Harry Chapin (Chay pin) was one of the finest singer songwriters to emerge from the 1970s. Highly recommend you react to his song "Taxi", his first big radio hit.
A very reflective reaction 🐱 🪞! That's his wife and son. He's from New York. Harry Chapin passed away in 1981, at 38 years of age. Cats In The Cradle was released as the third single from Harry Chapin's 1974 album: Verities & Balderdash. It was written by Harry Chapin and Sandra Chapin. It was produced by Paul Leka. The song reached #1 on the Hot 100, #1 on the Cash Box 100 and #6 on the Adult Contemporary chart. The single was certified Gold. This heartbreaking song tells of a father and son who can't schedule time to be with each other, and it serves as a warning against putting one's career before family. The verses start out with a natural harmony and depict the tale of a father with his newborn son. Although dad gets the necessities of child rearing accomplished, he doesn't allow himself to put in quality time with his son because of his career. Initially, this seems like no big deal because of his hectic and oblivious life working and paying bills. The recurring verse has the son saying: "I'm gonna be like you Dad / you know I'm gonna be like you". Over time, both father and son grow into a switching of life roles. The father realizes his son's ambitions of college, grades, and driving, and wants to spend more time with him, yet slowly grasps the reality that now his son has no time for such things. In the last song verse, Harry Chapin illustrates that the son is all grown up with a fast-paced job and kids of his own. In a glaring twist of roles, we see that the son now has no time to spend with his father. With a heavy heart, dad realizes that his boy has become just like him. This song is based on a poem that Harry Chapin's wife Sandy wrote. She told Songfacts: "'Cat's In The Cradle' was a combination of a couple of things. Whenever I was on a long drive I would listen to country music, because words would keep me awake more than just music. And I heard a song… I can remember the story, but I don't remember who sang it or what the title was, but an old couple were sitting at their breakfast table and looking out the window, and they saw the rusted swing and the sandbox, and they were reminiscing about the good old days when all the children were around and then the grandchildren, and how it passed, and now it's all gone. The other part of the idea - this is always a problem, because Harry introduced the song at all his concerts and said, 'This is a song my wife wrote to zap me because I wasn't home when our son Josh was born.' I was always kind of amused by that because of the fact that we learn life's lessons too late. We don't learn lessons before the fact. We don't have a child born and then have all this wisdom. So I always thought it was interesting the way he told the story. But I learned the story because my [first] husband was going to New York to be a lawyer, and I had a teaching job in New York. While we were apartment hunting, we were living with his parents in Brooklyn. His father was the borough president of Brooklyn at the time, which I think was a much more important job than it is today. But every day when he got home from work, he would start talking to his son about, 'It'd be great if you'd go down to the club on Tuesday night, I'd like to introduce you to some of the people I know,' and so forth. And he started trying to engineer a career for him which leads to politics. They did not have any relationship or communication because they had been so busy until his son went off to college and was gone. I don't remember exactly how, but he started talking to me. My father-in-law would say me, even though we were all in the same room, 'Tell Jimmy I would like to see him down at the clubhouse on Tuesday.' It was really very strange. So this is the way the evenings went. The conversation was going through me. So I realized what had happened. You know, relationships and characters and personalities and all those things are formed by two, so I realized that that hadn't happened. And it was very jerky at that stage. So I observed something that gave me the idea for the song". It took the birth of his son for Harry Chapin to decide to turn the poem his wife wrote into a song. Sandy Chapin explained in her Songfacts interview: "Harry and I would exchange writing of all kinds. We were always working on each other's writing. Some of my writing at a certain period were 20-page papers for a doctoral program at Columbia. So it wasn't always that poetic. But we both looked at each other's stuff. And then one time he came home and he said, 'What have you been doing?' I showed him 'Cat's In The Cradle,' and he said, 'Well, that's interesting'. You know, sometimes he'd pick up something and put music to it. And that didn't really grab him at all. And then after Josh was born, it did. He picked it up and he wrote music to it". Rapper Darryl "DMC" McDaniels was inspired to rewrite the song and perform it under the title: "Just Like Me", featuring Sarah McLachlan. The song was released from DMC's 2006 album: Checks Thugs And Rock n Roll. It tells the story of his birth and adoption. The song was used for a commercial in Northern Ireland about the troubles at the time. In the spot, a father is involved in one of the political groups and he isn't much of an example for his son (flash back father with gun running into house terrorizing family of opposite religion, etc.). Because of this the kid ends of following in his foot steps. It tried to send the message that following a bad example can become a vicious circle and unless we change, the troubles will never go away and our children will suffer. The song played throughout a Nissan commercial that debuted during the 2015 Super Bowl (between the Patriots and Seahawks). In the spot, a champion race car driver spends most of his time away from home and rarely sees his son. At the end of the commercial, he shows up in a Nissan to surprise his now-teenaged son. The song is featured in the 2013 video game 🎮: Grand Theft Auto V. The song has been featured in some films including 📽: Last Vegas (2013), Shrek The Third (2007), Mr Jealousy (1997) and more. The song has been covered by some other artists including 📻: Johnny Cash, Ugly Kid Joe, Karl Bender, Judy Collins, Kenny Vehkavaara, Jen Chapin, Finn Kalvik, Jason Downs and more. The song has been featured in some TV shows including 