# Talk:Mary Chapin Carpenter

Just curious about the use of the phrase "highly successful" when the likes of Bob Dylan are merely songwriters and performers.  As a European I must confess to never having heard of Ms Carpenter, and was curious how she could be "highly successful" if you see what I mean.
LeeG 17:36, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

I'm a European too, and I've been a fan of her for years. Her records has sold extremely well in the US, but well in Europe too. So I don't think that is an unfair characteristic. However, the article needs a lot of work to catch up with those on other artists. I hope someone is willing to work on it. Is there some template we can put on it to make it known that it could use some work? Madman332 15:20, 28 June 2006 (UTC)
Just to add one more comment on the subject: I would refer to someone like Bob Dylan as a legend, icon or superstar. I definitely think "highly successful" is appropriate for MCC.
LeeG, no I don't see what you mean. Surely an artist who has sold something like 15 mill. albums and received several music industry awards is highly successful? In any case, is it not somewhat arrogant to argue that just because you have not heard about someome that person cannot possibly be "highly succesful in his or her field"?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.157.224.13 (talk) 04:13, 16 March 2010 (UTC) 

I placed the tag in response to a request on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Country Music that the article be improved.--WilliamThweatt 16:18, 5 July 2006 (UTC)


### Warren Zevon / Werewolves of London
Does anybody else think that Mary Chapin Carpenter's "Shut Up and Kiss Me" has a strong resemblance to Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London"? I think the songs are almost identical. -- Anonymous

I don't know if I've ever made that connection, but it's definitely there. "Werewolves" and "Shut Up" both use a V, IV, I chord progression in the verse. Of course, they are also similar in style (instrument choice, tempo, etcetera). Moreover, each song has a five-syllable title which also serves as a spoken "catch phrase" in the lyrics. But I don't think this is any big secret... And I can't recall if she's ever cited him, but I suspect Carpenter is probably pretty fond of Zevon's music and might even cite him as an influence. I would also point out that she modifies the chord progression in the chorus to IV, V, I whereas Zevon just plows ahead relentlessly with V, IV, I throughout the whole song. Both approaches sound good to me; in fact, these are both among my favorite songs. And in general, V, IV, I is probably one of the most obvious and common chord progressions out there. I'm sure someone can come up with bunches of songs that use it.  It's really just a simple progression that's good for jamming out, kind of like the 8-bar blues progression, or the I, vi, ii, V progression that you hear in so much early rock. --Beau Wilkinson

(EDIT:Examples of the V-IV-I progression are the Ring Of Fire chorus (1962), Love Me Do chorus (1964), Magic Carpet Ride verse (1969), Maggie Mae verse (1971), Sweet Home Alabama verse (1974), and I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For chorus (1987 source:http://www.angelfire.com/fl4/moneychords/rockI-IV-Vprogression.html ).

Is the other person in the photo notable?  If not, it should probably be cropped or replaced with a photo of the subject by herself. Mooveeguy 21:33, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

I wanted to explain my changes made Oct. 13 to the MCC article. I followed the organization of the Shawn Colvin article to include headings, added a few details and tried to clean up some of the text. I contributed earlier to this article, but agree that it needed and still needs work. The first picture should be changed, but I can't figure out how to upload an image in the editing process. Perhaps the current top photo could be moved below to the "Personal life and Activism" section, although it might be misleading (i.e. someone might think it's her husband), but the caption should clear it up.--Loosely Wired on Oct. 13, 2006 at 15:58 CET (an American MCC fan in Europe, who hasn't heard much mention of her here).

Someone added a bit to the career section which seemed much more appropriate to me as a trivia item, so I placed it under a new category by that name.

She formerly used a hyphen in her name: Mary-Chapin Carpenter, but now eschews the hyphen: Mary Chapin Carpenter. This probably warrants mention, as it is relevant to the technicality of what her name really is (was?). Her reasons for changing may also deserve mention, although I can't provide any authoritative information about it. According to unverified web sources, she added the hyphen in the 1980s, and deleted it in 1994 at the request of her record company. Her friends call her "Mary Chapin" rather than "Mary". Her father is Chapin Carpenter.

