Song for Day 49 - "Circle" by Harry Chapin

Songwriter Harry Chapin.

Day 49 - "Circle" by Harry Chapin


      The similarities between Harry Chapin (December 7, 1942 – July 16, 1981) and Stan Rogers (November 29, 1949 – June 2, 1983) are remarkable.  Both were born in their country's largest cultural center (i.e. New York versus Toronto), and into musical families.  From Wikipedia:

Chapin often remarked that he came from an artistic family. His father Jim Chapin, brothers Tom Chapin and Steve Chapin, and daughter Jen Chapin are musicians. His nieces Abigail and Lily Chapin perform under the name The Chapin Sisters. His paternal grandfather, James Ormsbee Chapin, was an artist who illustrated Robert Frost's first two books of poetry; his maternal grandfather was the philosopher and rhetorician Kenneth Burke.

Country singer Mary Chapin Carpenter is Chapin's fifth cousin.

    Harry's brother, Steve, wrote and sang the lovely "Let Time Go Lightly".

     Meanwhile, Stan's brother Garnet accompanied him throughout his career and his son, Nathan, amuses audiences by throat-singing "Amazing Grace".

     Both Harry and Stan were deeply philosophical and political, active in progressive politics and charity projects.  They were national treasures but entirely approachable;  I was fortunate enough to meet them in the 1970s.  Both wrote excellent romantic works but were known primarily for their narratives.  One partnered with a baritone, the other was a baritone.  Before their 40th birthday, both died in accidents en route to concerts;  one perishing after a landing, the other before taking off [in a rescue helicopter].

Earl Gray's 68th.

     Chapin's "Circle" isn't overtly political but it reminds us of the cyclical nature of politics.  It raises the question:  "Can we prolong the crests and soften the impact of the troughs?"  That leads us to this mercifully abbreviated rant:

     By definition, conservatives are from the panstentialist do-nothing "Why-Ask-Why?" end of the philosophical spectrum.  Progressives are dedicated to improving the lot of the population, but are we committed to improving ourselves, individually and collectively?  Many seem to granularize elections and regard the candidates as figures shadow boxing on treadmills.  In fact, elections are a continuum, a death race against a foe whose supporters and candidates may be cretinous but whose strategists are patient and calculating.

     At the top of the ferris wheel ride we needed to look around and see what was working for us.  Now, at the nadir (i.e. Congress, statehouses and White House gone, SCOTUS fading), we need to recapture the success that--forgive me for saying so--we should have been building on.  While 46% of Americans take a Bob Carter approach ("Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine."), even in the face of Genghis Don, we cannot afford to "let time go lightly";  we need to act.  We need inspirational leaders, not administrators or ideologues.  We need campaigners like Obama and Sanders (both 10 out of 10).  We need speakers like, again, Obama (a solid 8 out of ten as an orator);  no one else we're seeing today would win a slam even if it were judged by their family members.  

Harry Chapin's brother, Steve.

     A little sex appeal associated with the ticket didn't hurt the Obamas in 2008 and 2012, the Clintons in 1992 and 1996, John and Jacqueline Kennedy in 1960, or Melania and Ivanka Trump in 2016.  (It's not like the population is any less shallow than it was half a century ago!)

     We need "recognized obscurities":  candidates with some national name recognition but little or no baggage among Democrats.

     The good news is that we have uniters, Tom Perez and Keith Ellison, running the DNC.  We've shown that we can develop talent:  Bill Clinton was a disaster at the 1988 Democratic National Convention but became a passable public speaker (4 out of 10) before or during his 1992 run.

     We begin each election with an approximately 3% lead in members and leaners.  Given this advantage, if we are diligent about adapting and improving even after victories, we could turn that circle into an escalator.

Lyrics:

All my life's a circle;
Sunrise and sundown;
Moon rolls thru the nighttime;
Till the daybreak comes around.

All my life's a circle;
But I can't tell you why;
Season's spinning round again;
The years keep rollin' by.

It seems like I've been here before;
I can't remember when;
But I have this funny feeling;
That we'll all be together again.

No straight lines make up my life;
And all my roads have bends;
There's no clear-cut beginnings;
And so far no dead-ends.

Chorus:
I found you a thousand times;
I guess you done the same;
But then we lose each other;
It's like a children's game;

As I find you here again;
A thought runs through my mind;
Our love is like a circle;
Let's go 'round one more time.