On Wed, 19 Nov 1997, Garison Piatt wrote:

> John wrote:
> >>A couple years ago, a singer named John Joseph was [...] interviewed
> >>by the Philadelphia Inquirer, and mentioned Harry Chapin and "Corey's
> >>Coming", saying that he was flattered that Harry recorded a song he
> >>(John Joseph) had written.
> >I've never heard this story. [...] I choose to believe Ol' John Joseph
> >was "misquoted".

On Wed, 19 Nov 1997, Garison Piatt wrote:              
 He wasn't.  Back in the 70's, Newsday ran an article about Harry's
 Songwriting school.  The article mentioned one of Harry's more
 promising students -- you guessed it: John Joseph -- who had written
 a song under Harry's tutelage about a man waiting in a train station
 for a non-existant woman (or words to that effect).  A short while
 later, Harry released "Corey's Coming".  A footnote in the liner
 notes read, "with thanks to real-life songwriter John Joseph."  Harry
 had obviously rewritten JJ's song to fit his own style.

 -garison