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Up On the Shelf - Harry Chapin



     
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Up On the Shelf Lyrics


I used to play the trumpet once but now I play guitar
Somebody told you it's more mellow.
Well I've played a lot of music since but I really haven't grown that far
Somebody said that you're just yellow.So I keep it up on the shelf
And it's funny how you keep it all to yourself
Hey honey, could there ever be,
Should there ever be,
Could there ever be something else?You know I used to swing my silver sword, the dragons hit the ground
Whatever happened to the maidens?
Well I'd swing my silver sword again and they would all fall down
Would you leave them lying there where you had laid them?And I used to have a country once, where it's gone I do not know.
Where do you think you might have lost it?
I used to raise the flag at dawn, but that was very long ago
Maybe you can find it where you tossed it.Well I tossed it up on the shelf
And it's funny how you've kept it all for yourself
Hey honey, could there ever be,
Should there ever be,
Could there ever be something else?I used to say my prayers boys, I used to sing the hymns

Even the echo's disappearing.
They've broken the stained windows, the cathedral's getting dim.
Then what is this dirge that we are hearing?Well it comes from up on the shelf
And it's funny how you sing it only for yourself
Hey honey, could there ever be,
Should there ever be,
Could there ever be something else?Well, I used to have a lover once, I used to have a friend
How in the hell you ever find one?
My song is almost over now, my story's at an end
You lived yourself a good life but a blind one.Well I've hidden there up on the shelf
And it's funny how you've kept it all for yourself
Hey honey, could there ever be,
Should there ever be,
Could there ever be something else?

Enjoy the lyrics !!!
Harry Chapin (December 7, 1942 – July 16, 1981) was an American singer and songwriter. Chapin's debut album, Heads and Tales (1972), was a success thanks to the single "Taxi". His follow-up album, Sniper and Other Love Songs, was less successful; but his third, Short Stories, was a major success. Verities & Balderdash, released soon after, was even more successful, bolstered by the chart-topping hit single "Cat's in the Cradle". He also wrote and performed a Broadway musical, The Night That Made America Famous.

In the mid 1970s, Chapin focused on social activism, including raising money to combat hunger in the United States and co-founding the organization World Hunger Year, before returning to music with On the Road to Kingdom Come. He also released a book of poetry, Looking...Seeing, in 1977.

His fellow Long Islanders loved him for his support of local artists, as well. He and his wife Sandy raised funds for the Performing Arts Foundation, a now-defunct local theatre group. They also supported the Long Island Ballet. The band shell at Huntington's Hecksher Park is named for Harry Chapin.

Chapin died on July 16, 1981 in an automobile accident on the Long Island Expressway at the age of 38. He was headed west from Huntington Bay, where he lived with his wife and three children, to perform a concert in Eisenhower Park in Nassau County when his car was struck by a truck. An autopsy showed that he had suffered a heart attack, but it could not be determined whether that occurred before or after the collision. Supermarkets General, the owner of the truck, paid $12 million in the ensuing litigation.

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Harry Chapin