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- My brother
Harry wanted to be more

than just a great
singer song writer.

He wanted to change
the world and he did.

- Harry Chapin was one
of the greatest storytellers

of all time.

- Harry was
that rare combination

of somebody with a
conscience and an ability

to write a good song.

- Not many
song writers know how

to tell a story the way he did.

Not many singers know how

to get a story across
the way he did.

- When that
song first came out,

a lot of people thought it
was a Harry Chapin song.

It used to bother me, but
doesn't bother me anymore.

Now I take it as a compliment.

Because the truth is,

Harry Chapin wrote
the best story songs.

- I do about
220 concerts a year,

about a hundred
which are benefits,

about 60 of whom were
for World Hunger Year.

I also do a bunch for the
Performing Arts Foundation.

I also do about a half a
dozen a year for Ralph Nader.

I've done a couple
so far this year

for Citizens Action Fund.

I also do things for
multiple sclerosis,

muscular dystrophy, cancer
care, cystic fibrosis,

and a couple of other things.

If you get involved in things,

you ended up by getting
involved in more things.

- Harry made it
gangster to do something

about things that need
something done for it.

- And that was Harry's
spirit indomitable spirit.

He never gave up.

- Steve Chapin.

- It was like he
knew that there was X amount

of time left, because he
really did burn that candle,

bright and fast.

- What's that
great line of Bob Dylan's?

He is not busy being
born, he's busy dying.

Luckily I'm one of these people.

My credo was when in
doubt, do something.

You're a little early, guys.

Okay, big climax later
on, here's the story.

My mother always told
me it'd be like this.

- To regard Harry as
merely a singer composer,

which he was,

is like considering babe
Ruth a pitcher, which he was.

Both were that, but
far more than that.

Harry quite simply was
the leading citizen artist

of his generation.

- Harry champion is an artist
who has been with us before

with his guitar
and with his voice.

- Please do it
for us, all right?

- Love to.

- Harry Chapin.

- Once again, here
is Harry Chapin.

- My mom had four boys
by the time she was 25

with my dad, the jazz
drummer, Jim Chapin.

The oldest with James, Butch
Chapin, and then Harry,

and I was next, and
then brother Steve.

But my mother and
dad divorced early.

I was three, I think,
when they divorced

because dad was a jazz
drummer and he was on the road

and he loved drums and
he loved women.

It didn't work.

We lived near here, West
11th Street, in the winters.

- As a fly
ball hit out to left field,

Woodling getting under it.

And the Yankees are champions!

And look at Berra,
piggyback riding Kuzava.

And then my stepfather
came in the family.

He bought a brownstone
in Brooklyn for $16,000.

- My mother Jean Elsbeth
Burke had six sons.

Harry was number two
and I was number five.

My mother had four
Chapins in two Harts.

And she was an incredible woman

who raised us all
basically as a single mom,

because both of her husbands
were kind of not great choices.

- We had the unfortunate,
or fortunate if you want,

of having the storybook
evil stepfather.

He was well meaning, but
unfortunately he couldn't handle

four boys growing up
and it was a horror show

of beatings and
all kinds of stuff.

It just made us really tight.

- We grew up in the school
yards and at Grace Church.

Grace Church was crucial to us.

It was really the foundation
of getting into music,

of Harry, Tom, and Steve
getting into music.

Big John Wallace, Bobby
Lamm, who we see in Chicago,

was in the choir.

- You know, going back to
the choir room and the piano,

it really opened up a channel

that I wouldn't
have otherwise had.

- We kind of
grew up on our own

out there in the world,
but the church and sports

were the foundations
while my mom was trying

to be a single mom and
work and have six boys

that were all over the place.

- Well, once we moved
to Brooklyn Heights,

it was a school yard.

The school and the school yard
were right next door to us.

Our days were like literally
eight hours of handball,

stickball,
ring-a-levio, stoop ball

and anything with a
ball, any place, anyhow,

it was just active,
active, active.

- There's more family
history probably out here

than anywhere else.

- Because it's an older
place, that's why.

Well, this is every
summer, you know,

we were kids and it was
like, yay, it's June.

And we'd get here and then it's
barefoot, and it was tennis,

it was the Lake.

So this is my whole
life, every summer.

- Andover was a kind of
ever-shifting feast of people.

First of all, there was KB

who was the presiding
patriarchal genius

who appeared to me the most
brilliant man in America.

- Harry never thought
about money growing up.

He didn't have to.

His family, while
not monetarily rich,

they were rich in being
part of the intellectual

give and take in the
country of being part

of the American art history.

And so Harry really never
had to think about money.

- I was a
rich little poor boy.

You've heard of the
poor little rich boys.

People with a lot of money

and very little
inspiration, very little.

I came up with an
incredible family.

No money, but I
never went hungry.

But people who asked
the right questions,

pushed and prodded you.

- You had a mixture
of filmmakers.

You have little Ricky,
who was making films.

You have, Jim was bringing
out half of, you know,

the Harlem left is coming out.

It's just this constant
swirl of different kinds

of people and experiences.

All of them creative,
most of them on the left,

one kind to another.

- Hey, if I were
Jewish then call it a mitzvah.

For him to use his God
given gifts to do good.

- The thrust for us was
to find something in the arts

that you spent your life doing.

It wasn't about making a living.

It wasn't about
making a lot of money.

Wasn't even about
fame that so much,

but it's something that
you've put into the world

and put your life toward.

- There's a
kid out on my corner,

hear him strumming like a fool.

Shivering in his dungarees,
but still he's going to school.

- Harry was the can do.

The family joke, which
I coined at one time

and everybody loved,
was two's company,

Harry's a crowd.

- My mother's sister had the
only Hi-Fi in the valley.

Remember Hi-Fis?

And she brought a recording
called The Weavers

at Carnegie Hall and
played it for us.

And that changed our world as
it did the world of this place

and The Village,

because they were
the inspiration for

for the Kingston Trio,
for the Limeliters,

the Tom Paxton on
down the line and,

and the Chapin Brothers as well.

We listen to that
recording all summer long.

If you invited one
Chapin brother,

the three of us would
come with instruments.

Steve first played
a 10-string ukulele

and then moved on to the bass.

And we became the
Chapin Brothers.

- Tonight,
let's sing out

with the students
of the University of

Featuring Joanie Anderson.

The Chapins.

And now, Oscar Brown.

That loud blast of assembles
and the bass you heard

came from a drum, which
is new to our program.

But is being handled by
the capable Mr. Chapin.

Mr. Steve Chapin.

- Jim Chapin.
- Jim Chapin?

- I'm Steve.

- You're Steve.
Well, who are you?

- Tom.
- That's Tom.

Over there?

- Harry!
- Harry.

And all together they're
the Chapin Family.

- Their father is considered
one of the great drummers

in America, and we're proud
to produce the whole family.

So here are the Chapins.

- Harry was the least
proficient musically,

so it was kind of like everybody

had their power
in different ways.

- Tom had a really high voice

and could hit notes
that were unattainable

and is an excellent
guitar player.

Both of us, Tom
and I, could both

really well sing in tune
and blend really well.

- Love the
idea of making music

and and Harry started
writing for us as well.

That's really sort of the
genesis of the Chapin Brothers

and the connection
with folk music.

- Harry was
kind of like in charge

and actually a lot of times
they would, they would,

you know, other people behind

would say you guys
got to do more.

Three of us were playing with
our dad in the Village Gate.

After the first set, dad comes
back to his boys and says,

it's a little slow
out there tonight.