📺: Resident Alien ("Here Comes My Baby" - 2024), It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia ("PTSDee" - 2017), Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life ("Winter" - 2016), Superstore ("Seasonal Help" - 2016), The Goldbergs ("In Conclusion, Thanksgiving" - 2015), Modern Family ("A Slight At The Opera" - 2013), The Office ("St.Patrick's Day" - 2010), Cougar Town ("Wake Up Time" - 2010), How I Met Your Mother ("Not A Father's Day" - 2008), Scrubs ("My Unicorn" - 2004), That '70s Show ("The Career Day" - 1999), The Simpsons ("Saturdays Of Thunder" - 1991, "Bart's Girlfriend" - 1994, "Labor Pains" - 2013), Get A Life ("Dadicus" - 1990) and more. Critical Reception 🗣: Cash Box called it "a tender story of a father and his son and a perfect representation of how roles change in the relationship over the years," stating it was a "lyrical delight". Record World said that the song "deals with the preoccupations plaguing parenthood" and that it "bridges the generation gap by pointing up mutual faults". Legacy🛡: In 2001, the song was ranked #186 of 365 on the Recording Industry Association of America list of Songs of the Century. In 2011, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame. Lyrics 🗒: My child arrived just the other day He came to the world in the usual way But there were planes to catch, and bills to pay He learned to walk while I was away And he was talking 'fore I knew it, and as he grew He'd say "I'm gonna be like you, dad" "You know I'm gonna be like you" And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon Little boy blue and the man in the moon "When you coming home, dad?" "I don't know when" But we'll get together then You know we'll have a good time then My son turned ten just the other day He said, thanks for the ball, dad, come on let's play Can you teach me to throw, I said-a, not today I got a lot to do, he said, that's okay And he, he walked away, but his smile never dimmed It said, I'm gonna be like him, yeah You know I'm gonna be like him And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon Little boy blue and the man in the moon "When you coming home, dad?" "I don't know when" But we'll get together then You know we'll have a good time then Well, he came from college just the other day So much like a man I just had to say Son, I'm proud of you, can you sit for a while? He shook his head, and they said with a smile What I'd really like, dad, is to borrow the car keys See you later, can I have them please? And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon Little boy blue and the man in the moon "When you coming home, son?" "I don't know when" But we'll get together then, dad You know we'll have a good time then I've long since retired, my son's moved away I called him up just the other day I said, I'd like to see you if you don't mind He said, I'd love to, dad, if I can find the time You see, my new job's a hassle, and the kids have the flu But it's sure nice talking to you, dad It's been sure nice talking to you And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me He'd grown up just like me My boy was just like me And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon Little boy blue and the man in the moon "When you coming home, son?" "I don't know when" But we'll get together then, dad We're gonna have a good time then ****CONTINUE BELOW****
Harry Chapin Info 📰: Harry Forster Chapin was born on December 7, 1942, in New York City, New York. He passed away on July 16, 1981, in East Meadow, New York. He was a singer, songwriter, producer, philanthropist, and hunger activist best known for his Folk Rock and Pop Rock songs. He achieved worldwide success in the 1970s. He recorded a total of 11 studio albums. All 14 singles that he released became hits on at least one national music chart. Chapin's best-known songs include: "Taxi", W.O.L.D.", "Sequel" and "Cat's In The Cradle". He is a Grammy Award-winning artist and Grammy Hall of Fame inductee, has sold over 16 million records worldwide. As a dedicated humanitarian, Harry Chapin fought to end world hunger. He was a key participant in the creation of the Presidential Commission on World Hunger in 1977. In 1987, Harry Chapin was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his humanitarian work. Harry Chapin was also the inspiration for the antihunger projects USA For Africa and Hands Across America, which were organized by Ken Kragen, who had been Harry Chapin's manager at the end of his career. Ken Kragen, explaining his work on these benefit events, said: "I felt like Harry had crawled into my body and was making me do it". Harry Chapin's first formal introduction to music was trumpet lessons at The Greenwich House Music School under Mr Karesick. His younger brothers Tom and Steve were choirboys at Grace Episcopal Church in Brooklyn Heights, and through them Chapin met "Big" John Wallace, a baritone with a five-octave range, who later became his bassist, backing vocalist, and straight man onstage. Harry Chapin began performing with his brothers while a teenager, with their father occasionally joining them on drums. Harry Chapin graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1960 and was among the five inductees in the school's Alumni Hall of Fame for the year 2000. He briefly attended the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and was then a student at Cornell University, but did not complete a degree. Harry Chapin originally intended to be a documentary film-maker and took a job with The Big Fights, a company run by Bill Cayton that owned a large library of classic boxing films. Harry Chapin directed the boxing documentary: Legendary Champions, in 1968, which was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1971, he began focusing on music. With John Wallace, Tim Scott, and Ron Palmer, Harry Chapin started playing in various nightclubs in New York City. In 1972, there was a bidding war over Harry Chapin between music business heavyweights Clive Davis at Columbia Records and Jac Holzman at Elektra Records. Harry Chapin signed a multi-million dollar recording contract with Elektra Records. The contract was one of the biggest of its time. It granted him free recording time, along with many other perks. The same year, Harry Chapin released his debut album: Heads & Tales. The album was an international success, selling over one million units. Its success was due to his Top-25 Pop single: "Taxi" (#24 Pop). His follow-up