Song Of The Day 10/31/2013: Harry Chapin - "Sniper"

Halloween Week: The whole goal of Halloween Week was to find the creepiest, most disquieting, least comfortable song to put up on the day of October 31, to save the best for last. I went through a bunch of contenders, from the Horrorist and Lords of Acid to the Louvin Brothers and bored men from Norway. None were sufficiently creepy. None had that combination of je ne sais qois and outright inappropriateness to make the cut.

Then I heard this, allegedly based on the story of Charles Whitman and his shootings at the University of Texas in 1966. This is it. This is the creepiest thing I could have given you for Halloween. For many reasons. Not the least of which being... it's from Harry Chapin.

"Cats In The Cradle" Harry Chapin. "Taxi" Harry Chapin. "W.O.L.D." Harry Chapin. I never really cared for Harry Chapin's music, but boy, do I care for this batshit insane, ten-minute journey into the crevasses of the wounded soul. If "Cats In The Cradle" dealt with daddy issues, then "Sniper"... well, let's just say Harry had some constructive criticism about Mom, but made the poor choice to eschew personal counseling and take another, less civilized route to mental health.

Harry also gets posthumous points for the name of this album: Sniper And Other Love Songs.

So there, we got Halloween Week out of the way. Next up: Daylight Savings Time ends. It's earlier than you think.