I recall reading years ago (perhaps in an article in The New York Times) that her friends called her 'Chapin' as she felt 'Mary' was plain or square.I imagine she added the hyphen to avoid the assumption that 'Chapin' is part of her surname. --anon. 141.157.211.168 (talk) 03:22, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Hi, does anyone know how to pronounce her middle name? I like her music, but I've never heard her name being pronounced. Does it rhyme with French "lapin"? --Kjoonlee 20:12, 5 May 2007 (UTC)
Phonetically it is pronounced something like CHAY - pin. It is not typically pronounced as a French word.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.81.61.136 (talk) 22:31, 30 August 2007 (UTC) 

Image:EssentialMaryChapin.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in Wikipedia articles constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
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Image:MaryChapinTSL.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
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Image:MaryChapinParty.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
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Image:MaryChapinHometown.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
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Image:MaryChapinCalling.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
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If there is other other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page.  Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.BetacommandBot 04:47, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Image:MaryChapinBetween.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
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If there is other other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page.  Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.BetacommandBot 04:47, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

I ask because 'Chapin' is an unusual name. I haven't heard it anywhere except with reference to these two singers. DavidFarmbrough (talk) 04:44, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

The article currently states "Mary Chapin Carpenter has been the author of a biweekly column in the Washington Times since December 2008 in which she discusses a variety of topics related to music and politics."  I looked in the WT and saw no columns since March of this year, so I added the reference to her WT story page and changed it to end in March 2009.  Smontg2 (talk) 20:36, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

I don't know how to edit the References section. But I think that the "Boston Globe" link should be to the Boston Globe's web site (http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/) rather than the Boston Globe page on Wikipedia. And I think that every reference to an article should include a link to the article, and not just a link to the publication in which the article was found. Maybe someone who knows how to edit references could help with this. Thanks. Sharon Leigh Wilson (talk) 21:46, 18 August 2011 (UTC)

Citations often (but not always) include wikilinks to articles on the publication, publishers or authors, so that's not really a problem. Having a link to an online source is not necessarily required to fulfil Wikipedia:Verifiability. If the source is only available online, then we would need a url to the original. If it's available in the offline version of a paper, then a link can be provided as a courtesy, but it's not a requirement. However, there should be enough information about the source material that a reader can easily go and look it up for themselves. In this case, there is a date and article title, it should be possible to find the article although ideally there should be either a url, or a page number for the offline edition.
As for actually editing the reference, sometimes it's hard to track them down in the text, but if you look for where it first appears, that's often where it is. In this case, the citation information is in the first paragraph of the "Continued 1990s success" section.--BelovedFreak 08:33, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

The text here refers to "the agreement with the Dixie Chicks ("On With the Song")," but there is no previous reference to the Dixie Chicks.  Perhaps it was edited out.  Could one of this page's editors explain what the "agreement with the Dixie Chicks" refers to.  Thanks.
Mostlyw (talk) 13:59, 2 April 2012 (UTC)

Why on earth so many references to the process by which MCC announced information. Surely it is more appropriate to state the facts relating to MCC and then, if necessary, cite the source. I don't care about facebook or twitter or when she announced things or that she is "hard at work" etc...
"In late 2011, Carpenter announced via Facebook and Twitter that she was hard at work on a follow-up album to The Age of Miracles. The beginning recording sessions were recorded at AIR Studios in London, England."
And there are some completely irrelevant facts, such as the following. What matters are the album title, release date(s). The following leaves doubt that the album was actually released, as well as giving irrelevant press release guff.
"On February 14, 2012, Carpenter announced via her management on her official Facebook page, that her new album, Ashes and Roses, would be released on June 12, 2012."  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.71.37.97 (talk) 18:03, 10 February 2018 (UTC) 

Sometimes, but only occasionally, her name is spelled "Mary-Chapin Carpenter"--i.e. with a dash. See, for example, the cover of Come On Come On. Anyone what the deal with this is, and should it be mentioned in the article? Yilloslime (talk) 23:32, 29 June 2018 (UTC)