Harry Chapin and his impact beyond music

Harry Chapin's #1 hit "Cat's In the Cradle," from 1974, may be one of the most powerful songs ever written about fatherhood. It tells the tale of a very busy dad:

My son turned ten just the other day He said, "Thanks for the ball, Dad, come on, let's play Can you teach me to throw?" I said, "Not today, I got a lot to do." he said, "That's OK." And he walked away, but his smile never dimmed, Said, "I'm gonna be like him, yeah.

You know, I'm gonna be like him"

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon Little boy blue and the man in the moon. "When you coming home, Dad?" "I don't know when, We'll get together then.

You know we'll have a good time then"

To hear Harry Chapin perform "Cat's in the Cradle," click on the video embed below:

So, how did Chapin's own children feel about that song?

Jen Chapin said, "The one time when I get a little eeehhh is when somebody tells me, like, 'Oh, your dad, he played a three-and-a-half-hour concert, and then he signed every single poetry book, and he kissed my girlfriend, and …' And I'm like, 'That's great, but that was time we didn't have.'"

Jen and her brothers, Jason and Josh, want to be clear: Harry Chapin was not the dad in the song. "He really loved kids," Jen said. "When he came home, he wasn't like, 'Oh, I'm just gonna, like, zone out.' He was, 'Yes! Projects! Trips! Family outings!'"

"Cat's In the Cradle" was originally a poem written by Harry's wife, Sandy, now 90, but it wasn't about him. "It was based on the relationship her first husband had with his father," said Jason. "My mother was always observing how they didn't connect on a father-son basis."

Harry Chapin came from a musical family. He and two of his brothers formed a band. "We became the Chapin Brothers," said Harry's younger brother, Tom Chapin. "And we played together for ten years. And it was the only time we were ever cool!"

Tom has his own successful performing career, but Harry was always the driven one. "When I was a kid, I came up with this line that the family loved: 'Two's company, Harry's a crowd!'" he laughed. Harry, he said, was outgoing, "and unafraid. He had this energy that was astonishing."

But as his son Jason recalls, Harry's path to success was never a sure thing: "He was depressed a lot during college. He had failed in many things, and I think that he was really desperate to be successful at something."

His first love was documentaries. In fact, he directed one, "Legendary Champions," that got an Oscar nomination. But music won out. In 1972, while he was performing as the warmup act for his brothers' band, Elektra Records signed him up. He was 30 years old.

Tom Chapin says he was surprised that Harry was plucked, "but not shocked, let's put it that way. He was great. We were good. But he was great."

His first hit was "Taxi," another story of broken dreams:

And she said we must 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 she walked away in silence, It's strange, how you never know, But we'd both gotten what we'd asked for,

Such a long, long time ago.

Harry Chapin performs "Taxi":

According to son Josh, his mother Sandy encouraged his dad to do something with his celebrity: "She asked, 'Do you wanna be on the cover of the Hit Parade or Time magazine?' And he thought about it, and he said, 'You know what? There really is an emptiness to just chasing celebrity and trying to become a bigger rock star.'"

Harry decided he'd do something about hunger. He began devoting his time, money and fame to charities that addressed food insecurity. He helped convince Jimmy Carter to start a presidential commission on world hunger.

"I would hate to be 75 years old, and say, 'If only I had…,' 'I wish I had…,' 'I wonder what my life meant…,'" Chapin once said. "My credo is, when in doubt, do something."

And he became the king of the benefit concert. "I do about 220 concerts a year, about a hundred of which are benefits," Chapin said in 1980. "In the long run, we're not sure about a prior-life or an after-life. We're all hoping for that. But what we can do is maximize what we have in this brief flicker of time in the infinity, and try to milk that."

Time for Harry Chapin was short. On July 16, 1981, he died in car crash. He was 38. "The world shook," Tom Chapin said. "The universe shook, when Harry's suddenly not there."

Memorials were held, tribute concerts performed, foundations founded. But Chapin's most lasting legacies are the charities he built. In 1975 he'd cofounded WhyHunger, with a priest and radio DJ named Bill Ayres. Today, it partners with organizations in 25 countries – helping to establish a sustainable farming school in Colombia; fostering traditional farming practices in Panama; and supporting programs in the U.S., like an urban farm and co-op in Detroit.

In 1980, Chapin started Long Island Cares, a food bank. "Everyone thinks of Long Island as a rich bastion of the country; it's not," said the food bank's CEO, Paule Pachter. "There are pockets of affluence here, but most Long Islanders are living paycheck-to-paycheck."

On an annual basis, Long Island Cares distributes 16 million pounds of food. "That's roughly 14.5 million meals," Pachter said.

Chapin's biggest hits were his story songs. Most people think of them as tragic tales, especially "Cat's in the Cradle":

I've long since retired and my son's moved away. I called him up just the other day. I said, "I'd like to see you if you don't mind." He said, "I'd love to, Dad, if I could find the time. You see, my new job's a hassle, and the kid's got the flu, But it's sure nice talking to you, Dad. It's been sure nice talking to you." And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me, He'd grown up just like me.

My boy was just like me.

In the song's ironic twist ending, the grown son becomes too busy for his dad. But Jason Chapin points out that there's another way to look at that turn: "Some people interpret the last verse, when the dad calls the son to say, 'Let's get together,' the son is too busy for his dad, because he's busy with his own family, being a good dad. It needs a little close reading sometimes."

The surviving Chapins still feel the pain of a life cut short, but they're still active in his charities, and remain inspired by Harry's message.

Tom Chapin recalled, "James, the oldest brother, said it at the funeral: 'We lost Harry. Those are big shoes to fill. But we can't fill 'em. You can't be Harry. You don't wanna be Harry. Just fill your own shoes a little fuller.'

"And when in doubt, do something!" Tom added. "Don't forget that!"

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Story produced by Reid Orvedahl. Editor: Jason Schmidt.