Steve and Tom, I want
you guys to cheer up.

Harry, cheer down.

- We were living in
Brooklyn Heights,

not exactly the center of
the folk music universe.

But was 15 minutes by
the A train to here.

Tuesday night was hootenanny
night here at the Bitter End.

And if you came in the afternoon
and you tried out for it,

you might be able
to play that night.

And we started doing that.

- Harry got this
film offer to go to Ethiopia,

to do a documentary
about hunger in Ethiopia.

And Harry was a
grownup, you know,

he'd been working in the
documentary film world.

In fact, one of his
documentary films

was nominated for Academy Award,
"The Legendary Champions."

- Tiny Tommy
Burns is soon getting home

with his equalizer,
his booming right hand.

Spires goes down.

- Harry came back
six months later,

and the boys who needed
the money to go to college

had put together a new band.

- Steve says, well,
you better tell him.

So I sat there and said, Harry,

we're kicking you
out of the band.

What?

- There was no way he
could walk back in.

He wasn't a singer.

We already had two
guitarists in the band.

You know what I mean?

At this time he didn't
bring anything to the table.

- The Chapins had a
really cool rock and roll band.

And when Harry came back,
he was no longer part of it.

I understood that.

Cause it was, in terms of like
musical judgment and judging,

it was the right decision.

- I mean, I
come from a family

of absolutely brilliant people.

I've got some
brothers, as you know,

I think are more naturally
talented than I am at music.

But the only thing
different between them and I

is I'm a little bit more
bullheaded and go out

and bang my head
against the the castles.

And they they've taken a little
bit more cooled out route.

- We rented the Village
Gate for $400 a week.

And our opening act was,
the first week was Harry,

by himself.

And he's singing these
long story songs.

It was raining hard in
Frisco, and it was dead.

He didn't know how
to perform yet.

And the songs just lay there.

And he did four nights,
four very hard nights

opening for us, and we
were pretty good band.

So instead of being
crushed by this, he says,

hmm, I need a band.

He calls up John Wallace,
who'd been a choir boy with us,

to play bass, found a
guitar player, Ron Palmer,

wonderful finger
style guitar player.

Put an ad in the Village
Voice for a cello player,

and got Tim Scott.

And they started rehearsing
and inventing these songs.

- He said, listen, I
don't have any money.

He said that the most important
thing to me is loyalty.

He said if stay with me, we're
all going to be partners.

It was a handshake deal.

And it was kept not only by
Harry, but by the family.

He knew what he wanted.

- It would be nice, the ninth.

There's ninth and
the major seven.

I wonder if you should
hit the 4th up there.

- Harry's songs started getting
a little more adventuresome

and a little more
story-oriented,

a little more
personally oriented.

- He was ambitious.

He really wanted to matter.

- What I saw was
not what I expected.

I lost it in the first number.

I mean, I could tell
what was going on.

This was a very well
integrated band, vocally.

The instruments were wonderful,

but I thought featuring the
sincerity of the cello was magic

because I had tried to
talk artists to doing that

in the past myself
and had not succeeded.

They were comfortable with
the instruments they had.

And I was looking for
something that would give

even folk music an underpinning.

- There's something
about a cello anyway,

that plays in minor keys.

And it was magical
with his music

because it was so appropriate,

because so much was visually
dramatic and emotional and sad.

You know, so there's
nothing sadder

than somebody sitting
next to you playing

just beautiful string
lines on the cello.

- There was a couple of
quirky things that Harry did

that made him stand
apart from other people.

Also the guy who was
singing falsetto.

The guy's in the back row
with a real high voice.

Like an opera singer, almost.

That was different too.

- I was really kind
of shocked to see John Wallace

be part of the whole thing.

John always had a great
voice, great falsetto,

and he always fooled
around with his range,

singing low notes,
singing high notes.

- And then Harry was,
you know, telling his story.

It made him stand out.

- Listen to the story
about Mr. Tanner.

- I always thought of
him as a troubadour.

This is a person who,
you know, I don't know,

I mean, listen, he sang great,
it was a charm that he had,

but I think his real gift
was the storytelling.

- And so that, right
in front of him,

was this possibility of
being a singer song writer.

And two weeks later, he comes
back and it's a revelation.

- He wrapped his songs
around the people who listened.

- It was pretty thrilling.

He's right in the
middle of that triangle

and hearing this
stuff, you know.

You knew there was
something to it.

- Sort of part and parcel
of watching him do this

and helping as much as we can.

And being a little bit
astonished, but not shocked.

By the end of the summer,
they got a great review

in the New York times.

And people were
coming to see Harry

at the end of the summer.

- When he was first
acknowledged at The Village Gate

and the record company
people started coming down

and he'd called the
different companies

and talked to one
of the secretaries

and say he was somebody else

and then do a pitch for
Harry Chapin.

Always out in front, you
know, always moving forward.

Yeah, his motto was
onwards and upwards.

- And that was the fall that
Clive Davis and Jac Holzman

at Elektra Records and
Clive Davis at Columbia

had a bidding war to get Harry.

- The bidding war
thing started, which I mean,

it's not a time I
would like to relive,

but it made us a lot of money.

- Clive and I had gone toe
to toe on other artists.

Delaney and Bonnie, he had
tried to take Judy Collins away.

We were used to scrapping
with each other.

- As his brother, it was
really exciting to watch

this whole thing happen.

- That's when the
trigger went off,

this is the band
I can work with.

We made an offer.

Atlantic made an offer.

Clive made an offer.

The numbers were
going back and forth.

The band had come to my
house up in the country

because I liked to
prerecord my records.

I couldn't find Harry.

Nobody could get ahold of them.

Finally, I got a
call back from Harry.

I said, well, I'm on
my way to California,

then I said, we'll meet
you at the airport.

So he met us and he said,
we're gonna go with Columbia.

I was pissed off
because I thought we

had shaken hands on the deal.

Stayed the week in California,

I found out that the
Colombia numbers were,

shall we say, less
than accurate,

because I got the real numbers.

But I never used them.

Banged on the door at six
o'clock in the morning,

they knew I was coming and
said, I'm not leaving here.

Get a couch or something,

I'm not leaving here
until we have a deal.

- Harry had his, sort
of had the act together

in its own way.

They had this, it started
off with this trick

with the lights and Taxi
was more than just a song.

- In 72 I remember hearing
the taxi on the radio

and then thinking, this
is something different.

This is a folk song.

Who is this guy?

- Taxi's about 60% true.

And so I use realities I
know about to set me going.

And then I try to make
the song true to itself.

The songs have to mean
something to somebody

if they're going to buy
them or keep playing.

- And Yours do.

See, I think that
that can be the trap

that years mean an awful
lot to a lot of people.

- The writing there was so smart
and simple at the same time

that I thought this was special.

- Great song.

She said, let's get together,

but I knew it'd
never be arranged,

And she handed me twenty
dollars for a two fifty fare,

she said Harry, keep the change.

And that's such a cool line

that the hair
stands up on my arm.

Well, another man
might've been angry,

another man might
have been hurt,

but another man would never
would have let her go,

I stuffed the bill on my shirt.

I mean, that's, you
know, real life.

That's really what happened.

Whether it did or not, in
my mind, that happened.

I could picture the whole thing.

And the guy at the
end getting stoned,

and I fly so high
when I'm stoned.

You didn't hear that on the
radio, that was pretty risque.

- We didn't start on AM radio.

We started on FM radio,
which I knew was going

to be more friendly to him.