album: Sniper And Other Love Songs, was also released in 1972. The album's title son: "Sniper", is a semi-fictional account of the 1966 University of Texas tower shooting. The single release from the album: "Sunday Morning Sunshine", charted on the Hot 100 (#75) and became a Top-40 hit on Billboard Adult Contemporary (#30). The album was less successful than the last, selling 350,000 units. The album also contained the Harry Chapin anthem song: "Circle". In 1973, Harry Chapin released his third album: Short Stories. The album sold over 1 million units and produced another international hit: "W.O.L.D." (#36 Pop, #37 Adult Contemporary) a song about an aging disc jockey who has given up his entire life and family for his career. The song is sung from the point of view of the disc jockey, who is singing to his ex-wife. It was inspired by American radio personality Jim Connors. Other notable songs from the album not released as singles are: "Mr Tanner", "Mail Order Annie" and "They Call Her Easy". in 1974, Harry Chapin released his most successful album: Verities And Balderdash, which sold 2.5 million units because of the number 1 Pop hit: "Cat's In The Cradle". The song is about a father who does not find time for his son during the boy's childhood; ultimately the son grows up to be just like his father, not making any time for his dad. The song earned Harry Chapin another Grammy nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, and Harry Chapin's song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2011. The album's follow-up single: "I Wanna Learn A Love Song", charted at # 7 on Billboard Adult Contemporary. The song is a true story of how Harry Chapin met his wife, Sandra Chapin. Also, the album's song: "30,000 Pounds Of Bananas", became the number-one requested song for a few weeks, despite not being released as a single. It is a semi-fictional account of a truck crash that occurred in Scranton, Pennsylvania, transporting bananas-based loosely on a March 18, 1965. Other notable songs from the album include: "Shooting Star", "Halfway To Heaven" and "Six String Orchestra". In 1975, Harry Chapin released his fifth album: Portrait Gallery, which produced a Top-40 Billboard Adult Contemporary hit: "Dreams Go By"(#33 Adult Contemporary). However, it was less successful than the last, selling 350,000 units. Harry Chapin also wrote and performed a Broadway play: The Night That Made America Famous, which earned two Tony Award nominations and two Drama Desk Award nominations. By 1976, Harry Chapin was established as one of the most popular singers of the decade. He released his first live album: Greatest Stories Live. The album sold 2.1 million units. However, Elektra Records underwent a management change and gave almost no promotion for his later albums with Elektra Records: On The Road To Kingdom Come (1976), Dance Band On The Titanic (1977), Living Room Suite (1978) and Legends Of The Lost And Found (1979), but they all sold at least 250,000 units each and charted successfully. His 1977 album: Dance Band On The Titanic, sold poorly, but it was still voted "Album of the Year" by The Times of London. On October 15, 1977, a one-time benefit concert called: Four Together - Concert For World Hunger, featured Harry Chapin and three other renowned Folk and Country Rock singer-songwriters in Gordon Lightfoot, James Taylor and John Denver, was performed at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit, Michigan. The performance, which lasted nearly three hours, was played live on CKLW AM 800, and raised money to combat world hunger. By the end of the decade, Harry Chapin concentrated more on touring than producing hit singles, but still released one album a year. He was one of the highest annual earning singers in the world at the time. In 1980, his recording contract with Elektra Records expired. Harry Chapin signed a one-album contract with Boardwalk Records and released his ninth studio album: Sequel, which was described as his fastest-breaking album. Three singles were released, with all of them becoming hits. The first single, "Sequel", became a Top-25 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 (#23). The song is a follow-up to his 1972 song: “Taxi”. The second single: "Remember When The Music", became a Top-50 hit on the Adult Contemporary Chart (#47). The last single: "Story Of A Life", peaked on the Bubbling Under Pop chart at #105. The album sold 500,000 units. Harry Chapin (December 7, 1942 - July 16, 1981) Passing 🙏: On the afternoon of July 16, 1981, Harry Chapin was driving on the Long Island Expressway en route to perform at a free benefit concert at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, New York, that evening. At 12:27 p.m., Harry Chapin had reportedly put on his emergency flashers, decelerated his vehicle's speed to 15 mph, and had weaved from the far-left lane to the center lane, to the left lane, and then back to the center lane before his vehicle was struck from behind by a semi-trailer truck. The force of the collision crushed the rear of the car, ruptured the fuel tank, and dragged the car several hundred feet on the pavement. Passers-by managed to help the unconscious Harry Chapin out of his engulfed 1975 Volkswagen Rabbit. He was immediately taken by helicopter from the crash site outside Jericho, New York, to the nearby Nassau County Medical Center, where he was pronounced deceased at 1:05 p.m. due to internal bleeding. He was 38 years of age. Harry Chapin's widow won a $12 million decision in a negligence lawsuit against Supermarkets General, the owners of the truck involved. Chapin is buried in the Huntington Rural Cemetery in Huntington, New York. His gravestone 🪦 epitaph is taken from his 1978 song "I Wonder What Would Happen To This World": Oh if a man tried To take his time on Earth And prove before he died What one man's life could be worth I wonder what would happen to this world ****CONTINUE BELOW****
