Cat's In The Cradle - Music

Frogtoon Music - Song Info: Cat's in the Cradle

Ugly-Kid-Joe - Edge Of The 80s: Out Of The Eighties

"Cat's In The Cradle" Is A 1974 Folk Rock Song By Harry Chapin From The Album Verities & Balderdash. The Single Topped The Billboard Hot 100 In December 1974. As Chapin's Only #1 Hit Song It Became The Best Known Of His Work And A Staple For Folk Rock Music. The Song Was Covered By American Rock Band Ugly Kid Joe. The Cover Of The Song By Ugly Kid Joe Is Furthermore Often Confused For A Cover By Guns N' Roses A Band Which Never Recorded The Song. This Is Due To An Incorrect MP3 Circulating On P2P Networks Which Contains The Ugly Kid Joe Version Even Though The File Credits It To Guns N' Roses. The Ugly Kid Joe Cover Of The Song Peaked At #6 On The Billboard Hot 100 And #7 On The UK Singles Chart But Is Still Often Mistaken For A Skid Row Cover Of The Song. The Ugly Kid Joe Version Has The Apostrophe Omitted In Some But Not All Releases. The Lyrics To The Verses Of The Song Were Originally Written As A Poem By Chapin's Wife Sandy Chapin Who Is Credited As The Song's Co-Writer. The Poem Itself Was Inspired By The Awkward Relationship Between Sandy Chapin's First Husband James Cashmore And His Father A New York City Politician. She Was Also Inspired By A Country Song She Heard On The Radio. More Than A Year Later After The Birth Of His Own Son Harry Added The Music And The Chorus. Label Executive David Geffen Selected The Song As A Single Over Chapin's Objections. The Song Is Told In First-Person By A Father Who Is Too Busy To Spend Time With His Son. Though The Son Repeatedly Asks Him To Join In Childhood Activities The Father Always Responds With Little More Than Vague Promises Of Spending Time Together In The Future Peppered With Images From Nursery Rhymes. While The Son Longs To Spend Time With His Father He Continues To Admire His Father. This Shapes The Son's Future Behavior As Shown In The Slightly-Altered Line "But We'll Get Together Then Dad". The Ugly Kid Joe Cover Version Does Not Make This Lyrical Change But Rather Alters The Grammatical Structure Of The Chorus From "When You Coming Home?" / "Son I Don't Know When ..." To The Final "When You Coming Home Son?" / "I Don't Know When ..." The Final Verse Is A Reverse Of The Roles Where The Father Asks His Now Grown-Up Son To Visit But The Son Responds With His Father's Line. The Father Then Reflects That They Are Both Alike. The Chorus Refers To The Following Nursery Rhymes * Hey Diddle Diddle * Little Boy Blue * Man In The Moon