And Harry went to
all the key stations

and he told wonderful stories.

And his personality, even if
you weren't seeing him live,

you could hear it
through the interview.

He was always there,
no matter what he did,

whether he was doing
it for a charity

or in the studio for himself,
he was 100% all the time.

- We were playing
in the Kiel Opera House

in St. Louis.

And I was opening
up for Harry Chapin.

We got a great reception
from his audience.

I didn't know how we're
gonna go over with his crowd.

But they were very receptive,
very warm audience.

And he even talked
about me to the audience

in his own show.

He was the headliner,
but he said something,

how about that, Billy Joel?

And I thought that
was really nice.

He didn't have to do that.

But he plugged me
to his own audience.

And I never forgot that.

I thought that was a very
gentlemanly thing to do.

Especially in the music business
where it's all dog-eat-dog

and claws are out in
the music business.

- I went out to Long
Island to play a club,

just not even a club, like
a pub, it was like bar

and Harry was in the bar.

He wasn't drinking, he
was drinking a club soda.

My favorite recollection of
him, this stays with me always,

that he looked like he just
literally rolled out of bed.

His hair was all over the place.

He had like some wrinkled
t-shirts and jeans

that were hanging so loose.

And he was just sitting
there, talking to a guy.

And when I started this,
when I was singing,

he came over and he said,
"Hey," he goes like,

"What's your name, and
what are you doing?"

And all this stuff.

And I told him, and that's
when he told me, he goes,

"Well, you know, I'm doing
this thing down the street."

He goes, "You should come
and audition for this

"because I think that you
would be great for this.

"It'd be fun for you."

And, I was, "Okay."

You know what I mean?

Like, this is Harry Chapin,
no problem, I'm coming.

He was very selfless.

You know, this was genuine,
this was authentic.

And so everything that
anybody ever reads about him

or hears about him,
the stories are true.

It's true.

You know, he was
just, he was a dude.

I mean, the best part,
the rest of that story

is that he didn't
have any money.

He was going in every pocket.

I was like, watching
him do this.

And I said to him,
do you need money?

Which was just like
absolutely ridiculous.

You know what I mean?

I said, "Do you need any money?"

And he goes, "I don't
have any money."

So I gave him $5 to pay for
the, whatever, club soda,

water, I don't know
what he's drinking,

it was clear and it wasn't
alcohol, I know that.

But whether it was a
7Up, whatever, you know,

but I gave him five bucks.

He had no money on him.

And he was just, you know,
kinda like Colombo.

Kind of like the musical
version of Colombo.

- First album, we
were at Fillmore East

and Harry showed up in the
wings and he was very sweet.

You know, it was great
surprise to see him.

He was very enthusiastic.

The thing about Harry was

that he's probably the most
charming kid you'd ever know.

- I was just like
little, you know,

a girl just singing in a bar.

But he treated me with
such respect and dignity.

And I didn't forget that ever.

- With '70s rock radio,
especially the storytellers,

Jim Croce, Bob
Dylan, Joni Mitchell.

But it was this one song
called "Cat's in the Cradle,"

that I don't relate
to, 'cause I'm a kid.

So it was a nursery rhyme,

but it was just the
sound of the record.

You know what I'm saying?

That was so captivating.

- The most original and
talented young songwriter

and performer, was
nominated for a Grammy Award

as the Best New Artist of 1972.

Would you please
welcome, Harry Chapin.

- Two, three, four.

- It's you girl,

you've put Rose colored
glasses on my eyes

and made the world a game.

And everything I thought I
knew, will never be the same.

- This is a song about
how I met my wife.

I was giving guitar
lessons back in the days

where I used that
as a social means

to get girls into my room.

And this one turned out
a little more serious

than I thought it would.

- Out of the blue,
actually, he called up

and he said, "I hear you
wanna take guitar lessons."

- My wife had three
kids when I've met her

and we've had two sons
by the normal methods.

- They would share poems
when they first met.

It was supposedly
for guitar lessons,

but I think it moved to
other things over the years.

- Sometimes he called
and said he was busy.

Sometimes he just didn't
show up and sometimes he did.

We had a hot date.

We went to Flame Steaks,
for $1.99.

- And he became on the scene
more and more over time.

It was a slow process
of liking Harry.

It took me a while
to warm up to him.

And I can remember the first
time when I finally was,

ah, you know, this
person is in my life.

He had this energy of a
very, very young person.

So for us, it was like just
having another fun person

around the house.

- She made her wedding gown
and it had one of those,

I guess it was a
Mandarin collar.

She, in seed pearls,
sewed I love Harry

across the collar of
her wedding dress.

- They were a wonderful couple

in that they were kind of
yin and yang to each other.

That he had the energy and
he needed the attention,

and he loved to be out in front.

And mom was the idea person.

She was really the
thinker and the one

that would come
up with the ideas

and throw some stuff out there.

And then Harry would take that,
grab it, and move with it.

- Sandy, well, her
influence on the music

and on world hunger,
she was 100% supportive.

Probably more than supportive,
she was encouraging.

What a pair.

- In terms of my wife, she's
getting a PhD in education

at Columbia, got her
master's at Harvard

and has the ability, I seem
to go from tree to tree

and she sees the forest.

A recording of his own
song, "Cat's in the Cradle,"

sold over 1 million
copies as a single.

- This is, as I said,
a song that Harry

and his wife Sandy
collaborated on.

- "Cat's in the Cradle," was
a poem that my mom wrote,

showed it to Harry as kind of,

this is a lesson to be learned,

and then he turned it into song.

And they did that a lot.

They shared things
back and forth.

- The first time we heard
"Cat's in the Cradle,"

I remember that time.
- Yeah.

- Yeah, we were in
the dressing room,

he pulls up this wooden
chair, sticks his foot on it.

You know, "I got this song guys,

"I think it's gonna be a hit."

He started playing it,
and it was like, Whoa.

Everybody kind of said,
yeah, that's, that's nice.

That's, you know, something
could happen with this.

It was sort of number
one there for a while.

- I have some people
around me that not only

will give me criticism, but
come up with very strong ideas.

And the most one is, the
most important one in my life

is my wife who really came
up with the basic concept

and many of the key
lines of this song.

As Stravinsky once said,
great artists steal,

bad artists borrow.

I'm desperately trying
to be great artist

so I stole this from my wife.

It's called "Cats
in the Cradle,"

and it's about my boy, Josh.

- Yeah, He had a whole shtick
in concert where he would,

he would say it was about me
and lie about its origins.

- And frankly, the song
scares me to death.

- We don't know
life's lessons until too late.

- It became
about, about all of us,

I guess, in a way.

- This is the tree
house that Harry built,

and the address of our tree
house was 5J Locust Lane,

hence the five Js.

- He tried very
hard to be at home

as much as he could,

but he also was on the
road a tremendous amount.

- Lusted to take advantage
of whatever opportunities

were out there and
to make the most

of every opportunity he got.

- My dad was a fantastic dad.

He was an action dad.

- So many instances of the
way that he touched people,

we hear in all sorts of
stories that come back.

- And he would come
home and say, okay,

we're going to do this
and you're gonna enjoy it

and you're gonna
thank me for it.

He was like the ringleader.

- I become a category.

I mean, when they
say a Chapin song,

people know what
you're talking about.

- You really weren't cat's in
the cradle-ing me back there?

- Of course not.

- I should have golfed
with you sooner, dad.

- I've never made the time.

- Luke!

- I need to call my son.

- Where do you go home to?

Where do you go
and rest retreat?