Miscellaneous Notes 🗂: Harry Chapin released a book of his poems and song lyrics in 1975: Looking ... Seeing. In 1975, Harry Chapin co-founded WhyHunger, with radio host Bill Ayres. WhyHunger has since grown into a global non-profit. The organization works with more than 8,000 community-based groups across the globe and has worked in 30 countries. These groups aim to help people to help themselves through food production, job-training programs, nutrition education, community economic development, healthcare workshops, youth programming, leadership development and more. Harry Chapin became good friends with fellow songwriter John Denver, often appearing on TV with him. John Denver hosted the pilot episode of the TV show: The Midnight Special, in which Harry Chapin was one of the very first performers on the show. He was a key participant in the creation of the "Presidential Commission on World Hunger" in 1977. The Lakeside Theatre at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, New York, was renamed Harry Chapin Lakeside Theatre during a memorial concert held one month after his passing, as a tribute to his efforts to combat world hunger. Other Long Island landmarks named in honor of Harry Chapin include a graduate-student apartment complex at Stony Brook University, a theater in Heckscher Park in Huntington, New York, and a playground at the intersection of Columbia Heights and Middagh Street in Brooklyn Heights. Harry Chapin's widow Sandra Chapin, is the head of the "Harry Chapin Foundation", whose mission is to "support organizations that have demonstrated their ability to dramatically improve the lives and livelihood of people by helping them to become self-sufficient". The village of Croton-on-Hudson, New York, has hosted the annual Harry Chapin Run Against Hunger, a 10k, 5k, and fun run, since 1981. The ASCAP Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award is named after the late singer, songwriter and social activist, Harry Chapin, and is given for humanitarian contributions. In 1994, admirers of the late singer's passionate fight against hunger renamed the then 11-year-old Southwest Florida Food Bank (Fort Myers, FL) the Harry Chapin Food Bank of Southwest Florida, in tribute to Harry Chapin, and with the permission of his widow. In 2001, Harry Chapin's 1974 song: "Cat's In The Cradle", was ranked number 186 of 365 on the Recording Industry Association of America list of Songs of the Century. A children's picture book was created using the lyrics of Harry Chapin's 1973 song: "Mr Tanner", and the illustrations of Bryan Langdo; it was published by Ripple Grove Press in May 2017. Greenwich Entertainment released a documentary film titled: "Harry Chapin: When in Doubt, Do Something". It was directed by Rick Korn and produced by Jason Chapin. It was released theatrically and through virtual cinema on October 16, 2020, which is also World Food Day. Honors & Awards 🏅: Rock Music Awards - Public Service Award (1976) Rock Music Awards - Public Service Award (1977) Ten Outstanding Young Americans (1977) President's Merit Award (1986) Congressional Gold Medal for humanitarian work (1987) Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame inductee (2006) Grammy Hall of Fame Award Inductee "Cat's In The Cradle" (2011) Videography 📼: An Evening With... Harry Chapin (1998) Rockpalast Live (2002) Remember When: The Anthology (2005) You Are The Only Song (2006) Harry Chapin Albums (*Posthumous Album) 📀: Heads & Tales (1972) Sniper And Other Love Songs (1972) Short Stories (1973) Verities & Balderdash (1974) Portrait Gallery (1975) Greatest Stories Live (1976) On The Road To Kingdom Come (1976) Dance Band On The Titanic (1977) Living Room Suite (1978) Legends Of The Lost And Found (1979) Sequel (1980) Re-released as Remember When the Music w/ Bonus Songs (1987) *The Last Protest Singer (1988) Some more good Harry Chapin songs 🎶: Taxi, Could You Put Your Light On Please, Sunday Morning Sunshine, A Better Place To Be, W.O.L.D., What Made America Famous?, Sniper, Calluses, I Wanna Learn A Love Song, Dreams Go By, Flowers Are Red, Sequel, Performing, Six String Orchestra, Mr Tanner, Winter Song, Mail Order Annie, Corey's Coming, Last Stand, Why Should People Stay The Same, The Day They Closed The Factory Down, My Grandfather, Caroline, I Do It For You Jane, Woman Child, I Wonder What Would Happen To This World, Burning Herself, Copper, If My Mary Were Here, And The Baby Never Cries, The Mayor Of Candor Lied, Barefoot Boy, She Sings Songs Without Words, The Rock, Oh Man, Shooting Star, Old College Avenue, It's You Girl, Everybody's Lonely, Greyhound, Pretzel Man, Commitment And Pete Seege, Remember When The Music, Story Of A Life, Dirty Old Man, A Child Is Born, Jenny, Dance Band On The Titanic, Poor Damned Fool, Basic Protest Song, Halfway To Heaven, Sometime Somewhere Wife, Any Old Kind Of Day, Empty, Dirt Gets Under The Fingernails, Tangled Up Puppet, On The Road To Kingdom Come, Sandy, Babysitter, Someone Keeps Calling My Name, Roll Down The River, Same Sad Singer, Dogtown, The Parade's Still Passing By, Laugh Man, We Grew Up A Little Bit, Dancin' Boy, Bluesman, Why Do Little Girls, When I Look Up, Odd Job Man, Up On The Shelf, Star Tripper, They Call Her Easy, Hokey Pokey, Bummer, Somebody Said, I Miss America, Anthem, November Rains, Legends Of The Lost And Found, Silly Little Girl, Circle, Northwest 222, Salt And Pepper, God Babe You've Been Good For Me, Country Dreams, My Old Lady, Last Of The Protest Singers, Word Wizard, One Light In A Dark Valley (An Imitation Spiritual), Thanksgiving Hunger Drives, There Was Only One Choice, Stranger With The Melodies, Old Folkie, Wind Coming Up, It Seems You Only Love Me When It Rains, Vacancy and 30,000 Pounds of Bananas. Fun Fact 🕵: Harry Chapin was featured on several TV shows throughout his career, most notably "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson". He appeared 14 times. He made history as the first performer to be called back the next night to perform again on the show. This was due to his singing the song: "Taxi", in 1972.
Classic song. I love this. There have been lots of covers but this is my favourite. One cover I love is "Ugly Kid Joe." I would love to see your reaction after hearing this. They are a bit more heavier but this song is more ballady.
Some reactions to consider 🤔: Barrington Levy - Here I Come Live (Jet Star Music YT channel), Bobby Darin - Mack The Knife Live (The Ed Sullivan Show YT channel) or The Nicholas Brothers and Cab Calloway - Jumpin' Jive Song & Tap Dance Scene From Stormy Weather Movie In Color (Black Pepper Swing YT channel).
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A classic song by an artist that left us too soon.The lady talking at the start of the video was his wife.
Harry Chapin (Chay pin) was one of the finest singer songwriters to emerge from the 1970s. Highly recommend you react to his song "Taxi", his first big radio hit.
This song has quite a message. Love your reaction!
