OldTroubador's blog post - Is It Wrong......

….that I sing this song every time I push over the top of a long, steep hill? LOL


The hill mentioned in the song is on PA307 northbound going into Scranton, PA, also known as the Moosic Street hill. I can remember, before trucks were banned from this hill, the billboard at the top reminding drivers to downshift before trying to go down the hill into Scranton. And there were police at the bottom to write citations for the drivers who went down the hill without taking a lower gear and survived. The billboard is still there.
This song is based on an actual accident that occurred on 18 March 1965.
Harry Chapin was a brilliant songwriter, a modern day troubadour who could inspire the full range of emotions in his listeners. He was killed in a car accident, coincidentally with a grocery truck, on Long Island on 18 July 1981. He was the founder of the World Hunger Year foundation to raise awareness and fight hunger on a national and worldwide scale. This was in addition to the multitude of philanthropies he also supported.
A brilliant man and the quintessential humanitarian, taken from us far too soon.