THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

474-Harry Chapin-W.O.L.D.

1973-Number 34 single.

Best Bit-At 4.33. ‘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.’ These are the words inscribed on Harry Chapin’s gravestone, the epitaph is taken from his 1978 song ‘I Wonder What Would Happen to This World.’

Harold Forster Chapin (see also best songs 995) was born on December 7th, 1942, in New York City, United States, he died on July 16th, 1981 en route to perform a free benefit concert at ‘Eisenhower Park,’ New York, when he was fatally injured in a traffic collision with a semi-trailer truck. Chapin’s widow Sandy won a $12 million decision in a negligence lawsuit against ‘Supermarkets General,’ the owners of the truck involved. Chapin was a dedicated humanitarian who fought to end world hunger, and would regularly perform for free to raise funds, and awareness. Harry Chapin’s wife is now the chairperson of the ‘Harry Chapin Foundation,’ where she continues to pursue his legacy. His son, Josh, is also involved with the foundation, along with other family members. The Chapin family have been artistic throughout the generations. Harry Chapin’s father Jim Forbes Chapin, (1919-2009) his brothers Tom and Steve, and daughter Jen Chapin are musicians, while his nieces, Abigail and Lily Chapin, perform under the name the ‘Chapin Sisters.’ His paternal grandfather, James Ormsbee Chapin, (1887-1975) was an artist who illustrated the American poet and playwright Robert Frost’s (1874-1963) first two books of poetry, while his maternal grandfather was the American philosopher and rhetorician Kenneth Burke, (1897-1993) and the ‘Country’ singer Mary Chapin Carpenter is his fifth cousin.

Harry Chapin was one of the greatest storytellers through his music, and has gone on to sell in excess of 16 million records worldwide. In 1972 he signed a multi million dollar recording contract with ‘Electra Records,’ who outbid ‘Columbia Records’ for his signature, the contract was one of the biggest of its time, and It granted him free recording time, along with many other perks. The discography of Harry Chapin includes nine studio Albums released between 1972-1980, and 13 singles released within the same time period, there are also 14 official compilation Albums, and two live Albums available. There is also an Album recorded in 1966 called ‘Chapin Music!’ which is by ‘The Chapin Brothers,’ who were Harry, Tom and Steve Chapin, along with their father Jim. In America on the Billboard Hot 100, Harry Chapin has had four top 40 entries, with ‘Cat’s in the Cradle’ reaching Number 1 in 1974, while ‘W.O.L.D.’ reached Number 36, and in the UK, ‘W.O.L.D.’ was his only top 40 singles chart entry.

‘W.O.L.D.’ was the only single released from ‘Short Stories,’ which was the third studio Album from Harry Chapin, from December 1973, the song was written by Harry Chapin, with the production being by Paul Leka (1943-2011) (see also best songs 995.) The Album ‘Short Stories’ has a total of 10 tracks, and includes two other fans favourite songs in ‘Mr Tanner,’ and ‘Mail Order Annie.’ The lyrics to ‘W.O.L.D.’ tell the story of an ageing Disc Jockey who gave up his family life to travel around America working at several different radio stations following his passion, which he believed would bring him happiness, only to discover that his life, looks, and voice have all passed him by, as hinted in the songs title (W.)’O.L.D.’ Harry Chapin had been doing a promotion at a radio station, when he heard a telephone conversation between one of the station’s Disc Jockeys Jim Connors, (1940-1987) who was speaking with his wife. This led to Chapin and Connors having a deep discussion on and off air about all the troubles associated with being part of the music business, inspiring Chapin to write this song.

When Harry Chapin performed ‘W.O.L.D.’ live he frequently replaced ‘W.O.L.D.’ in the last verse with the call letters of a local radio station in the town where the performance was being held. The live version of the song from the compilation ‘The Gold Medal Collection’ has an example of this, where ‘W.O.L.D.’ was replaced with ‘KHJ,’ a radio station in Los Angeles. Co-incidentally there is an actual radio station in Marion. Virginia, which has been broadcasting since 1968 called ‘WOLD-FM.’

‘Sometimes I get this crazy dream that I just take off in my car, but you can travel on ten thousand miles and still stay where you are. Thinking that I should stop this jockin’ and start that record store, maybe I could settle down, if you’d take me back once more.’