- Well, I go home to my
home, my wife and five kids.

I also go home to motel
rooms, my writing pad.

I also go home to airplanes
and I also go home

to rent-a-cars, and I also
go home to Washington,

World Hunger Year.

- She's 22, she's gonna go
off, do whatever she does.

And then you see her at
holidays for a few hours here.

Maybe you steal a
Saturday once in a while.

Reminded me of the Harry Chapin
song, "Cat's in the Cradle,"

which was a great old song
from a great, great man.

Great New Yorker too.

- Hey, what's "Cat's
in the Cradle?"

That a song from the
'70s, you've heard it.

- Why don't you just play your
"Cat's in the Cradle," video?

- Oh, hey, son of a
bitch, I love that song.

That's got that
nice message in it.

- How are we doing?

- Cat's in the Cradle.

- Whoa, whoa, where
are you going?

- I'm gonna go play
catch with my son

before it gets too late
like "Cat's in the Cradle."

- That's all very
"Cat's in the Cradle,"

I don't wanna get into it.

- Here's this song that
captivated me as a little kid.

It stayed a current
theme in my life

hearing the early hip hop guys

that were even impressed by it.

- Now here's what comes

that I call the exodus part
of the song.

You get these
visions of Sal Mineo

coming through the bull rings.

- Donkey!

- We knew, he was
kind of on a mission.

- Before I met Harry I met Tom

and I did a radio show with him,

I was doing a show
called On this Rock

for the ABC Radio Network.

- I think the initial
thing actually

was Bill Ayres meeting Harry.

- I was a Catholic
priest at the time,

which was a little strange
to be doing rock roll show,

but I thought it was
a good idea.

At the end of the
show, Tom said to me,

that was really good.

He said, you ask good questions.

You outta talk to my
brother, he loves to talk.

Good morning and
welcome On this Rock.

And we do have somebody
who makes it happen.

Not only musically, but in
a whole lot of other ways.

It's a great pleasure
for me to do a show

with a guy that I have
tremendous respect for,

but also a real love for.

A great friend, Harry Chapin.

- Well Bill,
we talked so many times

in a non-recorded situation.

It's gonna be
interesting to be here,

captured on tape today.

- He came on the show
and he was great.

And at the end of it, he said
to me, that was really good.

He said, you should come
to my house for dinner.

- I remember he said to me,
even if I have to end up

doing hand carvings in
the tip of a toothpick,

it has to be something
nobody else has ever done.

- If Harry was an
inspiration to me,

Bill was an
inspiration to Harry.

- The amazing thing
about Why Hunger

and about Bill and Harry
is that sense of we.

- So right away, they had
that spirit, you know,

that wanting to change things
and make things better.

That was a big part of his life.

- The dreams, let's
talk about our dreams.

- We had a gathering of
friends at our house.

They were talking about what
they've been doing in the '60s.

And some had marched
on Washington.

- When we met for dinner,
we started talking

and I had an idea.

I had come from the
civil rights movement.

I had marched with Dr. King.

I believed that hunger
and poverty were wrong.

- One March on Washington
doesn't change the world

and how can you
change the world?

And then the subject came
up that if you're going

to make a difference,
you pick something

that's important enough
to dedicate a lifetime.

- I would say
that my prime goal in life

is to have an
impact in that area.

Why?

Because it is the
most basic area.

The fact is hunger
also involves ecology.

It also involves energy.

It also involves women's
rights and about economics

and about politics.

It involves the future
of our own kind.

- So Harry was right, as he
was right about so many things.

There's no need for hunger.

It's an abnormality
in the human economic

and political condition.

It's a farce.

- What they did was they
knew something about people,

they knew who they
wanted to help.

- They made a commitment over
the years to spend the rest

of our lives fighting poverty.

- His philosophy
about stuff, his feelings

about the importance of
solving these core issues,

were really amazing.

- The two of them
had taken on the world.

- Harry and I both recognized,
right from the beginning,

that if you want
to solve hunger,

you can't just feed people.

That's the first step.

And at the time that
movement was just beginning,

emergency food.

And so we got into that.

- You know, and it was
right around the time

of the Bangladesh concert.

And I think they
decided we could

do a Bangladesh type
concert for hunger.

- Bill and Harry talking

about the concert in Bangladesh.

- So I said to Harry,
why don't we do a

kind of Bangladesh type
concert, but make it for Africa.

He said, "Great
idea, I love it."

So we went to the UN.

He knew a guy at the UN,

and the guy said, "Yeah,
it's a great idea."

- Bill, and I guess Harry,
who I really didn't,

it might even have been
the first time I met Harry.

And they explained
to us that they

were gonna do this concert.

- And we had several,
several meetings,

but it never worked out.

- They began to
realize a couple of things.

First of all, this is a
world that can feed itself.

And second of all, that a
concert wasn't gonna do it.

Something had to be
here today, next week,

a month from now, a year
from now, 10 years from now.

And in the course of that,

they decided we really
need an organization

that is just working on this.

And Bill and Harry
said, we could do this.

- We've had
some fantastic bombs,

in terms of some concerts
that we tried to plan

that didn't come off.

But we've done, how
many, about 50 concerts?

- Yeah, Yeah, well, the thing,
Bill, is as you have said,

and I, I mean, it's a thing
that I believe in strongly

that if you're serious about
something you're not looking

for the one march,
the one concert.

That you're involved
on a day to day basis,

you here today, tomorrow,
next week, next month,

next year, 10 years from now.

- I didn't know Bill
enough or Harry,

to know that that's
what they did.

They did the impossible.

- He was in a hurry
to do everything,

make everything he
could happen, you know.

And literally believed
that through his efforts

and the efforts, if he could
get the politicians involved,

he could eliminate
these issues of hunger

and homelessness and poverty.

- Let's talk
about our dreams here.

- Well, it's
an interesting time.

I hope they don't
forget the fact

that what America truly
stands for is not B1 Bombers.

What makes us unique
is human rights,

human needs and human dignity.

- Not so bad.

- Wow, looks great!

It's interesting to
look back to the 1970s

into the friendship
that Bill and Harry had

and the vision that they shared,

and how active they
were in Washington, DC.

- He's really looking
for commonality.

He was trying to figure out
what the biggest issues were,

who wanted to be involved
in the biggest issues,

and how they could work
together for a solution.

- I loved when Bill and
Harry would come in.

One would be the crashing surf,

the other would be
the gentle stream.

But both delivered the message.

- And I think when
he and Bill met,

they were both very
positive people

who believed in the
power of possibility.

And neither of them, not
just wouldn't take no

for an answer, they didn't
think that no really existed

in the hearts of other people,

because the two of them
were such yes people.

And in that sense
sometimes I think Sandy

and I both married a preacher.

- His political sensibility

was also kind of
prophetic and timeless.

- So we started
knocking on doors.

And Harry was very persuasive.

He walked in like this and say,

I got this presidential
commission, why

- He had entree on a
lot of different levels

and he would use them.

And it's not as if he would
say hello and greet them.

He would say, hello, and
say, what are you doing?

- Well we thought 52,
I guess we had 52, 53.

- And we have a number of
people who have not signed it,

who have said that if
it comes to a vote,

they'll vote for it.

And they also will not
do anything to stop it

from going up on the
unanimous consent.

- Well we got, I think just
I this morning from Chicago,

called a bunch of senators.

- But Baker said
that he wouldn't.

- We're gonna share some
songs here for a little while.

- Do you know who he is?

This is my brother,
Harry Chapin.