A very reflective reaction 🐱 🪞! That's his wife and son. He's from New York. Harry Chapin passed away in 1981, at 38 years of age. Cats In The Cradle was released as the third single from Harry Chapin's 1974 album: Verities & Balderdash. It was written by Harry Chapin and Sandra Chapin. It was produced by Paul Leka. The song reached #1 on the Hot 100, #1 on the Cash Box 100 and #6 on the Adult Contemporary chart. The single was certified Gold.
This heartbreaking song tells of a father and son who can't schedule time to be with each other, and it serves as a warning against putting one's career before family. The verses start out with a natural harmony and depict the tale of a father with his newborn son. Although dad gets the necessities of child rearing accomplished, he doesn't allow himself to put in quality time with his son because of his career. Initially, this seems like no big deal because of his hectic and oblivious life working and paying bills.
The recurring verse has the son saying: "I'm gonna be like you Dad / you know I'm gonna be like you".
Over time, both father and son grow into a switching of life roles. The father realizes his son's ambitions of college, grades, and driving, and wants to spend more time with him, yet slowly grasps the reality that now his son has no time for such things. In the last song verse, Harry Chapin illustrates that the son is all grown up with a fast-paced job and kids of his own. In a glaring twist of roles, we see that the son now has no time to spend with his father. With a heavy heart, dad realizes that his boy has become just like him.
This song is based on a poem that Harry Chapin's wife Sandy wrote. She told Songfacts: "'Cat's In The Cradle' was a combination of a couple of things. Whenever I was on a long drive I would listen to country music, because words would keep me awake more than just music. And I heard a song… I can remember the story, but I don't remember who sang it or what the title was, but an old couple were sitting at their breakfast table and looking out the window, and they saw the rusted swing and the sandbox, and they were reminiscing about the good old days when all the children were around and then the grandchildren, and how it passed, and now it's all gone.
The other part of the idea - this is always a problem, because Harry introduced the song at all his concerts and said, 'This is a song my wife wrote to zap me because I wasn't home when our son Josh was born.' I was always kind of amused by that because of the fact that we learn life's lessons too late. We don't learn lessons before the fact. We don't have a child born and then have all this wisdom. So I always thought it was interesting the way he told the story.
But I learned the story because my [first] husband was going to New York to be a lawyer, and I had a teaching job in New York. While we were apartment hunting, we were living with his parents in Brooklyn. His father was the borough president of Brooklyn at the time, which I think was a much more important job than it is today. But every day when he got home from work, he would start talking to his son about, 'It'd be great if you'd go down to the club on Tuesday night, I'd like to introduce you to some of the people I know,' and so forth. And he started trying to engineer a career for him which leads to politics. They did not have any relationship or communication because they had been so busy until his son went off to college and was gone. I don't remember exactly how, but he started talking to me. My father-in-law would say me, even though we were all in the same room, 'Tell Jimmy I would like to see him down at the clubhouse on Tuesday.' It was really very strange.
So this is the way the evenings went. The conversation was going through me. So I realized what had happened. You know, relationships and characters and personalities and all those things are formed by two, so I realized that that hadn't happened. And it was very jerky at that stage. So I observed something that gave me the idea for the song".
It took the birth of his son for Harry Chapin to decide to turn the poem his wife wrote into a song. Sandy Chapin explained in her Songfacts interview: "Harry and I would exchange writing of all kinds. We were always working on each other's writing. Some of my writing at a certain period were 20-page papers for a doctoral program at Columbia. So it wasn't always that poetic. But we both looked at each other's stuff. And then one time he came home and he said, 'What have you been doing?' I showed him 'Cat's In The Cradle,' and he said, 'Well, that's interesting'.
You know, sometimes he'd pick up something and put music to it. And that didn't really grab him at all. And then after Josh was born, it did. He picked it up and he wrote music to it".
Rapper Darryl "DMC" McDaniels was inspired to rewrite the song and perform it under the title: "Just Like Me", featuring Sarah McLachlan. The song was released from DMC's 2006 album: Checks Thugs And Rock n Roll. It tells the story of his birth and adoption.
The song was used for a commercial in Northern Ireland about the troubles at the time. In the spot, a father is involved in one of the political groups and he isn't much of an example for his son (flash back father with gun running into house terrorizing family of opposite religion, etc.). Because of this the kid ends of following in his foot steps. It tried to send the message that following a bad example can become a vicious circle and unless we change, the troubles will never go away and our children will suffer.
The song played throughout a Nissan commercial that debuted during the 2015 Super Bowl (between the Patriots and Seahawks). In the spot, a champion race car driver spends most of his time away from home and rarely sees his son. At the end of the commercial, he shows up in a Nissan to surprise his now-teenaged son.
The song is featured in the 2013 video game 🎮: Grand Theft Auto V.
The song has been featured in some films including 📽: Last Vegas (2013), Shrek The Third (2007), Mr Jealousy (1997) and more.
The song has been covered by some other artists including 📻: Johnny Cash, Ugly Kid Joe, Karl Bender, Judy Collins, Kenny Vehkavaara, Jen Chapin, Finn Kalvik, Jason Downs and more.
The song has been featured in some TV shows including 📺: Resident Alien ("Here Comes My Baby" - 2024), It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia ("PTSDee" - 2017), Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life ("Winter" - 2016), Superstore ("Seasonal Help" - 2016), The Goldbergs ("In Conclusion, Thanksgiving" - 2015), Modern Family ("A Slight At The Opera" - 2013), The Office ("St.Patrick's Day" - 2010), Cougar Town ("Wake Up Time" - 2010), How I Met Your Mother ("Not A Father's Day" - 2008), Scrubs ("My Unicorn" - 2004), That '70s Show ("The Career Day" - 1999), The Simpsons ("Saturdays Of Thunder" - 1991, "Bart's Girlfriend" - 1994, "Labor Pains" - 2013), Get A Life ("Dadicus" - 1990) and more.
