Behind the Song: Last Stand

by Howard Fields

It was March 30, 1981, and we were in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

I was in my hotel room where I'd usually be at about 3:00 or 4:00 p.m. on a gig day and would soon be heading over to the sound check. At that moment, however, I was watching the tube and taking great interest in the coverage of the shooting of President Ronald Reagan.

The phone rings and it's Harry, all excited in the way he got when he had written what he thought was a great new song. This one was probably less than a couple of hours old and inspired by the news of the day. He was requesting the band's presence at the sound check to try it out with us. Well, we all would have been there anyway; Harry, on the other hand, rarely attended sound checks, so he was clearly quite keyed up about the tune.

The only thing I really remember about that rehearsal was Harry telling Big John that eventually he'd be singing this one. How odd, I thought, why? Anyway, it's not just me who has always found it eerie how those brilliant lyrics, inspired by a near tragedy, would be so prophetic of the tragedy that would befall Harry 31/2 months later.

And John has sung the song at Chapin concerts ever since.

Howard Fields was the drummer in Harry's band. His web site can be found at www.rockpaper.net

EditorsÕ Note: "Last Stand" is featured on The Last Protest Singer, an album Harry was developing at the time of his death (click here for the song's lyrics) . The album was posthumously released and is now available as a special CD re-release through the Chapin family website: http://harrychapinmusic.com/chapin_site2/home/chapinhp_frm.html