- I think if there was some way

that we could harness
Harry's energy,

we could solve all the
problems in the world:

energy problem, world food
problems and everything else.

Harry and I have
become quite friendly,

worked very closely together
on the whole question

of world food.

He's been in my
office nearly daily

and then he's off to
somewhere like California

for the afternoon or evening,

and is back again
later in the same day.

- I bought what Henry
Kissinger said in 1974

at the World Food
Conference, and he said,

I think it indicate
the focus that Harry

and others want to
place on the resolution.

Now, passing a resolution
itself does nothing.

- About the commission,
because it's asked

to answer difficult questions

about the United States
policies affecting hunger.

We're asking, what are we doing?

Can we do it better?

And can we do more?

- We actually were
able to get a majority

of congressmen to sign on
to this and vote to say yes.

And then named Harry
as one of the members

of the commission.

- What is unique
about this person?

What is it that when
they walk in the room,

they dominate the room?

Everything changes, there's
a whole different energy

in the room and
dynamic and karma

or whatever you wanna call it.

And Harry was one
of those people.

And I saw that the first
moment I met with him.

- You guys don't do bad
after you're pushed a little.

Same way by Congress,
I tell you, same thing.

- What a lovely man
and how right was he?

But he lobbied to
nicely in Congress.

You know, those fuckers are up
for election every two years,

take them out.

They're so vulnerable.

- He called me one
day and he said,

"We're going to
the White House."

Carter had invited a whole
bunch of record company people.

They got the idea that we
had about doing a concert.

So Harry said, "You
gotta get dressed up."

I said, "Me get dressed up?

"You got to get dressed up."

"Oh no, wait until
you see it," he said,

"Sandy bought me a new suit."

Oh, okay.

- I walk in the
white house, right?

I dropped a piece of paper.

I leaned down, I go,

My pants are ripped from here
all the way through to here.

So for the rest of the
day, I'm going like.

Can you imagine the secret
service men watching me,

I'm going like this.

Incredible.

- Meeting was not going too well

and these record company guys
are going, buh, buh, buh.

Harry stands up and he says,

"I've been pedaling
my rear end for hunger

"for all these years."

And he turns around and
he shows them.

- I met Harry in 1978.

I was in the studio.

He was making a record
in another studio.

And he came smiling up to me
and started talking to me.

And 20 minutes went
by, 30 minutes went by.

We talked about everything,
politics, music.

Yeah, he's a nice guy.

- This was true about
Harry, he loved to talk.

- Not only would he leave
the room in the middle

of one of your sentences,
he'd leave the room

in the middle of one
of his sentences.

His mind was always two minutes
ahead of what was going on.

- He'd be walking along
and you'd be running.

- I couldn't keep
up with Harry Chapin.

Harry Chapman was in a hurry
about everything in his life.

- Whose pencil did I steal here?

- He had a kind of leadership

that I always called
the Pied Piper.

- Mr. Chapin, you said
something in your concert

about world hunger, about
you helping with that.

And I don't think
that's much of a problem

because I feel if we can
just improve agriculture

in the underdeveloped countries,

that ought to be
sufficient to help it.

- Well, it's
interesting, you know,

one of the things we're
trying to make people aware of

both for World Hunger Year,
which we founded five years ago

on the president's
commission on world hunger,

which I'm a member
of, is the fact

that there's so many
myths about hunger.

And one of them is that
we got too many people

and not enough food.

And if we just grow enough food

and stop the population
expansion that we

But this is belied very clearly
by a country that you may

have heard of called the
United States of America.

- I live in the Bronx.

The Bronx, out of 62
counties in New York state,

the Bronx ranks 62 as
the most unhealthiest.

Yeah, so this is the
garden of happiness

and this is the 30th year.

So I tell people
that if you were sad,

not feeling well, when you
come in here, you'll see,

you'll feel happy.

So that's why we call it
the garden of happiness.

It's a valley of love for me.

I enjoy the people here.

I enjoy waking up in the
morning to hear the birds sing.

I enjoy nature.

And most of all, I enjoy
the people and the children.

- I mean, the
fact is we've had hunger

all the way through human
history and there's some things

that we're gonna
have to do about it.

- Some basic changes.

- Right?

- And some of those
are political and economic.

- And people have to
be aware of what they can do

or how these things
could caused.

Many of the economic
dislocations in this country

right now, they're causing
hardship for some people

have a basis in the same thing

that are making people
starve in other countries.

- And so this is quote unquote,
a low income neighborhood.

But for me, it's not about
being about low income,

marginalized or poor.

It's about changing
the lens of those

that have been the victim
of politics, of racism,

in terms of hunger and poverty.

- You can fool
people for a amount of time,

but in the long run, if you
wanted to know where America was

in the '60s, you have to listen
to Dylan, to the Beatles,

to Paul Simon, to Crosby,
Stills, Nash, and Young.

You do not need, look
at the top 20 albums,

you do not need
listen to those albums

to know where America--

- With a
couple of exceptions.

- Okay, well
I think one of them,

you were about to mention.

- Yeah, absolutely,
Bruce Springsteen,

I think is a very
good example of that.

- I wouldn't say Bruce
necessarily missed meals,

but I think it was
part of a thin margin.

- Next night I came in, Harry
comes bounding up smiling,

and he starts talking to me.

30 minutes goes by, so finally,

I used to try to hide from him.

I'd come in and I'd
ask the secretary

if Harry was in the lobby.

Then I'd sneak in the studio.

- I guess I've been
known for the last three

or four years of
the most politically

and socially active
performer in America.

I found a lot of music
critics are wishing I'd spend

more time in politics
and a lot of politicians

that wished that I was
spending more time in music.

But anyway, or at least
suggesting that I do.

- He chose what he chose,
and the day that he chose it,

he threw down everything he had.

- That's also part of
the Harry and Bill thing,

which is they're
interested in the work.

And we said, how do
we get this done?

How do we help?

And how do we make
this move forward

and move this increment,
you know, really,

really help this situation.

- Is the idea of a participatory
democracy outmoded?

Is the American dream outmoded?

- As far as his
sense of citizenship,

his sense of patriotism,
you look at words he said,

words he wrote 30-odd years ago

and they ring out
beautifully today.

- I think the thing that makes
all of us want to be alive,

it's to matter.

And the way you matter is to
care enough about something

so you keep doing it.

- Harry and Bill were
ahead of their time

because really what happened

when they started
the organization,

there was like a hundred
soup kitchens and pantries

in New York city,
now there's 1300.

There's no less hunger.

So they always had a
root cause approach

to look at the systems
and structures that

What is at that intersection?

which we, at Why Hunger,
define as social justice.

You have to solve hunger
by looking at poverty,

by looking at a social justice.

And when you do that, there
are plenty of people out there,

and this is what
makes me hopeful,

that we can live the vision
that Bill and Harry charted

so many years ago.

- Harry's pumping the
crowds, "Are you ready?"

You know, "Are you ready?"

- Are you ready?

- Since it's halftime and
Harry's in the toilet,

you know, in the dumper
and here's them come in.

And hears them
talking about him.

And it's Wallace, and says,

"If I hear one more
freaking time."

- "Are you ready?"

- "Are you ready?"

Are you ready?

- "Are you ready?"

- For every song.

- Are you ready?

- Back in the cheap seats,
they're ready.

- Barking at
halftime or whatever,

I'm mumbling and
cursing under my breath.

You know?

And I thought I heard a
little rustle in the stall

or something, but you know,
took a leak or whatever,

I'm still cursing and
mumbling, that son of a bitch

and are you ready
and other bullshit.

