Sniper and Other Love Songs is the second studio album by the American singer/songwriter Harry Chapin

Harry Chapin

Harry Forster Chapin was an American singer-songwriter best known in particular for his folk rock songs including "Taxi", "W*O*L*D", and the number-one hit "Cat's in the Cradle". Chapin was also a dedicated humanitarian who fought to end world hunger; he was a key player in the creation of the...

, released in 1972. The album's title song is a vaguely fictionalised account of Charles Whitman

Charles Whitman

Charles Joseph Whitman was a student at the University of Texas at Austin and a former Marine who killed 16 people and wounded 32 others during a shooting rampage on and around the university's campus on August 1, 1966....

's shootings from the University of Texas at Austin

University of Texas at Austin

The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...

 Main Building clocktower

Main Building of The University of Texas at Austin

The Main Building is a structure at the center of the University of Texas campus in Austin, Texas, United States...

 in August 1966. In 2004 it was released as a double CD package with "Heads and Tales

Heads and Tales

Heads & Tales is the first studio album by the American singer/songwriter Harry Chapin, released in 1972 . The album contains Chapin's early signature song "Taxi."...

" featuring several previously unreleased out-takes.

The song "Circle" was a major hit for The New Seekers

The New Seekers

The New Seekers are a British-based pop group, formed in 1969 by Keith Potger after the break-up of his group, The Seekers. The idea was that the New Seekers would appeal to the same market as the original Seekers, but their music had rock as well as folk influences...

 and became known as the Chapin Anthem. "Sunday Morning Sunshine" did manage to crack the Billboard Hot 100. A live version of "Better Place To Be" charted in 1976.

Track listing

All songs by Harry Chapin

1. "Sunday Morning Sunshine" – 3:51
2. "Sniper
   Sniper (song)
   "Sniper" is a ballad written by Harry Chapin and first released on the album Sniper and Other Love Songs in 1972.-Overview:The 9-minute, 55-second song is based on the 1966 University of Texas shooting with some fictional accounts taken. In the song, the actual sniper, Charles Whitman, is not...
   
   " – 9:58
3. "And the Baby Never Cries" – 5:09
4. "Burning Herself" – 3:30
5. "Barefoot Boy" – 3:29
6. "Better Place to Be" – 8:36
7. "Circle" – 3:24
8. "Woman Child" – 5:24
9. "Winter Song" – 2:31

Personnel

• Harry Chapin
  Harry Chapin
  Harry Forster Chapin was an American singer-songwriter best known in particular for his folk rock songs including "Taxi", "W*O*L*D", and the number-one hit "Cat's in the Cradle". Chapin was also a dedicated humanitarian who fought to end world hunger; he was a key player in the creation of the...
  
   - guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  , vocals
• John Wallace
  John Wallace (musician)
  "Big" John Wallace was a bassist and backup singer for singer-songwriter Harry Chapin. John gained membership to Harry's band by responding to an ad placed in the Village Voice in 1971...
  
   - bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  , vocals
• Tim Scott - cello
  Cello
  The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
  
  
• Ron Palmer - lead guitar
  Lead guitar
  Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
  
  , vocals
• Steve Chapin
  Steve Chapin
  Stephen Chapin is an American singer. He is best known as the youngest of the four Chapin brothers, which include Harry Chapin and Tom Chapin, and is the son of drummer Jim Chapin and uncle of Jen Chapin and the Chapin Sisters. He has frequently toured and performed with both of his musician brothers...
  
   - keyboards
  Keyboard instrument
  A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
  
  
• Russ Kunkel
  Russ Kunkel
  Russell Kunkel , also known as Russ Kunkel, is an American drummer and producer who has worked as a session musician with a number of well-known artists.Kunkel was born in Pittsburgh, PA...
  
   - drums and percussion