Critical Reception 🗣:
Cash Box called it "a tender story of a father and his son and a perfect representation of how roles change in the relationship over the years," stating it was a "lyrical delight".
Record World said that the song "deals with the preoccupations plaguing parenthood" and that it "bridges the generation gap by pointing up mutual faults".
Legacy🛡:
In 2001, the song was ranked #186 of 365 on the Recording Industry Association of America list of Songs of the Century.
In 2011, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame.
Lyrics 🗒:
My child arrived just the other day
He came to the world in the usual way
But there were planes to catch, and bills to pay
He learned to walk while I was away
And he was talking 'fore I knew it, and as he grew
He'd say "I'm gonna be like you, dad"
"You know I'm gonna be like you"
And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man in the moon
"When you coming home, dad?" "I don't know when"
But we'll get together then
You know we'll have a good time then
My son turned ten just the other day
He said, thanks for the ball, dad, come on let's play
Can you teach me to throw, I said-a, not today
I got a lot to do, he said, that's okay
And he, he walked away, but his smile never dimmed
It said, I'm gonna be like him, yeah
You know I'm gonna be like him
And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man in the moon
"When you coming home, dad?" "I don't know when"
But we'll get together then
You know we'll have a good time then
Well, he came from college just the other day
So much like a man I just had to say
Son, I'm proud of you, can you sit for a while?
He shook his head, and they said with a smile
What I'd really like, dad, is to borrow the car keys
See you later, can I have them please?
And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man in the moon
"When you coming home, son?" "I don't know when"
But we'll get together then, dad
You know we'll have a good time then
I've long since retired, my son's moved away
I called him up just the other day
I said, I'd like to see you if you don't mind
He said, I'd love to, dad, if I can find the time
You see, my new job's a hassle, and the kids have the flu
But it's sure nice talking to you, dad
It's been sure nice talking to you
And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me
He'd grown up just like me
My boy was just like me
And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man in the moon
"When you coming home, son?" "I don't know when"
But we'll get together then, dad
We're gonna have a good time then
****CONTINUE BELOW****
Harry Chapin Info 📰:
Harry Forster Chapin was born on December 7, 1942, in New York City, New York. He passed away on July 16, 1981, in East Meadow, New York. He was a singer, songwriter, producer, philanthropist, and hunger activist best known for his Folk Rock and Pop Rock songs. He achieved worldwide success in the 1970s. He recorded a total of 11 studio albums. All 14 singles that he released became hits on at least one national music chart. Chapin's best-known songs include: "Taxi", W.O.L.D.", "Sequel" and "Cat's In The Cradle". He is a Grammy Award-winning artist and Grammy Hall of Fame inductee, has sold over 16 million records worldwide.
As a dedicated humanitarian, Harry Chapin fought to end world hunger. He was a key participant in the creation of the Presidential Commission on World Hunger in 1977. In 1987, Harry Chapin was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his humanitarian work. Harry Chapin was also the inspiration for the antihunger projects USA For Africa and Hands Across America, which were organized by Ken Kragen, who had been Harry Chapin's manager at the end of his career. Ken Kragen, explaining his work on these benefit events, said: "I felt like Harry had crawled into my body and was making me do it".
Harry Chapin's first formal introduction to music was trumpet lessons at The Greenwich House Music School under Mr Karesick. His younger brothers Tom and Steve were choirboys at Grace Episcopal Church in Brooklyn Heights, and through them Chapin met "Big" John Wallace, a baritone with a five-octave range, who later became his bassist, backing vocalist, and straight man onstage. Harry Chapin began performing with his brothers while a teenager, with their father occasionally joining them on drums. Harry Chapin graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1960 and was among the five inductees in the school's Alumni Hall of Fame for the year 2000. He briefly attended the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and was then a student at Cornell University, but did not complete a degree.
Harry Chapin originally intended to be a documentary film-maker and took a job with The Big Fights, a company run by Bill Cayton that owned a large library of classic boxing films. Harry Chapin directed the boxing documentary: Legendary Champions, in 1968, which was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1971, he began focusing on music. With John Wallace, Tim Scott, and Ron Palmer, Harry Chapin started playing in various nightclubs in New York City.
In 1972, there was a bidding war over Harry Chapin between music business heavyweights Clive Davis at Columbia Records and Jac Holzman at Elektra Records. Harry Chapin signed a multi-million dollar recording contract with Elektra Records. The contract was one of the biggest of its time. It granted him free recording time, along with many other perks. The same year, Harry Chapin released his debut album: Heads & Tales. The album was an international success, selling over one million units. Its success was due to his Top-25 Pop single: "Taxi" (#24 Pop).
His follow-up album: Sniper And Other Love Songs, was also released in 1972. The album's title son: "Sniper", is a semi-fictional account of the 1966 University of Texas tower shooting. The single release from the album: "Sunday Morning Sunshine", charted on the Hot 100 (#75) and became a Top-40 hit on Billboard Adult Contemporary (#30). The album was less successful than the last, selling 350,000 units. The album also contained the Harry Chapin anthem song: "Circle".
In 1973, Harry Chapin released his third album: Short Stories. The album sold over 1 million units and produced another international hit: "W.O.L.D." (#36 Pop, #37 Adult Contemporary) a song about an aging disc jockey who has given up his entire life and family for his career. The song is sung from the point of view of the disc jockey, who is singing to his ex-wife. It was inspired by American radio personality Jim Connors. Other notable songs from the album not released as singles are: "Mr Tanner", "Mail Order Annie" and "They Call Her Easy".
in 1974, Harry Chapin released his most successful album: Verities And Balderdash, which sold 2.5 million units because of the number 1 Pop hit: "Cat's In The Cradle". The song is about a father who does not find time for his son during the boy's childhood; ultimately the son grows up to be just like his father, not making any time for his dad. The song earned Harry Chapin another Grammy nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, and Harry Chapin's song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2011.