- I say the funniest
thing about Harry,

so Harry, what'd you do?

He says, "I pulled my legs up."

Which is the funniest
thing I've ever heard.

Anybody else would've said,
"I can hear you, Big John."

You know, it'd be like that.

But instead, I
pulled my legs up.

I said, that's what a man.

- He never said a word until--

- Never said a word.

The second half he's
doing the same shit.

Are you ready?

Are you ready?

At one point, he turns
around with this big smile

on his face, "Are you
ready Big John?."

- So we went out to
California to mix.

I'm standing on this balcony,
third floor of this motel.

And I hear, "Hey, hey."

I looked down and there's Harry.

And he starts talking to me.

- Talks to me for
that 40 minutes,

standing down there looking up.

He was trying to get
me to do something.

- Ralph Nader had called Jann
Wenner and said, you know,

this guy, Harry Chapin is
like the most effective person

I've ever seen on Capitol Hill.

- They should say to
me what music can be

is that synthesis of magic
and meaning that, well,

no other art form, I
think, does so well.

- I love that song,
and it was a very appropriate

entry here at this point,
because just at this very moment

in walks brother Tom, who
plays lead guitar on that.

How you doing Tom?

- Good, Bill,
good to see you.

- And not only
good plays lead guitar,

but also has helped
enormously in this venture

that Harry and I just
been talking about,

the World Hunger stuff.

You have bailed us out
any number of times.

- My band calls
Tom the benefit band,

because every time I
need somebody to do

Tom is out there with me.

- Yeah, that's great.

- It's part of what
he wanted to do.

He was trying to raise
as much as he could.

- From daddy's speech
on volunteerism,

we must all go that extra mile.

We must be aggressive in the
sense of challenging others

and making them realize that
the American dream implies

that all of us must
be actively involved.

We all have the potential
to move the world

and the world is
ready to be moved.

- And I really do think
that people like Pete Seeger

inspired him and you
know, obviously my mother,

and Bill and others.

And I think that anybody who
is able to accomplish something

hopes that it doesn't end
and that it continues,

but that relies on other
people to also be inspired,

to be passionate,
to be committed.

- What we wanna
talk about tonight

is this whole business
of changing the world.

We got into that last week.

I take small topics like
that, you know me, right?

The topic that we'd
like to get into

is not only hunger, but your
attitude towards society

and your role within it.

Whether you think you
have any possibility

of changing anything,

maybe you've gotten
a little bit cynical.

Do you think so?

Do you think that the two of us

are absolutely out of our minds?

I mean, some of our
friends think we are.

- Yeah, some of our
friends are probably right.

- One of my favorite
stories about Harry

is taking him to a Laker game
in 1980 on election night.

- I was in a limo with
Ken Kragen and Harry

outside the Forum in
Inglewood, California,

and I was really excited,

being a New York
Knicks fan all life

to sit courtside at the Lakers.

We get to the game, and
it's a little surreal,

because we're down
to the courtside

and Jack Nicholson's there,

and it's the Lakers
in the Forum.

It's kind of fun, but
there's this ominous feeling.

- Right now Jimmy
Carter's preparing

to get into the
presidential limousine.

He will be making his
concession speech.

- And I'm sitting with
Harry during the game.

We have been in the back
room watching television

and what was happening
in the election.

- I promised you four years ago

that I would never lie to you.

So I can't stand here tonight
and say it doesn't hurt.

- And suddenly he
said to me, you know what?

I've lost most of the Democrats
that were my supporters

on stuff I was trying to
get done on the issues

of hunger and
homelessness and poverty.

- The president pledged
the utmost in cooperation

in the transition
that will take place.

- I'm gonna have
to leave right now,

I'm going to fly to
Washington immediately.

And they ran on an
anti-crime platform.

I'm going to show them how
the reduction in those issues

can really affect what
they want to accomplish.

- Reagan wasn't
interested in any of this.

Harry and I sat in his house
just a few miles from here.

And we went in tears
saying, you know,

a couple of years of our
lives doing this stuff.

And then we said, okay,
we're not gonna stop there.

We're gonna keep going.

- In your life, do
you wanna be one cover

on Hit Parade Magazine,

or would you like to get the
Nobel Peace Prize?

- What was his answer?

- The Nobel peace prize.

- So, I mean, the fact is that
the news about Harry Chapin

right now is there's no news.

I've been doing
this for nine years,

half my concerts are benefits.

I'm mostly socially and
politically involved

performing in America,
I'm going to continue be.

I'm not gonna get bullied.

- Ken Kragen had
tried to manage Harry.

He was just, he was
the manager of Harry,

if you could manage him.

- One of my problems with Harry,

trying to get Harry to
focus on his own career.

Harry would go do the
barbecue in your backyard

and raise a thousand
dollars for some charity.

Kenny Rogers was very
interested in those issues

and that kind of thing.

But he would go out

and raise a hundred
thousand dollars in a show.

- He may have been the
single most unselfish person

I've ever met in my life.

When he was really involved
in this hunger project,

he would do 150 shows
a year for hunger.

And he would donate, he would
make three or $4,000 a night

and he could donate
all this money

to the hunger
projects that he had.

- What Kenny raised
in one show was more

than what Harry raised
in a year shows.

But he loved it.

He loved the interaction
with the public.

He loved just talking to them.

He was such a people person,

and was making money
signing merchandise.

He felt that was terrific.

- I'll be out in the lobby,
but I forgot to mention that,

signing anything
you want me to sign.

- He would come to the
Huntington Arts Festival,

which was in back of the YMCA.

He was there to attract people,

but he get there and take
tickets, he'd collect money.

He'd be all around the place.

He'd be singing to
people individually,

he'd be performing.

- I got up this morning
at 5:00 in Hampton Beach,

New Hampshire to get
a limousine driven

by a rather interesting old
gentlemen down to Logan airport

in Boston and flew down here.

And I'm impressed,
everybody's here ready to go.

I'm just barely ready
myself.

- What happened is
that this frenetic energy

started to take the focus off
of kind of concrete planning

and maintenance of,
I know that's a word

maintenance, but of the career,

which is what leverages it all.

- Every time he was asked
to help people, he did it.

- So cooperative and
willing to do anything

and everything
that we ask of him,

to the point of the guitar and
the pencil out of the cable

and the whole thing.

- And he said one thing
that I always remembered,

he said, gee, you know,
I play one night for me

and one night for the other guy.

And later on when I was
trying to put my music

to some pragmatic piece,
I remember what he said.

Not being bent to extremism,

I wasn't as generous
as he was, but.

- It was a bone of
contention, you know,

I mean, with various people.

The band didn't think he should
be doing that many shows.

I mean, sometimes he
would do a show, you know,

50 miles from Columbus,
Ohio a month before we

were actually doing
municipal arena.

- I do about 200
concerts a year,

about 100 which are benefits.

Mostly with the group,

but tonight it's gonna be
a little bit different.

- Really wanted to
make people happy.

So he didn't want to go
around pissing people off

or frustrating them.

It's just tough to stop
the train, you know?

And he certainly
couldn't get off.

- I wrote this song

about the same time I wrote
"Cat's in the Cradle."

- Well, he wasn't going
to be talked out of it.

- He could drive you crazy,

and he was completely
unscrupulous about

It was always for
the greater good,

and often it actually was.

- It was inspiring,
how motivated he was

to try to help others.

You couldn't help but see that.

He was like a saint.

And to the point
of being a martyr.

