Thursday, December 21, 2017

#1 This day 1974-----Harry Chapin - Cat's in the cradle

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Harry Chapin song, picture of Cat Stevens. one of my pet peeves

Jim Riley said...

Ahhhh!
Good get!
Cat is now Muhamud etc.
Harry now worms.
Death[edit]

"Harry Chapin's gravestone in the Huntington Rural Cemetery, Huntington, New York
On July 16, 1981, Chapin was driving in the left lane on the Long Island Expressway at about 65 mph (105 km/h) on the way to perform at a free concert scheduled for later that evening at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, New York. Near exit 40 in Jericho, he put on his emergency flashers, presumably because of either a mechanical or medical problem (possibly a heart attack). He then slowed to about 15 miles (24 km) per hour and veered into the center lane, nearly colliding with another car. He swerved left, then to the right again, ending up directly in the path of a tractor-trailer truck. The truck could not brake in time and rammed the rear of Chapin's blue 1975 Volkswagen Rabbit, rupturing the fuel tank as it climbed up and over the back of the car, which burst into flames.[11]

The driver of the truck and a passerby were able to get Chapin out of the burning car through a window after cutting the seat belts before the car was engulfed in flames. Chapin was taken by police helicopter to a hospital, where 10 doctors tried for 30 minutes to revive him.[citation needed] A spokesman for the Nassau County Medical Center said Chapin had suffered a heart attack and died of cardiac arrest, but there was no way of knowing whether it occurred before or after the accident. In a 2004 interview, many years after his death, Chapin's daughter Jennifer said, "My dad didn't really sleep, and he ate badly and had a totally insane schedule."[8]

Although Chapin was driving without a license – his driver's license having previously been revoked for a long string of traffic violations – his widow Sandy won a $12 million decision in a negligence lawsuit against Supermarkets General, the owners of the truck, based on what Chapin would have earned over the next 20 years. An earlier phase of the trial had found Chapin 40% negligent in the accident and Supermarkets General 60% negligent, so the award of $12 million for the financial loss to the family was automatically reduced to $7.2 million.[12]

Chapin's remains were interred in the Huntington Rural Cemetery in Huntington, New York. His epitaph is taken from his song "I Wonder What Would Happen to this World":

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