The Definitive 1000 Songs Of All Time 1955 to 2005: Number 788

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Number 788 - Harry Chapin

Number 788

Harry Chapin

"Cats In The Cradle"

(1974)

Genre:Singer/Songwriter

Its tough being 40, with two grown teenage sons who are entering the beginning of their careers and their own paths of life. "Cats in the Cradle" affects me now, more than it ever use to, say when i was twenty and understandably why.

I miss my sons, in a time when they were young, hanging out together and playing "whatever" in the back lawn, now they don't have the time (funny that) with cars and girls being more exciting (Just like me when i was 18), so as you can see, the song "Cats in the Cradle" is poignant to an old Crow.

And cruelly ironic

07.12.42 to 16.05.81

"Harry Chapin's career as a popular singer/songwriter was cut short by an auto accident in 1981, yet he left behind a series of recordings that his fans continue to treasure decades after his death.

Chapin was never a critically acclaimed singer/songwriter. Critics accused him of over-sentimentalizing his subjects and attaching heavy-handed morals to his socially aware story-songs; the heavily orchestrated arrangements that accompanied many of his songs didn't help his case with the critics, either. Nevertheless, Chapin earned a devoted audience during the '70s, through his music and his charity work as a social activist"

"Heads and Tails, Chapin's first album, was released in the summer of 1972 and became a success thanks to the hit single "Taxi," which soon became the songwriter's signature tune. Later that year, he released his second album, Sniper and Other Love Songs, which didn't fare quite as well as his debut. Short Stories, Chapin's third album, appeared in the spring of 1973; it spent 23 weeks on the chart due to the success of the single "W.O.L.D.," a story about the life of a disc jockey. After recording his fourth album, Verities and Balderdash, Chapin disbanded his backing band and began work on his musical +The Night That Made America Famous; both Wallace and cellist Michael Masters worked on the show, along with guitarist Doug Walker, drummer Howie Fields, and Chapin's brothers Tom, Steve, and Jim. While he was working on the musical, Verities and Balderdash became his biggest hit, peaking at number four on the U.S. charts and becoming a gold record. The album's success was benefited by the number-one single "Cat's in the Cradle," a song about an inconsiderate, career-oriented father that was based on a poem written by Chapin's wife"

The worst thing about growing older and wiser is, your never really that wiser at all.

Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs ranked this song at Number (I've decided to censor myself) and the Album ranked at Number (&&#%$%#%$$&$#$@$^@)

This song has a crowbarred rating of 64.6 out of 108