1
It was raining hard in 'Frisco
I needed one more fare to make my night
A lady up ahead waved to flag me down
She got in at the light
Oh, where you going to, my lady blue
It's a shame you ruined your gown in the rain
She just looked out the window, she said
"Sixteen Parkside Lane"
Something about her was familiar
I could swear I'd seen her face before
But she said, "I'm sure you're mistaken"
And she didn't say anything more
It took a while, but she looked in the mirror
And she glanced at the license for my name
A smile seemed to come to her slowly
It was a sad smile, just the same
And she said, "How are you Harry?"
I said, "How are you Sue?
Through the too many miles
And the too little smiles
I still remember you"
It was somewhere in a fairy tale
I used to take her home in my car
We learned about love in the back of the Dodge
The lesson hadn't gone too far
You see, she was gonna be an actress
And I was gonna learn to fly
She took off to find the footlights
And I took off to find the sky
Whoa, I've got something inside me
To drive a princess blind
There's a wild man, wizard
He's hiding in me, illuminating my mind
Oh, I've got something inside me
Not what my life's about
'Cause I've been letting my outside tide me
Over 'till my time, runs out
Baby's so high that she's skying
Yes she's flying, afraid to fall
I'll tell you why baby's crying
'Cause she's dying, aren't we all
There was not much more for us to talk about
Whatever we had once was gone
So I turned my cab into the driveway
Past the gate and the fine trimmed lawns
And she said we must get together
But I knew it'd never be arranged
And she handed me twenty dollars
For a two fifty fare, she said
"Harry, keep the change"
Well, another man might have been angry
And another man might have been hurt
But another man never would have let her go
I stashed the bill in my shirt
And she walked away in silence
It's strange, how you never know
But we'd both gotten what we'd asked for
Such a long, long time ago
You see, she was gonna be an actress
And I was gonna learn to fly
She took off to find the footlights
I took off for the sky
And here, she's acting happy
Inside her handsome home
And me, I'm flying in my taxi
Taking tips, and getting stoned
I go flying so high, when I'm stoned
I needed one more fare to make my night
A lady up ahead waved to flag me down
She got in at the light
Oh, where you going to, my lady blue
It's a shame you ruined your gown in the rain
She just looked out the window, she said
"Sixteen Parkside Lane"
Something about her was familiar
I could swear I'd seen her face before
But she said, "I'm sure you're mistaken"
And she didn't say anything more
It took a while, but she looked in the mirror
And she glanced at the license for my name
A smile seemed to come to her slowly
It was a sad smile, just the same
And she said, "How are you Harry?"
I said, "How are you Sue?
Through the too many miles
And the too little smiles
I still remember you"
It was somewhere in a fairy tale
I used to take her home in my car
We learned about love in the back of the Dodge
The lesson hadn't gone too far
You see, she was gonna be an actress
And I was gonna learn to fly
She took off to find the footlights
And I took off to find the sky
Whoa, I've got something inside me
To drive a princess blind
There's a wild man, wizard
He's hiding in me, illuminating my mind
Oh, I've got something inside me
Not what my life's about
'Cause I've been letting my outside tide me
Over 'till my time, runs out
Baby's so high that she's skying
Yes she's flying, afraid to fall
I'll tell you why baby's crying
'Cause she's dying, aren't we all
There was not much more for us to talk about
Whatever we had once was gone
So I turned my cab into the driveway
Past the gate and the fine trimmed lawns
And she said we must get together
But I knew it'd never be arranged
And she handed me twenty dollars
For a two fifty fare, she said
"Harry, keep the change"
Well, another man might have been angry
And another man might have been hurt
But another man never would have let her go
I stashed the bill in my shirt
And she walked away in silence
It's strange, how you never know
But we'd both gotten what we'd asked for
Such a long, long time ago
You see, she was gonna be an actress
And I was gonna learn to fly
She took off to find the footlights
I took off for the sky
And here, she's acting happy
Inside her handsome home
And me, I'm flying in my taxi
Taking tips, and getting stoned
I go flying so high, when I'm stoned
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According to interviews Chapin & his wife gave separately over the years, HC had taken a year off from his work as a documentary film maker to focus on growing his music career. A year later his career was non exsitant, he was now marred, raising his wife's 3 kids from her 1st marriage and she was pregnant with their 1st child, and he was having a hard time finding film work to make money, so applied for a cab drivers license, even though he didn't want to drive a cab (basically he needed to start making money again). He was depressed about the whole situation (his wife leaves a wealthy lawyer to marry him and he's an out of work film maker with a going nowhere music career who's broke, and they're about to have four kids!). Around this time HC heard that an Ex of his had married and was doing quite well, and thus the background for "Taxi" was born.
According to an interview his wife did with a songwriiters website a few years ago, "Sue" was based on an old college girlfriend, they never were in SF though and in fact other than one brief period before they married HC never worked outside the NY area. She stated she didn't know why SF was chosen as the site of the song and speculated it may have been simply because it fit the lyric better , it sounded better.
It made sense from a storytelling standpoint to continue the storyline in SF when he wrote "Sequel", the song that catches the two characters 10 years removed from this chance encounter, right before he passed away.
@FlairFan01 I like fact he wrote a sequel and it's as good as Taxi