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Cats In The Cradle 1.0 (2nd Play for Us)
This is my humble but heartfelt rendition of Harry Chapin’s only number 1 hit from the year 1974 when I had great fortunate to attend a small gathering concert by him and his equally talented band mates. Harry (as Tony often says) “blew my socks off” by his skillful musical storytelling.
Harry Chapin’s famous song has made this phrase famous: “Cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon, little boy blue and the man on the moon…” The song was actually written by Chapin’s wife Sandy, a poet and a writer. She wrote the words for the song for their son Joshua before he was born. She showed them to her husband but Chapin wasn’t too interested in it at the time. However, once his son was born, Chapin realized the power of the words and what they meant to him personally. He recorded the song and it became the best known of all of his work.
“Cat’s in the Cradle”
tells the story of a father who is too busy to spend time with his growing son.
Despite the fact that the father is constantly putting off quality time with
his son, the son sees his father as a role model and a fine example of who he
wants to grow up to be. In the end the son does grow up to be just like the
father and as the aging patriarch reaches out to his son for quality time, his
boy is simply to busy with his family. The refrain uses the phrase “cat’s in
the cradle” and these words bring up images of a young family and the short and
sweet the time of infancy.He died on the afternoon of July 16, 1981. Chapin was traveling on the Long Island Expressway to perform at a free benefit concert at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, New York that evening. At 12:27 PM, Chapin was fatally injured in a fiery traffic collision when a semi-trailer truck struck his VW Rabbit from behind. He left for us a wealth of beautifully melonic and thought provoking songs.
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15 Replies
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Most excellent cover! Harry was a great song writer and story teller. Thank you!
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Appreciate your comments @Philb – good to know some other guitar geeks hear my growing pains! Let’s play on!
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That was an awesome performance Guitargeezer! I really like this song, but it’s a little sad.
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Thanks @stevieblues – Harry Chapin had many “stories” to sing. I enjoy listening to them. Still have in my music library his LPs, CDs and even Cassettes (no 8 track although I once had those too!) Worth revisiting from time to time. CITC is first track on “Verities & Balderdash” album with eight other great tracks. Another favorite of mine is his “30,000 Pounds Of Bananas” of a true but tragic event that occurred near Stratton, PA. That would be a challenge to play and sing!
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Great song and I really liked your arrangement.
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T<i class=””>hank you! This is the 1.0 version. Over time my goal is to revisit and upgrade to a 2.0 using additional TAC instruction of new techniques. Just starting to incorporate riffs.
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Great rendition @Guitargeezer 👏👏👏 Well played and very heartfelt👍👍 It certainly brought a tear to my eye, thinking about my own life and children, while listening (and watching) you play😥 Thanks for posting
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I sincerely appreciate your encouraging comments @Bill_Brown as I noticed you are very actively involved in the forums with offering support to those like me that are early in their TAC experience. This particular song does have an impact on anyone who watched a child grow up much too quickly.
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Thanks for sharing Chapin’s story. I’ve always liked this song and you covered it very well. Looking forward to version 2.0!
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@Guitargeezer One of my favorite songs. You did a great job!
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That was beautiful and heart-felt!
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Thank you Marisa! Great recent rendition of White Rabbit by you.
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Nicely played @Guitargeezer-Jack!👏🏻 Nice to see the Chapin history lesson, he was an incredible storyteller.
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Wow, again, Jack. @Guitargeezer-Jack
You are so much more talented musically than I am. You are able to sing and play these songs so well. You don’t do them like the original artist. You may protest that you can’t play them like the original artist. Yeah, but you do something far more special when it comes to music. You use what skill you do have with the guitar to interpret the song in a very interesting way that still is faithful to the original. And then you sing it in a style that fits what you are playing. Again, you don’t do it like the original. But you do it very well. It’s a great interpretation of the song. Very heartfelt and moving.
All three of the songs I’ve listened to tonight are wonderful examples of making really good interpretations of songs with what you can do. I try too hard to make songs like the original, and it doesn’t sound bad… too bad it doesn’t sound good either. Because I’m not the original artist I can’t do what they can do. But you have made songs that are great because you accurately recreated the song within your style and ability. I am really blown away by how well you have done all these songs. Bravo, Jack, Bravo.
MG 😀
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Yes Mike, I attempt to reach within myself to interpret each song. We all have unique singing voices. There is no way, for example, I could vocalize “With a Little Help from My Friends” as Ringo Starr or Joe Cocker. I look forward to the day my guitar skills improve to make songs I do more distinctive.
I know you well enough to believe you have an “engineering mind” which creates a drive to do a song technically perfect to the original. Nothing wrong with that if that gives you the satisfaction of accomplishment. Afterall, it is important for music to bring joy for us, and, hopefully to others listening.
Thank you for your continued guidance and support my friend.
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