The Parade's Still Passing By - Harry Chapin

I got the news today

That you refused to play

Cause you never made number one

But it's not just the words

It's the deeds that are heard

When all is said and done

Kings take their crowns

They melt them all down

Trying to get the gold out

You went to hell and

Even when you weren't selling

You never ever sold out.

You weren't no leader

You were more like a bleeder

Who was trying to cry for us all

You weren't no sage

But your sense of outrage

Sounded like a trumpet call

Fifteen years ago

In the old folky show

You were just one voice in the crowd

But now with so few singing

Your voice would have been ringing

Out 'bout twice as loud.

There but for fortune

Say a small circle of friends

Some may see the changes

So few see the ends

The pleasures of the harbor

Have come to you at last

You may not be marching anymore

But the parade's still going past

I'm not taking the blame

That we killed you

You know you did that to yourself

But it was kind of a shame

That you played that game

Cause you were better than anyone else

One shot of your bottle

Got you full throttle

It was the friend that was always there

But your greatest gift

And the curse you lived with

Was that you could always care.