December 16, 2014 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks E1853 next recipients for the Songwriters Hall of Sequel; the title track of the album was a se- taxis and lovers with long memories. And we Fame Award. While reading your news letter quel to his first hit single, ‘‘Taxi,’’ and be- hope as well that Harry Chapin’s legacy will about the recipients for 2008 Awards I came his last Top 40 hit before his death. include not only his music but his citizen- couldn’t help but think that Harry is long Mothers & Daughters: The Loving War ship, so that others may learn of his example overdue for a honor such as this. (1980, ABC Friday Night Movie) Harry wrote and emulate it. For he was a model of what Harry Chapin earned a devoted audience the music for this TV production. Justice Felix Frankfurter once referred to as during the ’70s, through his music and his Cotton Patch Gospel (1981) The off-Broad- the highest position in a democracy—the of- charity work as a social activist. Harry way premiere of Cotton Patch Gospel, origi- fice of citizen. That was no third-rate folk wrote and recorded a reasonably large body nal score by Harry Chapin received praise as singer (as he called himself), only a first rate of work before his death in 1981. Though ‘‘The best music Harry Chapin ever wrote’’ American.’’ many may not know all of Harry’s songs (he by—David Marsh, Rolling Stone Magazine. Harry Chapin was inducted into the Long wrote over 400), his legion of fans continue to This was his last after a career as one of the Island Music Hall of Fame on October 15, buy his CD’s, as well as attempt to unearth great American folk singers and one of the 2006. lost recordings by the man to this day. great humanitarians having raised over 5 I have enclosed a copy of the CD, Harry Harry Chapin is remembered by a genera- million dollars for World Hunger. Chapin Songwriter as a gift to you, thinking tion of music fans as one of America’s great- Anthology of Harry Chapin (1985, Elektra) that you may find it an appropriate piece est musical storytellers and troubadours, but Remember When the Music (1987, Dunhill considering my request. May you enjoy it! as Ralph Nader said, ‘‘to talk about Harry Compact Classics) Sincerely, Chapin only as a singer-composer is like The Gold Medal Collection (1988, Elektra) SANDRA CHAPIN, viewing Theodore Roosevelt as a state as- The Last Protest Singer (1988, Dunhill Chapin Productions LLC. semblyman or Babe Ruth as a pitcher. More Compact Classics) f that any other entertainer in his generation, Harry Chapin Tribute (1990, Relativity Harry was a citizen-artist.’’ Records) 70TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY OF Harry’s albums, musical plays and TV con- The Bottom Line Encore Collection (1998, ATLEY A. KITCHINGS AND tributions are listed as follows: Bottom Line/Koch) Chapin Music (1966, Rock-Land Records) Story of a Life (1999, Elektra) BETTY JANE LANGLEY Harry’s early years with brothers Tom and VHI Behind the Music The Harry Chapin Steve. Collection (2001, MTV Networks) HON. ROBERT B. ADERHOLT Heads and Tales (1972, Elektra) Harry’s Sequel (2001, re-mastered and re-released OF ALABAMA first album with Elektra, was released in the on CD Chapin Productions LLC) summer of 1972 and became a success thanks Sniper and Other Love Songs (Re-mastered IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES to the hit single ‘‘Taxi,’’ which soon became and re-released on CD 2002, Wounded Bird Tuesday, December 16, 2014 the songwriter’s signature tune. Taxi became Records) the most requested song in America for ten The Last Protest Singer (2002, re-mastered Mr. ADERHOLT. Mr. Speaker, today marks weeks in a row and earned Harry a Grammy and re-released on CD Chapin Productions the 70th anniversary of a very important occa- nomination as best new artist. LLC) sion. On December 16, 1944, two special peo- Sniper and Other Love Songs (1972, Harry Chapin Songwriter (2002) Originally ple, Atley A. Kitchings and Betty Jane Lang- Elektra) produced in 1975 for the educational series Short Stories (1973, Elektra) This album it ley, were married in Miami, Florida. So, today Pipeline, this CD closes the distance between I would like to congratulate, pay tribute to, and spent 23 weeks on the charts due to the suc- listener and performer. A real treat for any cess of the single ‘‘W.O.L.D.,’’ a story about aspiring musician, who, regardless of his sta- honor these two great Alabamians. the life of a disc jockey. tus as a Harry Chapin fan, will no doubt gain I first had the occasion to meet Atley Verities & Balderdash (1974, Elektra) This a clear and simple outline for writing a suc- Kitchings when I was a student at the Cum- album became his biggest hit, becoming a cessful song. The disc is broken down into berland School of Law at Samford University gold record. The album’s success was bene- five parts: a short, friendly introduction, the in Birmingham, Alabama in the late 1980’s. fited by the number-one single ‘‘Cat’s in the second part, a soulful, acoustical version of a Atley was an adjunct professor teaching com- Cradle,’’ a song about an inconsiderate, ca- previously unrecorded gem called ‘‘Too reer-oriented father that was based on a munications law. We became friends while I Many Miles.’’ The third part is the meat of was a student of his. In 1995, I was working poem written by Sandy Chapin, his wife. He the disc. Harry talks of the difference be- earned another Grammy nomination as best tween ‘‘attitudinal’’ songs and his own as Assistant Legal Advisor to then-Governor male vocal performer. unique style of story songs. He then goes Fob James, and Atley was doing some legal Portrait Gallery (1975, Elektra) his follow- through the process of building a chorus and work in Montgomery when our paths crossed up to Verities and Balderdash. The album its verses, discussing the pitfalls of first- again. It was at that time that our friendship performed respectably, peaking at number time songwriter, strategies for successful 53. began to bloom. It wasn’t long before my wife, The Night That Made America Famous In rhyming, and finding a ‘‘zinger.’’ In the Caroline, and I met his lovely wife Betty Jane. the mean time, Harry had been working on fourth part Harry plays a short upbeat track Atley A. Kitchings, Jr. was born in Louisville, his musical which opened on February 26, off the Portrait Gallery album, ‘‘Stop Sing- KY on June 10, 1925. Betty Jane Langley was 1975. The show earned two Tony nomina- ing These Sad Songs.’’ In the fifth and final part, he conveys easily such concepts as born on February 13, 1925 in Jackson, MS. tions. Atley moved with his parents to Clinton, MS Make a Wish Harry won an Emmy award in tonal consistency and ‘‘architectural con- the spring for his contributions of songs to stants.’’ The conversation closes with Harry when he was 3 years old. He met Betty Jane ABC television’s children’s series Make a talking about what is plainly evident in high school in Clinton, MS, and they began Wish, which was hosted by his brother Tom. throughout Songwriter, his ‘‘joy of doing it.’’ dating at Mississippi College, in Clinton, MS At that time Harry also co-founded World Heads and Tales/Sniper and Other Love where they were both college students. World Hunger Year, a charity designed to raise Songs (2004, Elektra. Double CD re-release of War II was ongoing, and Atley joined the money to fight international famine; the or- first two albums with bonus tracks) Navy, participating first in the V–12 program at ganization earned over $350,000 in its first Legends of the Lost and Found (Double Album, 2005, re-mastered and re-released on Mississippi College, and then earning a com- year. mission as an Ensign in the Navy after com- Greatest Stories Live (Double Album, 1976, CD, Chapin Productions LLC) Elektra) This double album, became the Introducing. Harry Chapin (2006) pleting midshipman’s school at Northwestern singer/songwriter’s second gold album, peak- Harry Chapin Cat’s In the Cradle and Other University in Chicago on November 22, 1944. ing at number 48. Chapin was becoming more Songs (2008, Elektra) Atley was assigned to Miami for further politically active throughout 1976, as evi- Harry performed more than 250 concerts training, and on December 16, 1944 (the day denced by his role as a delegate at that sum- every year, and donated the proceeds for half the Battle of the Bulge began in Europe), he mer’s Democratic Convention. of them to charity. After his concerts, he would go into the lobby and sign autographs and Betty Jane were married at a Baptist Dance Band on the Titanic (Double Album, Church in downtown Miami, FL. Atley shipped 1977, Elektra) This album was also on the and sell records, T-shirts and song books. charts. And every penny he took in would go to out a week later to lead the crew of a sub- Living Room Suite (1978, Elektra) The fol- charity, especially the battle to end world chaser out of San Juan, Puerto Rico to hunt lowing year, Harry Chapin met with Presi- hunger. He spent four months nearly single- Nazi U-Boats, although they never found any. dent Jimmy Carter, discussing the need for a handedly successfully lobbying both Con- Atley left active duty in 1946, but he remained Presidential Commission on Hunger; he also gress and President Carter to form a Presi- in the Navy reserves until 1978, when he re- released Living Room Suite that summer, dential Commission on Domestic and Inter- tired with the rank of Captain.