Greatest Stories Live is the first live album by the American singer/songwriter Harry Chapin

Harry Chapin

Harry Forster Chapin was an American singer-songwriter best known in particular for his folk rock songs including "Taxi", "W*O*L*D", and the number-one hit "Cat's in the Cradle". Chapin was also a dedicated humanitarian who fought to end world hunger; he was a key player in the creation of the...

, released in 1976

1976 in music

-January–February:*January 5 – Former Beatles road manager Mal Evans is shot dead by Los Angeles police after refusing to drop what police only later determine is an air rifle....

. Certain elements had to be re-recorded in the studio due to technical problems with the live recordings. The original LP release featured three new studio tracks, two of which ("She Is Always Seventeen" and "Love Is Just Another Word") were omitted from the CD release. "A Better Place To Be

A Better Place to Be (Harry Chapin song)

"A Better Place to Be" is a song by Harry Chapin from his 1972 album, Sniper and Other Love Songs. Chapin always claimed the song was his personal favorite of all his other songs he had written.-Story:...

" was released as a single, and did manage to crack the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

The album is popular for its extended cut of "30,000 Pounds of Bananas", infamous for Chapin's recounting of his brothers' remarks after hearing the original ending: "Harry...it sucks." The quote became so popular with Harry Chapin fans that concert shirts were sold with the quotation on it.

Track listing

1. "Dreams Go By" – 4:54
2. "W·O·L·D" – 5:04
3. "Saturday Morning" (Tom Chapin) – 3:05
4. "I Want To Learn A Love Song" – 5:04
5. "Mr. Tanner
   Mr. Tanner
   "Mr. Tanner" is a song by Harry Chapin from his 1974 album, Short Stories. Big John Wallace plays Mr. Tanner by singing the chorus to "O Holy Night" in the background to the song's chorus.-Story:...
   
   " – 5:17
6. "A Better Place to Be
   A Better Place to Be (Harry Chapin song)
   "A Better Place to Be" is a song by Harry Chapin from his 1972 album, Sniper and Other Love Songs. Chapin always claimed the song was his personal favorite of all his other songs he had written.-Story:...
   
   " – 9:59
7. "Let Time Go Lightly" (Steve Chapin) – 4:56
8. "Cat's in the Cradle
   Cat's in the Cradle
   "Cat's in the Cradle" is a 1974 folk rock song by Harry Chapin from the album Verities & Balderdash. The single topped the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1974...
   
   " – 4:04
9. "Taxi
   Taxi (song)
   "Taxi" is a song written and performed by Harry Chapin from his 1972 album Heads and Tales. Chapin debuted the song on NBC's The Tonight Show in 1972 which was followed by many calls and telegrams sent from viewers to NBC demanding that Chapin return to the show...
   
   " – 6:53
10. "Circle" – 7:21
11. "30,000 Pounds of Bananas
    30,000 Pounds of Bananas
    "30,000 Pounds of Bananas", sometimes spelled "Thirty-Thousand Pounds of Bananas", is a song by Harry Chapin from his 1974 album, Verities & Balderdash. The song became more popular in its live extended recording from Chapin's 1976 concert album, Greatest Stories Live that started the phrase...
    
    " (Extended with two alternate endings) – 11:28
12. "The Shortest Story" (Studio track) – 2:25

"She Is Always Seventeen" and "Love Is Just Another Word" appear between "30,000 Pounds of Bananas" and The Shortest Story" on side 4 of the original 1976 vinyl release.

Personnel

• Harry Chapin - guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  , vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  
• Ron Bacchiocchi - synthesizer
  Synthesizer
  A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
  
  , percussion
  Percussion instrument
  A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
  
  , clavinet
  Clavinet
  A Clavinet is an electrically amplified keyboard instrument manufactured by the Hohner company. It is essentially an electronically amplified clavichord, analogous to an electric guitar. Its distinctive bright staccato sound has appeared particularly in funk, disco, rock, and reggae songs.Various...
  
  
• Ed Bednarski - clarinet
  Clarinet
  The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
  
  
• Stephen Chapin
  Steve Chapin
  Stephen Chapin is an American singer. He is best known as the youngest of the four Chapin brothers, which include Harry Chapin and Tom Chapin, and is the son of drummer Jim Chapin and uncle of Jen Chapin and the Chapin Sisters. He has frequently toured and performed with both of his musician brothers...
  
   - synthesizer, piano
  Piano
  The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
  
  , vocals
• Tom Chapin
  Tom Chapin
  Tom Chapin is a Grammy Award-winning American musician, entertainer, singer-songwriter and storyteller.-Biography:Chapin attended State University of New York at Plattsburgh and graduated in 1966. From 1971-1976, he hosted a TV show called Make a Wish...
  
   - guitar, banjo
  Banjo
  In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
  
  , vocals
• Christine Faith - vocals
• Cheryl Ferrio - vocals
• Howie Fields - drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  
• David Kondziela - vocals
• Paul Leka
  Paul Leka
  Paul Leka was an American songwriter, pianist, arranger, and orchestrator, most notable for his writing associations with the 1960s hits "Green Tambourine" and "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye", the latter of which has become a standard song at sporting events.-Life and career:Born in Bridgeport,...
  
   - piano, clavinet
• Michael Masters - cello
  Cello
  The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
  
  
• Tim Moore - piano
• Mark Mundy - vocals
• Ronald Palmer - guitar, vocals
• Don Payne - bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  
• Kathy Ramos - vocals
• Tim Scott - cello
• Allan Schwartzberg - drums
• Frank Simms
  Frank Simms
  Frank Simms is an American singer and voice-over artist known for providing the voices behind such iconic characters as the Kool-Aid Man, the Honeycomb Craver, the bug-eyed, fuzzy mascot of Honeycomb cereal, and the Geico ringtone. He is one of the founding members and songwriters of The Simms...
  
   - vocals
• George Simms - vocals
• Ken Smith - percussion
• Bob Springer - percussion
• John Tropea
  John Tropea
  John Tropea is a guitarist with extensive experience in the rock, pop, and jazz genres. Tropea has written for and played with major recording artists from around the world...
  
   - guitar
• Betsy Wager - vocals
• Doug Walker - bass, guitar, vocals
• John Wallace
  John Wallace (musician)
  "Big" John Wallace was a bassist and backup singer for singer-songwriter Harry Chapin. John gained membership to Harry's band by responding to an ad placed in the Village Voice in 1971...
  
  - bass, vocals
• Sue White - vocals