Harry Chapin - The Last Protest Singer

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Music reviews of The Last Protest Singer

Music Review: Song from Harry Chapin's planned movie musical
Rating: 4 Stars

Harry Chapin was working on eighteen songs in the studio for this project and this album, which was released in 1988, contains the eleven that were well enough along to be completed form the original master tracks by Keith Walsh and Steve Hoffman. Brothers Tom and Steve play on the album, as does Big John Wallace, so the result certainly has the sound of a Harry Chapin album. The problem is in getting the big picture. The contexts of the song are unclear and who knows if the order is right in terms of the narrative structure Chapin was developing (think of any listening to two-thirds of the songs in any other musical played in a random order).

Clearly the songs are Harry Chapin in a political state of mind, which makes them different from the story songs that made his reputation and endeared him to his legions of fans. There are love songs about Willie Seine and the young actress who takes him down the back road of truth ("A Quiet Little Love Affair"), but most of the songs reinforce the line in "Basic Protest Song" where our singer warns "But if we can't push for paradise/We'll be setting for hell." In this context it is no wonder that the hero sings "I Don't Want to be President" and attacks the power brokers of the nation in "Sounds Like America to Me." "The Last Protest Singer" is an incomplete work, but is certainly worth a listen, being the one posthumous Harry Chapin album released that has all original songs. Too bad there is not a more comprehensive set of notes or even a libretto, that can give us a better idea of the scope of the what Chapin had in mind.

Track List for "The Last Protest Singer":
1. Last of the Protest Singers (4:41)
2. November Rains (3:46)
3. Basic Protest Song (4:28)
4. Last Stand (4:38)
5. Sounds Like America to Me (4:27)
6. Word Wizard (4:14)
7. Anthem (3:48)
8. A Quiet Little Love Affair (2:48)
9. I Don't Want to Be President (4:00)
10. Silly Little Girl (3:26)
11. You Own the Only Light (4:11)

Description of The Last Protest Singer

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