- This is as far back
as September 16th, 1976.

And he's making
promises of how his life

is gonna look in November, 1976.

This one didn't take
or really,

you can see how
difficult it was gonna be

for him to adhere to this
over a long period of time,

because there was
just too much to do.

At this time you got two
really powerful people.

Sandy is a powerful person.

Harry's an incredibly
powerful person.

And Harry is racing toward
whatever destiny he envisioned

and worrying, getting it done.

And Sandy had been
through all this stuff.

The marriage was really
rocky right then.

- As you go through your
life, you get a little older,

you run a couple of
years under your belt.

You start realizing that
the story of your life

is not always those golden
dreams you're chasing,

but the people that you end
up spending your time with.

And usually, hopefully,
it's a spouse.

And so this is a song of a
guy whose spent some time

and suddenly is seeing his life
flashed back in front of him

and reassessing everything.

- Okay, Mr. Harry Chapin,
"Story of a Life."

- I have an agenda, I'm not--

- What is your agenda?

- Well, I want to matter.

Every human being
wants to matter.

Gene McCarthy said it
brilliantly about football.

He said, you gotta be smart
enough to play the game

and dumb enough to
think it matters.

Well in terms of pop music,

I'm not quite dumb enough
to think it matters.

I'm just smart enough
to play the game.

So I put it in the context.

I'm a man who generates about
two and a half million dollars

every year, and I'm broke.

I mean my net worth right now,

my accountant told me it's zero.

It goes through me and I
feel that that's my security.

My security is to
be on the edge.

- What are you gonna do?

And what are you not gonna do?

And he had no idea.

You're traveling on the edge.

You know, you're always racing.

You're late.

You're traveling five times
as much as anybody else.

You're just upping the odds.

- I would hate to
be 75 years old,

it's one of the
things that arms me,

and say, if only I
had, I wish I had,

I wonder what my life meant.

My credo, which might
be interesting for

is when in doubt, do something.

Because in the long run, we're
not sure about a prior life

or an afterlife.

We're all hoping for that.

But what we can do is
maximize what we have

in his brief flicker of
time, in the infinity,

and try to milk that.

Let's say there was an
imaginary automobile company

that built automobiles,

that when hit from
behind burst into flame.

Now nothing like that would
ever happened in the real world,

you know that.

- Ballad writer and singer
Harry Chapin died today

in a car crash in Long Island.

- His death came
suddenly in a fiery collision

with a tractor trailer truck
on a Long Island highway.

- Harry was to have
given a concert last night

on Long Island, as usual,
it would have been free.

- In the insecurity that
we have about a prior life

or an afterlife with God,
I hope there is a God.

If he does exist, he's
got a rather weird

sense of humor, however.

But if there's a process
that will allow us

to live our days, that
will allow us that degree

of equanimity towards the end,

looking at that black
implacable wall of death,

to allow us that
degree of peace,

that degree of
non-fear, I want in.

- I lived in a loft right below

with management loft
was Jeb and Bob Hinkle.

And there was a new
secretary and she comes down

and knocks on the door.

And Jeb and Bob are
waiting for Harry

in the city here to
talk about booking

and try to convince him
not to do so many benefits.

- On July 15th, the day
before Harry was killed,

there was a meeting scheduled
at ICM with the great agent,

Shelley Schultz, who ran
the department for ICM.

And this was a meeting to
really go over some specifics

about how we have to,
it's like a come to Jesus.

We've really got to
focus on the career.

What we're doing here
is diminishing returns.

You're hurting yourself.

And it was to try to
come up with an agreement

that would help Harry,
A, help his career,

and help him make more
money for the charities.

And on July 15th, Harry
didn't show for that meeting.

I was really pissed.

I think I even called my mother.

So the next day it
was rescheduled.

So he said, I'll come tomorrow,

I'm sorry, I'll
just do it tomorrow.

So we scheduled it
for the next day.

When we were at the
meeting the next day,

and the time started to
pass and Harry wasn't there,

I did kind of have
a little bad feeling

because I had made
such a big stink,

Harry had been so
sheepish about it,

and we had set it up.

I just couldn't imagine
him not showing for that.

- I got on the phone
and it was a cop.

And he says, what relation
are you to the deceased?

And I go, what?

He says, and turns out someone
had died on the expressway.

And they didn't know who it was,

because his wallet
had burned up.

He was rear ended
on the expressway

and died principally
because that the seatbelt

that was in the
Volkswagen Rabbit

was really a one-point seatbelt,

over the top of the shoulder.

It wasn't across his waist.

The driver got, busted
the window, cut his thing,

pulled him out.

So he was partly
burned his hands.

The way I recognized him
was that he had a watch,

a pocket watch on him.

It said from Michael Moore.

Harry had done benefits.

I told Michael Moore this
recently, he went, oh my gosh.

Harry had done three or four
benefits for Michael Moore

to start the Flint Voice

and then the Michigan
Voice early on.

As Michael Moore says, no
Harry, no Michael Moore.

- He was such a generous
individual, giving.

He didn't know me from
Adam, and he said, sure,

I'll come to Flint
and help you out.

And they gave him a watch that
said, from the Flint Voice

to a great American, or
something, Harry Chapin

from Michael Moore.

And I said, dad, that's Harry.

That's the Michael Moore watch.

- I was in a meeting with
the city at the time.

And I got a call from Tom.

The fact he's getting
through means it's bad.

Because it was a big,
big deal meeting,

had like, top guys
from the city.

I said, Tom, it's Harry
I says, is it bad?

He says yes, it's real bad.

I said, is he dead?

He says, Yeah, he's dead.

- I could have been in that car.

I've thought about
this many times.

And in a way my
wife saved my life

because she asked me to
go up to Massachusetts

to visit her cousin.

So I said to Harry,
I can't make this.

- We had been in Hawaii for
one of our family vacations

for two weeks.

And the rest of the
family flew back.

I stayed because I
had friends in Hawaii

and I was expected to
come back, I don't know,

about a week later or something.

And I had called the house and
no one wanted to talk to me.

They said they would call me
back, which I thought was odd.

- I remember a
conversation between him

and my mom when he was
leaving that morning.

And there was a question

as to whether I was
gonna go with him.

Which is one of those
crazy sorta, you know,

I missed the plane that
crashed or whatever.

But so I feel like
that's part of my memory

is that I was sort
of kind of excited

and like, Oh, I'm gonna have
to spend the day with my dad.

And it was just sorta like,
no, it doesn't make sense,

you'll see him later.

- I was on the beach,
so I had no idea.

I remember it was dark
by the time we got back.

Our friend came out to
the car and she said,

did you hear what happened?

It's a horrible thing, Harry
Chapin died on the expressway.

And she didn't know
I was in the car.

So that's how I heard it.

- I was home on long Island

and there were all
these different stories.

Oh, this happened,
or it was a crash

or it was a this or it was that.

It was just totally unexpected.

Because he was, he
was such a vital guy.

He was so alive, Harry.

You just can't
imagine him the sick

or something like
that happening to him.

It's just, no, that
wouldn't happen to Harry.

It wouldn't happen to him.

And it did.

- We were in New York, Spyder
and I, and in my apartment.

And I had WNEW on.

And I don't even know what was
playing before or whatever,

but it was like a news flash.

We were in shock.

I mean, there was no
other thing to say.

And then just the
supreme sadness of it.

Of knowing that that light
had gone out, you know,

just, it was hurtful.

- I remember crying.

I cried a lot, you know.

