07.12.87 New York City, NY, ‘Remember When the Music’
‘‘I met Harry (Chapin) in 1978, I was in a studio, he was.....making a record in another studio....he came smiling up to me and started talking to me....and 20 minutes went by, 30 minutes went by...he talked about everything, politics, music.....nice guy....next night he came in....Harry comes (?) smiling, starts talking to me....30 minutes goes by ....so finally ....I used to try to hide from him.....I´d come in, I’d ask the secretary if Harry was in the lobby....and I’d sneak into the studio.....so we went out to California to mix and....I was standing on this balcony (?) of this motel....and I hear ‘Hey, hey !”, I looked down and it’s Harry....and he starts talking to me....so he’ll speak about 40 minutes....standing down there, looking up....he was trying to get me to do something ....he said one thing that I’ll always remembet, he said ‘Gee, you know, I play one night for me, one night for the other guy’....and later on I was trying to put my ....music to some pragmatic use, I remembered what he said....not being bent to extremism, I wasn’t as generous as he was ....but he’s probably laughing, laughing right now....I’ll do this for him....
(.....) I remember when Sandy sent me this tape I listened to it and I said ´Gee, this is a little on the corny side´...and I sat down and I tried to think.....what the song was about ....and I guess there was a time when people....felt that music....provided you with a greater...oh, a greater sense of unity....a greater sense of shared vision and purpose that it does today....and my generation we were the generation that was gonna change the world....somehow we were gonna make it a little less lonely....a little less hungry....a little more just place....but it seems that when.....when that promise slipped through our hands we didn´t replace it with nothing but....but lost faith....and now we live in, uh.... times are pretty shattered, I got my music, you´ve got yours, the guy on the street, he´s got his....and you could kind of sit back and say not cynically but truthfully: ´Well, maybe....maybe all men are not brothers....and maybe we won´t ever know who or what we really are to each other´....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, of duty....and a good clear eye on the dirty ways of the world....so in keeping ....in keeping his promise to himself....he reminds us of our promise to ourselves....and that tonight.....alongside Harry, it´s that promise that his spirit would have us remember and honor and recommit to....so do something and may his song be sung....”

Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi