Today’s classic song that packs an emotional punch is another story song by Harry Chapin, “A Better Place to Be.” This one was a track on his 1972 album, Sniper and Other Love Songs. While the original version of the song was never issued as a single, a live version was released in April of 1976 and peaked at #86 on the Billboard Hot 100. Whether you listen to the later live or the original studio version, it’s a terrific song that packs a tremendous emotional punch.
“A Better Place to Be” is a story song within a story song. (Mr. Chapin was known for his story songs, such as the classics “Taxi,” “Mr. Tanner,” and “Mail Order Annie”) This song starts out just after opening time in “an early morning bar room” in small-town Watertown, New York, where a midnight watchman (“a little man”), after the end his shift, sits by himself, drinking gin. The waitress (“a big ol’ friendly girl”) asks the little man what’s bothering him, and he tells his story—the story within the story of the song.
It seems that the lonely little man was in a diner the previous week and saw a beautiful young woman sitting all alone at the counter. Even though she was quite obviously out of his league, the little man struck up a stammering conversation and invited her back to his place. To his surprise the woman accepted, telling the little man, “If you want me to come with you, then that’s alright with me. Cause you know I’m going nowhere, and anywhere’s a better place to be.”
They spent the night together then, in the morning, the little man left to get the two of them breakfast. When he got back to his room she was gone, leaving behind only a six-word note: “It’s time that I moved on.”
The little man’s story moves the waitress to tears, because she’s just as lonely as the little man and the beautiful stranger. As she uses her bar rag to wipe the tears from her eyes, she says:
“I wish that I was beautiful
Or that you were halfway blind
And I wish I weren’t so doggone fat
I wish that you were mine
And I wish that you’d come with me
When I leave for home
For we both know all about loneliness and livin’ all alone”
And the little man looked at the empty glass in his hand
And he smiled a crooked grin
He said, “I guess I’m out of gin
And I know we both have been so lonely
And if you want me to come with you then that’s alright with me
‘Cause ya know I’m goin’ nowhere
And anywhere’s a better place to be”
And that’s the end of the story. It’s a story about three lonely people trying to find a little companionship in their lives, told in a compelling fashion by a master storyteller. The last few lines never fail to bring a tear to my eye, because I used to be a lonely little man like the one in the story. I’m no longer lonely or alone but I still remember what it was like. This song reminds me of that, even as I’m grateful for my wife and my grandkids and my friends. Everyone is lonely sometimes.
That was the gift that Harry Chapin had. He could string together a few words and chords and put you right there in another person’s place and time. His story songs were transformative and often emotional. I wish I could write like that.
Harry Chapin died in an auto accident in 1981, just 38 years old. I often wonder about all the stories left unsung and what life would have been like had Harry Chapin not died so young. One can only hope that he found a better place to be.
