Taxi (song)
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| "Taxi" | ||
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| Single by Harry Chapin | ||
| Released | 1972 | |
| Format | 45 | |
| Genre | Rock | |
| Writer(s) | Harry Chapin | |
Taxi is a song written and performed by Harry Chapin, from his album Heads and Tales (1972). The single helped establish Chapin's musical style and fame, and as a result many Chapin items, including the family website feature taxi-related imagery.
The song, at 6 minutes, 44 seconds, tells the story of a cab driver in San Francisco (also named 'Harry') who encounters his last fare for the night in the rain, and discovers she was his old lover, 'Sue'. She in turn recognises him:
- She said, 'How are you, Harry?'
- I said, 'How are you, Sue?
- Through the too many miles and the too little smiles,
- I still remember you.'
Sue had wanted to be an actress, while Harry was going to learn to fly--'She took off to find the footlights/ I took off to find the sky.'
The reunion, however, does not result in a happy ending. Harry drives her back to her home, where '[S]he's acting happy, inside her handsome walls'. Harry, meanwhile, continues to 'fly, so high/ When I'm stoned.'
According to the liner notes in The Essentials: Harry Chapin, Chapin was inspired to write the song when he happenned upon an old lover, almost like the cabbie in the song does. Chapin, however, was merely on his way to a taxi licence examination.
The song was covered by William Shatner in a performance on the Dinah Shore Show.
The song was covered by comedian Stephen Lynch. Called "Taxi Driver" it ends halfway through with the driver jabbering on in a middle eastern accent.
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