blues” was written by Jesse Fuller in 1954. Fuller was a type of musician we do not see much of anymore, the one-person band. While it is true today one might find a one-person band using computers and electronics, there was a time before that when a musician would play multiple instruments all at once. I have been lucky a few times to find a one-person band playing at a street fair and found the performances very entertaining. It has been a long while since I have encountered such a performer, making me wonder if these musicians are a thing of the past. But I guess they are still around, and they also have taken on different forms with the advent of technology.
Jesse Fuller was born in Georgia in 1896 and passed away in 1976 in Oakland, California. After working for a railroad and in a shipyard, he turned to music, playing around the San Francisco bay area where he lived. His most-famous song, “San Francisco Bay Blues” immortalizes his stomping ground as the singer tells about his “best girl” who no longer loves him. In the video below, watch Fuller and his one-man band perform “San Francisco Bay Blues” in 1968.
“San Francisco Bay Blues” has been covered by a number of artists, ensuring its lasting fame. Eric Clapton performed the song on MTV Unplugged in 1992 during the taping in England. The live album earned six Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year.
Another performer who helped make the song familiar to us is Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. Below is one of his performances of the song.
Finally, one knows one wrote a great song when one of the greatest songwriters of the century decides to cover your song. Here is Paul McCartney singing “San Francisco Bay Blues.”
In the song, the singer wonders about the woman returning and creating a “brand new day.” For those whose teams did not make the playoffs, we will have to wait until spring for our brand new day. And that’s the story behind the song. What is your favorite song about San Francisco? Leave your two cents in the comments.
The success of the Detroit Tigers in making it to the World Series gives us several options for this year’s edition of World Series Songs featuring songs related to the championship team’s name or locale. There are several famous songs with Detroit in their title, such as “Detroit Rock City” by Kiss. Other songs mention the city, like Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” (“Just a small town boy, livin’ in South Detroit”). For today’s feature, we go with another song set in Detroit about the city’s most famous industry: “One Piece at a Time,” made famous by Johnny Cash’s 1976 recording.
In “One Piece at a Time,” the singer tells us he left Kentucky in 1949 “An’ went to Detroit workin’ on an assembly line.” The product, of course, is cars, and since the worker is making Cadillac cars, we know that the employer is General Motors. Realizing that he could never afford the cars he was making, the singer decides to take parts home “one piece at a time” in his lunchbox and a friend’s motor home to assemble his own car. Eventually he begins assembling his car from the stolen parts, realizing that all of the pieces are from different models. But he perseveres and assembles his odd car (“Well, it’s a ’49, ’50, ’51, ’52, ’53, ’54, ’55, ’56 ’57, ’58’ 59′ automobile. It’s a ’60, ’61, ’62, ’63, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67 ’68, ’69, ’70 automobile”).
“One Piece at a Time,” which was Johnny Cash’s last number one song on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart, was written by performer and songwriter Wayne Kemp. Kemp’s other songs include “I’m The Only Hell (My Mama Ever Raised)” and “Love Bug.” But his “One Piece at a Time” may be the only song that has inspired a new type of car.
Although it is not unusual, Detroit Tigers owner Mike Ilitch put together the 2012 team from different sources, keeping some players, getting some players in trades, getting some through free agency, etc. For example, in the winter he signed Prince Fielder to a nine-year, $214-million contract. You might say the Tigers were put together one piece at a time. And while you may be surprised to see them in the World Series, the combination of the random pieces may be enough to take them down the road to the world championship.
What is your favorite song about Detroit? Leave your two cents in the comments. Also, check out our past Super Bowl Songs.
In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, there is going to be a lot of cleaning up in the following days. There are some trees down in Queens NY, like the one above, but other areas were hit much worse. The damage has spread all the way from the New Jersey coast to Ohio and beyond, causing problems and leaving people without power in a number of states. In the words of Bob Dylan, as performed below by Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, we hope you found shelter from the storm.
