Sniper

Sniper is a Harry Chapin song that is the title track of the Sniper and Other Love Songs album. Sniper was based on the story of Charles Whitman, who on August 1, 1966 killed 14 people during a shooting rampage from the Texas Clock Tower on the campus of the University of Texas, in Austin, Texas.

This song is example of how Chapin would read a story or drive through a town and spin a yarn from that brief encounter. In this case, he takes the story Charles Whitman and transforms the brutal assault into a conversation in the mind of deranged mind of the killer.

Releases

First release

• Sniper and Other Love Songs (1972)

Anthologies

• Gold Medal Collection (1988)
• Story of a Life (1999)
• VH1: Behind the Music (2001)
• The Essentials: Harry Chapin (2002)
• Harry Chapin Classics (2003)
• Heads and Tales and Sniper and Other Love Songs (2004)

Covers

• In 1984, George Orbach, John Herrera and the company performed this song on the Lies and Legends cast recording.

Reviews

"I Will Be": The Horror of Harry Chapin's "Sniper" - this detailed blog posting dissects Sniper and observes "it's more than crazy--it's inventive, insightful, piercing, and, to me at least, unforgettable."