And my first instinct is
what my first instinct

has been before that and
since then, it's not fair.

This is the last guy
you'd expect to die young.

Absolutely the last guy.

- I maybe wondered whether
there was a God up there.

- When Harry died, I considered

it the biggest loss of my life.

- And the universe cracked.

- My name is Bill Ayers, and
if I can hold myself together

for the next couple hours here,

I'm supposed to lead us
through this memorial service

for our friend and
brother Harry Chapin.

- I'll never see,
never think of Harry

without big grin on
his face in a hurry,

arriving just in
time to go on stage

and dashing off right
afterwards because he had

to be somewhere
else an hour later.

- Now Harry's wonderful,
and very loving wife, Sandy,

came up with the idea

of a Presidential
Commission, World Hunger.

She gave the formidable
task to Harry.

I could have told
her it was impossible

if she'd ever asked me,
but Sandy knew better.

And all of us in Washington
told Harry that the President's

opposed to any more commissions.

It'd be impossible.

There were logistical,
there were partisan reasons.

There were all these reasons
why it couldn't be done.

Harry said, that's nice, and
now here's how we're going

to go about doing it.

- I think we're also both
believers in the udge factor,

which is the combination
of all those little things

that people do in
many different areas

that end up by making
a great big udge

that tends to move things.

- Door is open, we're ushered
in to see the precedent.

Even at that meeting, even
after Harry beat him down

and President Carter
agreed to go along

with the World Hunger
Commission, Harry wouldn't stop.

He continued to hammer
into the president

the reasons why we
had to have this.

The president sat there, he
said, tried to say, you know,

I've agreed with you,
I've agreed with you.

He did agree.

Harry wasn't gonna
let him off that easy.

Not just by agreeing.

He wanted not only to agree,
he wanted him to be committed,

wanted to be committed.

Now that's the difference
between Harry Chapin

and those who simply give
lip service to our cause.

- Tom, I think, once said
that being brother to Harry

was like being brother
to a steam engine.

And there's some truth to that,
I mean, that's what he was.

He was a source of energy,
you know, in a world,

unfortunately, that's
all too short of energy.

- And this is a song
from his last album,

which I thought was one
of the best he ever wrote.

what we dreamed of for

- Harry had a good
insight about how people

should be treated, that
everybody deserves compassion.

- Harry really didn't care
about doing any of these things

to get to heaven.

He always figured, that would
sort of take care of itself.

He was doing things
because of this life.

- I had dreams about Harry.

- Well, all of us have
had dreams about Harry,

I think that close to him.

This is one I had.

So I call this the
very best place to be.

In my dreams, I saw him,
alive and well once more.

He was ready to greet me
on a far distant shore.

His smile lit up
like the morning sun

and I could feel my spirit soar.

And he said, welcome my brother

to the treasures
we have in store.

- I really got involved
in the issues of hunger

and homelessness due to Harry.

Literally felt, physically felt
Harry Chapin crawl inside me

and I felt he was
orchestrating everything.

Harry was truly the inspiration

for all the good works
I did since his death.

Things like we are the
world and the song,

and which is still going
strong to this day.

And hand across America, five
and a half million people

holding hands in one continuous
line from New York to LA

all for the purpose
of raising awareness

about hunger and
homelessness in America.

Inspired greatly by Harry
Chapin and his beliefs.

- Harry Chapin died
five years ago.

It was a cruel death
and a great loss.

But he'd thrown a pebble into
a pond and I saw the ripples.

Reached Geldoff, reached
me, reached Willie Nelson,

reached millions of
people around the world.

When Harry Belafonte called me,

I was exactly in the frame of
mind to build a lobby further

for USA for Africa.

Once we have those two,
we could extend this idea

to the planet, so Live Aid.

- Guys like Harry was
very inspirational

to what the whole purpose
of hip hop was for.

To get off your butt and do
something about the conditions.

- Welcome in, welcome
in to the lost and forsaken.

This is a better place to be,
the very best place to be.

- An incredibly generous
older brother, you know.

He was, as he was as a man.

So you got me
emotional now.

- He really wanted to change
the world, and he did.

- Harry Chapman was posthumously

given the highest civilian
honor the United States

can bestow, the special
Congressional Gold Medal

was awarded a Harry for
his devotion to the issue

of hunger around the world.

This medal has been given by
Congress to only 114 citizens

in the more than 200 years
since the country was founded.

Only four other songwriters
have received the medal.

George and Ira Gershwin, George
M. Cohan, and Irving Berlin.

Other recipients include
George Washington,

Robert F. Kennedy, Thomas
Edison, and now Harry Chapin.

- Oh if a man tried
to take his time on earth

and prove before he
died, what one man's life

could be worth, I wonder what
would happen to this world?

- COVID-19 is brought
out the best in people.

We can't forget
that 40 years ago,

there was one person
and one person only

who spoke about the
issue of food insecurity

and hunger in this country.

And if Harry were alive
today, what would he be doing?

He would be doing exactly
what he did 40 years ago,

and that's speaking out
and creating a response.

He saw hunger as a
shame of America,

and he did something about it

by establishing Long Island
Cares and Why Hunger.

How grateful should
we be as a nation

that's 40 years after he's gone,

this man's legacy continues
stronger than ever?

- We certainly have
helped millions of people,

hundreds of thousands
of kids in the summer,

every year annually.

We help hundreds of
thousands of callers

that reach out to our hotline.

And through our
direct partnerships

with grassroots organizations
who are feeding people,

serving food, we have been
able to build their capacity

to serve millions of people.

- We take care of
people's fundamental wellbeing.

We don't ask questions
about income.

We don't ask questions
about immigration status.

We don't ask about
people's resources.

All we know is that
people are struggling.

- Yes, I'm hopeful.

I'm out there each and
every day trying to bring

to the conversation of why
is there hunger and poverty?

And I think both Bill
and Harry would be happy

to the fact to see that the
organization, Why Hunger,

has not only tackled
that question locally,

but has really tackled
that question globally.

- First, they ignore you,
then they laugh at you,

then they fight
you, then you win.

He few things right.

- But I think Harry
instinctively knew

that it was gonna take a lot
more than just love to survive,

that it was gonna take a
strong sense of purpose,

a duty, and a good clear eye
on the dirty ways of the world.

And so in keeping his
promise to himself,

he reminds us of our
promise to ourselves.

And then tonight,
alongside Harry,

it's that promise that his
spirit would have us remember

and honor and recommit,

so do something.

And may his song be song.

- Life is not a neat entity.

It's a Grade C movie.

It's not a Grade a movie

where everything
neatly fits into place.

It's sloppy.

But the final analysis it's
terribly, terribly exciting

and to, in a sense,
immerse yourself into it

and all those complexities
rather than hide from it.

I believe in believers.

At a time when there's
gigantic questions,

engagement is the answer.

I love, however, when
you find some kind

of perverse patterns, and
that's what circles to me are.

Hey, Tom Chapin,
come on out here

and help us do
something, come on.

I wrote this thing
for you, here we go.

- Everybody learning
and growing and sharing

and moving, because
otherwise it's a dead end.

- Think you've
really made a difference.

- I don't know, but I've been
involved with the good people

with alive hearts, alive
heads, and alive acts.

- I miss him, and I
miss what he missed.

Here we are talking about him.

Harry, you're still here, baby.

- Let's put your hands together
and have a great big ending!

- You guys
are outrageous.

Steve Chapin, Big John
Wallace, Howard Fields,

Doug Walker, Yvonne
Cable, Tom Chapin.