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Sequel Lyrics
Artist: Harry Chapin
So here she's actin' happy inside her handsome home
And me, I'm flyin' in my taxi, takin' tips and gettin' stoned.
I got into town a little early.
Had eight hours to kill before the show.
First I thought about heading up north of the bay
Then I knew where I had to go.
I thought about taking a limousine
Or at least a fancy car.
But I ended up taking a taxi
'Cause that's how I got this far.
You see, ten years ago it was the front seat
Drivin' stoned and feelin' no pain.
Now here I am straight and sittin' in the back
Hitting Sixteen Parkside Lane.
The driveway was the same as I remembered
And a butler came and answered the door.
He just shook his head when I asked for her
And said "She doesn't live here anymore."
But he offered to give me the address
That they were forwarding her letters to.
I just took it and returned to the cabbie
And said "I got one more fare for you."
And so we rolled back into the city
Up to a five store old brownstone
I rang the bell that had her name on the mailbox.
The buzzer said somebody's home.
And the look on her face as she opened the door
Was like an old joke told by a friend.
It'd taken ten more years but she'd found her smile
And I watched the corners start to bend.
And she said, "How are you Harry?
Haven't we played this scene before?"
I said "It's so good to see you, Sue
Had to play it out just once more."
Play it out just once more.
She said I've heard you flying high on my radio
I answered "It's not all it seems"
That's when she laughed and she said, "It's better sometimes
When we don't get to touch our dreams."
That's when I asked her where was that actress
She said "That was somebody else"
And then I asked her why she looked so happy now
She said "I finally like myself, at last I like myself."
So we talked all through that afternoon
Talking about where we'd been
We talked of the tiny difference
Between ending and starting to begin.
We talked because talking tells you things
Like what you really are thinking about.
But sometimes you can't find what you're feeling
Till all the word run out.
So I asked her to come to the concert.
She said "No, I work at night."
I said, "We've gotten too damn good at leaving, Sue"
She said, "Harry, you're right."
Don't ask me if I made love to her
Or which one of us started to cry
Don't ask me why she wouldn't take the money that I left
If I answered at all I'd lie.
So I thought about her as I sang that night
And how the circle keeps rolling around.
How I act as I'm facing the footlights
And how she's flying with both feet on the ground.
I guess it's a sequel to our story
From the journey 'tween heaven and hell
With half the time thinking of what might have been
and half thinkin' just as well.
I guess only time will tell.
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Comments/Interpretations
I think this is such a nice song.
The lyrics alone are good, I just wish the song didn't have such a harsh, rockness to it. Kinda wished that it was more like Taxi in instrumentation. Maybe it is just the version I know. Still good.
I think the music underscores the irony, the twist of fate so to speak. In taxi, neither found themselves, they did not hold inner peace but rather saw its potential in times gone by, in sequel, the opposite holds, both found personal happiness (in their own right) and now rather than look backward they were now able to look forward see they were to never be. I think the music holds the discourse of each setting.
Totally superfluous
As with all of Harry, I love it, but it does miss the power that Taxi has, both in lyrics and music.
This song is personal to me. It reminds me of an old girlfriend. She broke up with me, and then she pursued me and I didn't want to have any part of it. Then I turned around - just in time for her to get engaged to someone else. Perhaps it was just as well.
I miss you, Denise.
Spectacular song by a spectacular lyricist...and to almost the same melody as Taxi.
Taxi and this really are masterpieces. After 30+ years, not sure what the meaning is, but great songs nonetheless
Timeless Tune, its too bad we lost this man so early.
Harry once said that he had lived all his songs, but not necessarily literally or physically. That is why it was so important he write this one. He need to provide himself and all of us with closure. Remember, he and his brother Tom always closed their concerts with "Circle" and he makes a quick reference to "Circle" in "Sequel." That lyric hit me like a ton of bricks the first time I heard it.
And then there was the irony that Harry passed away so soon after this song and album came out. Yes, life is a circle.
And note to Alanis Morissette: Harry's death soon after this song is true irony. Rain on one's wedding day is weather.
