"Cat's in the Cradle" is narrated by a man who becomes a father in the first stanza. He is repeatedly too busy with his work to spend time with his son, despite his son looking up to him and promising he will grow up to be just like him. When the son graduates from college, he declines his father's offer to relax with him and instead asks for the car keys. In the final stanza, the now-retired father calls his adult son and asks to spend some time together, but the son is now too busy with his own work and family to spend time with his dad, and the father realizes his son has indeed grown up to be just like him.
The song's lyrics began as a poem written by Chapin's wife, Sandra "Sandy" Gaston; the poem itself was inspired by the awkward relationship between her first husband, James Cashmore, and his father, John, a politician who served as Brooklynborough president. She was also inspired by a country music song she had heard on the radio.[7] Chapin also said the song was about his own relationship with his son, Josh, admitting, "Frankly, this song scares me to death."[8]
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."[9]Record World said that the song "deals with the preoccupations plaguing parenthood" and that it "bridges the generation gap by pointing up mutual faults."[10]
In 1992, American hard rock band Ugly Kid Joe included a cover of the song, renamed "Cats in the Cradle" (without the apostrophe), on their debut album, America's Least Wanted (1993). The cover was produced by Mark Dodson and issued as a single in 1993 by Mercury Records. It experienced commercial success, becoming a top-10 hit in numerous countries. The accompanying music video was directed by American illustrator, photographer and film director Matt Mahurin.[24]
Critical reception
AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine remarked on the band's "revamped" version of the song.[25] Mary Lynn White from Calgary Herald said their version "proves you're deep too."[26] Jason Fliegel from The Cavalier Daily felt the band has redone the song "in its own unique style".[27] Deborah Frost of Entertainment Weekly called it a "scarily straight" cover.[28] Steve Hochman of Los Angeles Times said, "Turning Harry Chapin's "Cat's in the Cradle" into a power ballad was a bad idea to begin with; making it sound neither snotty nor particularly sincere only compounds the error."[29] Tom Ford from Toledo Blade wrote that they "do an excellent job", "adding power to the sing-song chorus, and a crashing finale that removes its coffeehouse patina."[30]
In Canada, the song peaked at number one on The Record's singles chart and at number eleven on the RPM 100 Hit Tracks chart. Outside North America, the cover topped Australia's ARIA Singles Chart for a week and reached the top five in Iceland, Ireland, Norway, New Zealand, Sweden and Switzerland. In the United Kingdom, "Cats in the Cradle" charted at number seven on the UK Singles Chart.
The song was used in a 1993 anti-terrorism advert in Northern Ireland that plays on the song's theme of a father who neglects his son in order to show a terrorist neglecting his family and his son turning out to be like his father and suffering the consequences by going down the same life path. The video ends with the slogan "Don't Suffer It, Change It" and the number of the confidential telephone line that was in operation at the time to report terrorist activity in Northern Ireland.[72][73]
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