It's the most self-indulgent thing I can think of. I've got nothing against selling out. But let me sell out for something that counts. Not so Harry Chapin can be No. 1 with a bullet, but so I can leave here thinking I mattered. Acknowledgments to author.
Songwriters are lucky people.
If they can put the dreams and hopes of their fellow human beings into a few minutes of melody, words, rhyme and rhythm, their songs become a part of a nation and go from person to person for generations. Harry Chapin was such a songwriter.