I have sang Taxi for years at Karioke and did not know there was a sequel until my son surprised me with the CD. I now sing both of them. Harry Chapin was a great artist.
I was fotunate enough to see Harry in a benefit solo performance in East Hampton, Long Island before he finished and recorded "Sequel". As far as I know, we were some of the first people to hear it.
My wife and I liked Harry so much that we actually were getting reqady to go to Eisenhower Park when we heard the news that Harry was killed in a car accident on the way to that concert.
I was one of a few that got invited to drink beer with Harry after his sets during his early Connecticut college campus concert days. He would always ask what we thought. Some said, "Harry it sucks" but I started following his career even through his attempt at producing an Off-Braodway play. Harry was one-of-a-kind and I miss him dearly. I am proud to have shaken his hand and to have seen him succeed.
It's been close to 10 or 15 years since I last heard these songs and with all the memories rushing back I felt compelled to write. I believe that in the heart of every man is the deep desire and longing to ultimately find fufillment, satisfaction and purpose in this life. The story in this song and it's sequel illustrate with perfection that in the everyday happenings of our lives we all need to experience a sense of closure or finality especially with those things that seem to be left undone or unfinished and even when they make absolutely no sense. Now that he's gone I wonder if Harry understood what the true meaning of life was. Coming full circle is part of it but in my opinion it's knowing the true God and Savior of mankind - the Lord Jesus Christ. May you come to know Him today. Thank - You Harry for your music and these beautiful songs - Taxi and Sequel
I remember hearing the "Sequel" but remember the original much more. Harry had to give us his life experiences and this is probably one of them. It's all comforting to know that a poet-songwriter can deliver similar personal experiences in such a beautiful way. Harry IS a presence so many years since his physical departure.
I am as moved today as I was when I heard these songs in concert. Actually, I may be even more effected. The richness of experience enhances the poignancy
of the story. It reminds me to value my memories and relationships.
Thank you Harry.
I probably first heard Taxi when I was 6 or 7 years old. I am now 39. Harry Chapin & Jim Croce are the reason I first started writing songs when I was 17. I remember putting Taxi followed by Sequel on a cassette tape & always listening to them back to back. I met my "Sue" 25 years ago & was lucky enough that through a twist of fate she came back into my life. The most beautiful part of it all is that although we never stopped loving each other, the way we found each other again just happened, it wasn't forced. I was lucky enough to get my "Sequel". Even now, whenever I go away for work, the first thing I always listen to in my car is Greatest Stories Live. Harry Chapin truly was the greatest story teller ever. Hell, without him even knowing me, he wrote my story years ago. I am so happy to see how much you all appreciate his unparalleled talents & that he will never be forgotten.
We all have our Sequel story. Mine is over two people who couldn't get their love in synch. Those two people are in contact today, but there will always be a unconsummated love between the two. I miss you, Denise. Thank you, Harry for putting in words what many of us experience.
Lost my first love (an actress) the year before Taxi came out. The song sounded like a tune about the Days of Future Past (Moody Blues). The song haunted my memories for years afterward. I had completely fogotten about the songs Taxi and Sequel until today. Harry's brothers are playing in concert this weekend close to home. I barely remembered the lyrics to Sequel, but it is funny, that art just doesn't imitate life. I've found that life is the basis of art at times. Now, nearly four decades after Taxi, the actress and myself both know what could have and couldn't have been. Truly interesting. I would surely like to know what inspired these two songs and Circle, by Harry.
"It's better sometimes
When we don't get to touch our dreams."
You can't teach someone this, they have to live through it. Genius!
I drove a truck in Atlanta in 81, the blazing hot summer. No air, no radio, so I sang songs I knew. This was one, because I knew the words and it seemed to fit where I was. Such a loss, Harry and Jim Croce both.
Harry Chapin and Jim Croce are the two best singer/songwriters of the 20th century, Both of them made the American Top 40 in 1972 and Both of them died in sudden, tragic deaths which robbed the entire world of countless songs they had yet to write. Both of these men were also extremely kind , caring human beings. Jim died on his way to a concert that he could't play in Louisiana. Harry was a great humanitarian who cared greatly about world hunger.I really believe God sometimes takes the very best too soon.