title: TAXI
key: Rock
harp type: Chromatic
genre: C
skill: Any

TAXI
By Harry Chapin
(play this an octave lower
if you have a 16-holer)
It was rain-ing hard in ‘Fris-co,
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I need-ed one more fare to make my night.
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A lad-y up a-head waved to flag me down,
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She got in at the light.
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Oh, where you go-ing to, my lad-y blue,
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It’s a shame you ruined
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your gown in the rain.
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She just looked out the win-dow, she said
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“Six-teen Park-side Lane”.
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5 -3* -3 -5 5 -3 -6* 7 -6* 6 -7* -7 7 8
Some-thing a bout her was fa-mil-iar
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I could swear I’d seen her face be-fore,
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But she said, “I’m sure you’re mis-tak-en”
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And she did-n’t say an- y-thing more.
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It took a while,
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but she looked in the mir-ror,
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Then she glanced at the li-cense for my name.
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A smile seemed to come to her slow-ly,
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It was a sad smile, just the same.
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And she said, “How are you Har-ry?”
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I said, “How are you Sue?
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Through the too ma-ny miles
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and the too lit-tle smiles
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I still re-mem-ber you.”
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(-7-7-7-7 77-77-6*-6*-6* 5555
-4-4-4-3-3-3-3 3-33-2*-2*-2*-2* 2-2*)
It was some-where in a fai-ry tale,
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I used to take her home in my car.
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We learned a-bout love
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in the back of a Dodge,
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The les-son had-n’t gone too far.
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You see, she was gon-na be an ac-tress,
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And I was gon-na learn to fly.
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She took off to find the foot-lights,
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I took off to find the sky.
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Whoa, I’ve got some-thing in-side me,
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To drive a prin-cess blind.
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There’s a wild man, wi-zard,
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He’s hid-ing in me,
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il-lu-mi-na-ting my mind.
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Whoa, I’ve got some-thing in-side me,
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Not what my life’s a-bout,
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’Cause I’ve been let-tin’
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my out-side tide me,
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O-ver ’till my time, runs out.
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Ba-by’s so high that she’s sky-ing,
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Yes she’s fly-ing, a-fraid to fall.
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I’ll tell you why ba-by’s cry-ing,
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’Cause she’s dy-ing, aren’t we all?
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-5 -6* -5 6 5 -3 4 -5 -6 -5 6 5
There was not much more
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for us to talk a-bout,
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What-ev-er we had once was gone.
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So I turned my cab in-to the drive-way,
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Past the gate and the fine trimmed lawn.
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And she said we must get to-geth-er,
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But I knew it-‘d nev-er be ar-ranged.
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Then she hand-ed me twent-y dol-lars,
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On a two fif-ty fare, she said
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“Har-ry, keep the change.”
5 5 -5 5 5 (spoken0)(my ad lib)
Well an-oth-er man might have been an-gry,
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And an-oth-er man might have been hurt,
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But an-oth-er man nev-er
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would have let her go…
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I stashed the bill in my shirt.
5 -5 5 6 -5 5 5 (spoken)(my ad lib)
And she walked a-way in si-lence,
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It’s strange, how you nev-er know,
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But we’d both got-ten what we’d asked for,
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Such a long, long time a-go.
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You see, she was gon-na be an ac-tress
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And I was gon-na learn to fly.
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She took off to find the foot-lights,
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I took off for the sky.
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And here, she’s act-ing hap-py,
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In-side her hand-some home.
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And me, I’m fly-ing in my tax-i,
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Tak-ing tips, and get-ting stoned,
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I go fly-ing so high, when I’m stoned.
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Repeat last line and fade.