The album's follow-up single: "I Wanna Learn A Love Song", charted at # 7 on Billboard Adult Contemporary. The song is a true story of how Harry Chapin met his wife, Sandra Chapin. Also, the album's song: "30,000 Pounds Of Bananas", became the number-one requested song for a few weeks, despite not being released as a single. It is a semi-fictional account of a truck crash that occurred in Scranton, Pennsylvania, transporting bananas-based loosely on a March 18, 1965. Other notable songs from the album include: "Shooting Star", "Halfway To Heaven" and "Six String Orchestra".
In 1975, Harry Chapin released his fifth album: Portrait Gallery, which produced a Top-40 Billboard Adult Contemporary hit: "Dreams Go By"(#33 Adult Contemporary). However, it was less successful than the last, selling 350,000 units. Harry Chapin also wrote and performed a Broadway play: The Night That Made America Famous, which earned two Tony Award nominations and two Drama Desk Award nominations.
By 1976, Harry Chapin was established as one of the most popular singers of the decade. He released his first live album: Greatest Stories Live. The album sold 2.1 million units. However, Elektra Records underwent a management change and gave almost no promotion for his later albums with Elektra Records: On The Road To Kingdom Come (1976), Dance Band On The Titanic (1977), Living Room Suite (1978) and Legends Of The Lost And Found (1979), but they all sold at least 250,000 units each and charted successfully. His 1977 album: Dance Band On The Titanic, sold poorly, but it was still voted "Album of the Year" by The Times of London.
On October 15, 1977, a one-time benefit concert called: Four Together - Concert For World Hunger, featured Harry Chapin and three other renowned Folk and Country Rock singer-songwriters in Gordon Lightfoot, James Taylor and John Denver, was performed at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit, Michigan. The performance, which lasted nearly three hours, was played live on CKLW AM 800, and raised money to combat world hunger.
By the end of the decade, Harry Chapin concentrated more on touring than producing hit singles, but still released one album a year. He was one of the highest annual earning singers in the world at the time. In 1980, his recording contract with Elektra Records expired. Harry Chapin signed a one-album contract with Boardwalk Records and released his ninth studio album: Sequel, which was described as his fastest-breaking album. Three singles were released, with all of them becoming hits. The first single, "Sequel", became a Top-25 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 (#23). The song is a follow-up to his 1972 song: “Taxi”. The second single: "Remember When The Music", became a Top-50 hit on the Adult Contemporary Chart (#47). The last single: "Story Of A Life", peaked on the Bubbling Under Pop chart at #105. The album sold 500,000 units.
Harry Chapin (December 7, 1942 - July 16, 1981) Passing 🙏:
On the afternoon of July 16, 1981, Harry Chapin was driving on the Long Island Expressway en route to perform at a free benefit concert at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, New York, that evening. At 12:27 p.m., Harry Chapin had reportedly put on his emergency flashers, decelerated his vehicle's speed to 15 mph, and had weaved from the far-left lane to the center lane, to the left lane, and then back to the center lane before his vehicle was struck from behind by a semi-trailer truck. The force of the collision crushed the rear of the car, ruptured the fuel tank, and dragged the car several hundred feet on the pavement. Passers-by managed to help the unconscious Harry Chapin out of his engulfed 1975 Volkswagen Rabbit. He was immediately taken by helicopter from the crash site outside Jericho, New York, to the nearby Nassau County Medical Center, where he was pronounced deceased at 1:05 p.m. due to internal bleeding. He was 38 years of age.
Harry Chapin's widow won a $12 million decision in a negligence lawsuit against Supermarkets General, the owners of the truck involved.
Chapin is buried in the Huntington Rural Cemetery in Huntington, New York. His gravestone 🪦 epitaph is taken from his 1978 song "I Wonder What Would Happen To This World":
Oh if a man tried
To take his time on Earth
And prove before he died
What one man's life could be worth
I wonder what would happen
to this world
****CONTINUE BELOW****
Miscellaneous Notes 🗂:
Harry Chapin released a book of his poems and song lyrics in 1975: Looking ... Seeing.
In 1975, Harry Chapin co-founded WhyHunger, with radio host Bill Ayres. WhyHunger has since grown into a global non-profit. The organization works with more than 8,000 community-based groups across the globe and has worked in 30 countries. These groups aim to help people to help themselves through food production, job-training programs, nutrition education, community economic development, healthcare workshops, youth programming, leadership development and more.
Harry Chapin became good friends with fellow songwriter John Denver, often appearing on TV with him. John Denver hosted the pilot episode of the TV show: The Midnight Special, in which Harry Chapin was one of the very first performers on the show.
He was a key participant in the creation of the "Presidential Commission on World Hunger" in 1977.
The Lakeside Theatre at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, New York, was renamed Harry Chapin Lakeside Theatre during a memorial concert held one month after his passing, as a tribute to his efforts to combat world hunger. Other Long Island landmarks named in honor of Harry Chapin include a graduate-student apartment complex at Stony Brook University, a theater in Heckscher Park in Huntington, New York, and a playground at the intersection of Columbia Heights and Middagh Street in Brooklyn Heights.
Harry Chapin's widow Sandra Chapin, is the head of the "Harry Chapin Foundation", whose mission is to "support organizations that have demonstrated their ability to dramatically improve the lives and livelihood of people by helping them to become self-sufficient".
