Clare Alden MacIntyre-Ross, Inspiration For Chapin Song 'Taxi'

[98valk]

Has died.

They met as summer camp counselors in the early 1960s, and the result was a weepy love song, "Taxi," a hit for Harry Chapin in 1972.

Clare Alden MacIntyre-Ross, who spent her final years in Falls Church, Va., died March 9 of complications from a stroke at age 73, according to The Wall Street Journal. The daughter of Malcolm MacIntyre, a lawyer who headed Eastern Airlines from 1959 to 1963, she had an on-and-off romance with Chapin in the early 1960s.

Their split inspired the song, described by the musician as about 60% accurate, according to his biographer, Peter M. Coan.

In the song, a cabdriver discovers his old flame, now wealthy, in the back of his taxi. She hands him $20 for a $2.50 fare and says, "Harry, keep the change."

In real life, the two drifted apart and married other people. Though Mr. Chapin once considered becoming a taxi driver, his musical aspirations prevailed.

Chapin never completely got over Ms. MacIntyre, according to Mr. Coan: "She was the love of his life." He died at age 38 in 1981 on the Long Island Expressway when a truck slammed into his Volkswagen Rabbit.

http://www.mediaconfidential.blogspot.com/2016/03/rip-clare-alden-macintyre-ross.html

[J.Mencalice]

Harry had a light heart.  He was good people and a helluva songwriter.

[baldo]

That's one of my favorite songs. Taken from us too early.