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1 contributor. “A Better Place to Be” is a song by Harry Chapin from his 1972 album, Sniper and Other Love Songs. The song is about a midnight watchman confiding in a waitress,...
" A Better Place to Be " is a song by Harry Chapin from his 1972 album, Sniper and Other Love Songs. The song is about a midnight watchman confiding in a waitress, while drinking gin, about a woman that he met a week before and had a one-night stand with. Released as a single, the song reached No. 18 on the Billboard Bubbling Under chart.
A Better Place to Be (Live) Lyrics: This is probably the favorite thing of mine, at least to me, that I've written. And um, it's about a small town upstate New York, called Watertown, New...
Feb 14, 2016 · Harry Chapin uses some of the most beautiful words to paint this song: "I am the midnight watchman down at Miller's Tool and Die, and I watch the metal rusting and I watch the time go by" "I wish that I were beautiful or that you were halfway blind" The people break my heart every time and I want to sing the song over and over so they can live ...
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- What Made America Famous
- Remember When The Music
- Sequel
- Flowers Are Red
- I Wanna Learn A Love Song
- A Better Place to Be
- W.O.L.D.
- Circle
- Cat’S in The Cradle
In What Made America Famous, Chapin sings about a family living in a rundown house that catches fire. The firefighters decide to “let them sweat a little”, eventually forcing a plumber to save them instead. The family spends the night at the plumber’s home, concluding that thereal heroes are often the people you suspect the least. Chapin was inspir...
Initially written as a tribute to New York senator Allard K Lowenstein, who was murdered by Dennis Sweeney in 1980, Remember When The Music took on extra significance when John Lennon was shot and killed that same year. Released as a single from the album Sequel in 1980, it became another top 50 hit for Chapin, spending a total of five weeks on the...
The last studio album released during Chapin’s lifetime was Sequel. After hitting the shelves in March 1980, it charted at number 58 on the Billboard 200, eventually certifying gold. The title track, which revisits the characters of Harry and Sue from Chapin’s very first hit single, Taxi, peaked at number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100, one position a...
Chapin wrote Flowers are Red after his secretary told him about a note from her son’s teacher that read: “Your son is marching to the beat of a different drummer, but don’t worry we will soon have him joining the parade by the end of the term.” Using the story as his inspiration, he wrote about a little boy who, on his first day at school, is punis...
Chapin’s follow up to his number 1 hit, Cat’s in the Cradle, was I Wanna Learn a Love Song, a charming little ditty about a guitar teacher who tries to teach a woman how to play, only to find she wants a lot more from him than a few lessons. Chapin later revealed that the song was based on the true story of how he met his wife, Sandra. Released in ...
Another of Chapin’s famous “story” songs, A Better Place to Be is about a midnight watchman regaling a waitress with his story about a beautiful woman he’d met the previous week and had a one-night stand with. Described by Chapin as his favorite song, it hit number 18 on its release as a single in October 1972. In 1976, he reissued the song as a sp...
In W.O.L.D., Chapin sings about an aging disk jockey who moves from place to place in search of happiness (something he thinks he’ll find by pursuing his dreams in radio), only to find that his life, looks, and voice have all passed him by. So too has his chance of finding the love and companionship he’d secretly always wanted. Released in December...
Although the 1972 album Sniper and Other Love Songs spawned several hit singles, its true beauty lies in the deep cuts. One of its best is Circle. As rocksoffmag.com explains, the song became so popular among fans it earned the nickname the “Chapin theme song,” with Chapin regularly using it as part of the closing set at his concerts. In 1972, Aust...
Arguably Chapin’s best-known song, Cat’s in the Cradle is a poignant story about the changing dynamics between a father and son. It began life as a poem written by Harry’s wife about the awkward relationship between her first husband and his father. A lyrical triumph and commercial juggernaut, it shot to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on its r...
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"A Better Place to Be" was released as a single, and did manage to crack the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The album is notable for its extended version of "30,000 Pounds of Bananas", infamous for Chapin's recounting of his brothers' remarks after hearing the original ending: "Harry...it sucks."
“A Better Place to Be” is a song that captures both the pain and beauty of the human experience. Through its heartfelt storytelling, Chapin reminds us of our shared struggles and the importance of connection and understanding.
