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I Don't Want to Be President
I Don't Want to Be President
by Harry Chapin
Just after I was born, my father said to everyone
That I would be the President one day
You’re a natural politician, boy, get it in your head
And you know that it might just turn out that way
So through all the years of my childhood
There more important things than to play
I started caring for my country and my fellow man
And this is what I would always say I’d say, I don’t want to be President
But I want to help the poor and the helpless people
I really don’t want to be President
But if I’m elected I promise to be faithful I graduated college with my law degree
I was a young man on the move, they always say
I was helping my community, committed to the people
I was working as a citizen, to build a better day
They persuaded me to run for Congressman
They said from Congress you could do much more good
And you’ve got to have the power if your changing things
And I was hoping to do everything I could for the people I’d say I don’t want to be President
But I want to help the poor and the helpless people
I really don’t want to be President
But if I’m elected I promise to be faithful Time is a march where the powerful are drummers
Big business, big labor, big oil
And soon I was meeting with the men who ran the country
The men who owned the sky and the soil
Oh, I became a Senator, a man to be reckoned with
Playing golf with millionaires, and speaking on TV
And when they talked of potential presidential candidates
Most often talked about, and most prominent was me
Well, I got the nomination, ran a campaign of conscience
I stood for peace and brotherhood and for prosperity
And on the day of the election I went home to my mansion
When the people had spoken, they’d elected me But I don’t want to be President
I really don’t want to be President
Layout, design, images, and user-contributed text are © Copyright 1996-2017 HarryChapin.com: The Harry Chapin Archive.
"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?" -- Harry Chapin, 1942-1981.
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The Latest Release
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Sniper & Other Love Songs
[iTunes]
In 1972, Harry released
Sniper & Other Love Songs.
Thirty years would pass before the album would ever reach the CD format. Sniper was finally re-released in June, 2002.
Originally given a working title of Sweet City Suite, the album tells the story of various characters one might run into in
a city. The album features the original studio versions of Chapin classics "A Better Place to Be" and "Circle." But
perhaps more importantly (as those songs are already well-distributed on compilation CDs), the album features seemingly
lost Chapin stories, including "And the Baby Never Cries," "Burning Herself," "Barefoot Boy," and "Woman Child."
Sniper is for the seasoned Chapin fan. New fans would do better to check out
Greatest Stories
Live. But for Chapin fans who have reached the level of the
Dance Band on the Titanic album, this is the next step. Slightly over-produced and having a little of the "forced"
feel that some of Harry's studio albums possess, this album does not capture the powerfully live Harry Chapin. Nonetheless,
it captures Harry's great iconoclastic songwriting--Harry takes the story song to new heights here. But the album works best
for those ready for it; don't buy it until you are ready to appreciate it!
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