The village of Croton-on-Hudson, New York, has hosted the annual Harry Chapin Run Against Hunger, a 10k, 5k, and fun run, since 1981.
The ASCAP Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award is named after the late singer, songwriter and social activist, Harry Chapin, and is given for humanitarian contributions.
In 1994, admirers of the late singer's passionate fight against hunger renamed the then 11-year-old Southwest Florida Food Bank (Fort Myers, FL) the Harry Chapin Food Bank of Southwest Florida, in tribute to Harry Chapin, and with the permission of his widow.
In 2001, Harry Chapin's 1974 song: "Cat's In The Cradle", was ranked number 186 of 365 on the Recording Industry Association of America list of Songs of the Century.
A children's picture book was created using the lyrics of Harry Chapin's 1973 song: "Mr Tanner", and the illustrations of Bryan Langdo; it was published by Ripple Grove Press in May 2017.
Greenwich Entertainment released a documentary film titled: "Harry Chapin: When in Doubt, Do Something". It was directed by Rick Korn and produced by Jason Chapin. It was released theatrically and through virtual cinema on October 16, 2020, which is also World Food Day.
Honors & Awards 🏅:
Rock Music Awards - Public Service Award (1976)
Rock Music Awards - Public Service Award (1977)
Ten Outstanding Young Americans (1977)
President's Merit Award (1986)
Congressional Gold Medal for humanitarian work (1987)
Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame inductee (2006)
Grammy Hall of Fame Award Inductee "Cat's In The Cradle" (2011)
Videography 📼:
An Evening With... Harry Chapin (1998)
Rockpalast Live (2002)
Remember When: The Anthology (2005)
You Are The Only Song (2006)
Harry Chapin Albums (*Posthumous Album) 📀:
Heads & Tales (1972)
Sniper And Other Love Songs (1972)
Short Stories (1973)
Verities & Balderdash (1974)
Portrait Gallery (1975)
Greatest Stories Live (1976)
On The Road To Kingdom Come (1976)
Dance Band On The Titanic (1977)
Living Room Suite (1978)
Legends Of The Lost And Found (1979)
Sequel (1980) Re-released as Remember When the Music w/ Bonus Songs (1987)
*The Last Protest Singer (1988)
Some more good Harry Chapin songs 🎶: Taxi, Could You Put Your Light On Please, Sunday Morning Sunshine, A Better Place To Be, W.O.L.D., What Made America Famous?, Sniper, Calluses, I Wanna Learn A Love Song, Dreams Go By, Flowers Are Red, Sequel, Performing, Six String Orchestra, Mr Tanner, Winter Song, Mail Order Annie, Corey's Coming, Last Stand, Why Should People Stay The Same, The Day They Closed The Factory Down, My Grandfather, Caroline, I Do It For You Jane, Woman Child, I Wonder What Would Happen To This World, Burning Herself, Copper, If My Mary Were Here, And The Baby Never Cries, The Mayor Of Candor Lied, Barefoot Boy, She Sings Songs Without Words, The Rock, Oh Man, Shooting Star, Old College Avenue, It's You Girl, Everybody's Lonely, Greyhound, Pretzel Man, Commitment And Pete Seege, Remember When The Music, Story Of A Life, Dirty Old Man, A Child Is Born, Jenny, Dance Band On The Titanic, Poor Damned Fool, Basic Protest Song, Halfway To Heaven, Sometime Somewhere Wife, Any Old Kind Of Day, Empty, Dirt Gets Under The Fingernails, Tangled Up Puppet, On The Road To Kingdom Come, Sandy, Babysitter, Someone Keeps Calling My Name, Roll Down The River, Same Sad Singer, Dogtown, The Parade's Still Passing By, Laugh Man, We Grew Up A Little Bit, Dancin' Boy, Bluesman, Why Do Little Girls, When I Look Up, Odd Job Man, Up On The Shelf, Star Tripper, They Call Her Easy, Hokey Pokey, Bummer, Somebody Said, I Miss America, Anthem, November Rains, Legends Of The Lost And Found, Silly Little Girl, Circle, Northwest 222, Salt And Pepper, God Babe You've Been Good For Me, Country Dreams, My Old Lady, Last Of The Protest Singers, Word Wizard, One Light In A Dark Valley (An Imitation Spiritual), Thanksgiving Hunger Drives, There Was Only One Choice, Stranger With The Melodies, Old Folkie, Wind Coming Up, It Seems You Only Love Me When It Rains, Vacancy and 30,000 Pounds of Bananas.
Fun Fact 🕵: Harry Chapin was featured on several TV shows throughout his career, most notably "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson". He appeared 14 times. He made history as the first performer to be called back the next night to perform again on the show. This was due to his singing the song: "Taxi", in 1972.
When music imparted life wisdom
Be careful what you ask for, you might just get it!
Group from the 90s you like Imature
Feel the Funk
I will never lie
IN A LEAGUE OF HER OWN WHEN IT COMES TO RUclips MUSIC COWBOYS 👍❤
Classic song. I love this. There have been lots of covers but this is my favourite. One cover I love is "Ugly Kid Joe." I would love to see your reaction after hearing this. They are a bit more heavier but this song is more ballady.
Some reactions to consider 🤔: Barrington Levy - Here I Come Live (Jet Star Music YT channel), Bobby Darin - Mack The Knife Live (The Ed Sullivan Show YT channel) or The Nicholas Brothers and Cab Calloway - Jumpin' Jive Song & Tap Dance Scene From Stormy Weather Movie In Color (Black Pepper Swing YT channel).
That was his wife, not his mom.
🌺💐🌸🌼🏵