Harry Chapin: Cat's in the Cradle Meaning

Song Released: 1974

Covered By: Ugly Kid Joe (1993)

Cat's in the Cradle 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...

1. Toompz

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   Oct 21st 2009 !⃝

   Love this song. This song give the thought of "goes around comes around"
2. anonymous

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   Oct 13th 2009 !⃝

   I think this song is about investments... the young boy wants to spend time with his father and he idealizes him. Over the course of time the son is growing up and the father then wants to spend time with him. Since the young man has no prior frame of reference for who is father is... it is hard for him to see the value of spending time with his dad since his dad did not value the relationship in the beginning. When you make an investment into a relationship the bigger the investment the greater the return will be. I think this is truly saddest for the father. I don't think the son turned out just like his dad, he hopefully saw his dad's failures and learned from them and tried to be a better father to his children. The son reciprocated how much he valued his relationship with father as he perceived his father's value of thier relationship and he matched it. Relationships take work and time and they usually get better the more time that is invested into them.
3. m320753

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   Aug 17th 2009 !⃝

   very simply the way he treated his child was the way he was raised and in turn came around full circle. it's some kind of fable or axiom and it was true not only for him but for all fathers who spend every waking minute working or cutting deals in the business world. and eventually whether he makes it or not loses his son along the way and the son walks the same path he did and the old man sees the error he made and in turn has to accept his fate. this was a song for all generations that were and are still to come.
4. anonymous

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   Aug 10th 2009 !⃝

   In the first two verses we see the son growing up without his father, and the thing he wants more than anything else is to spend time with his father. By the time he's twenty, he's developed a coping mechanism to this life of neglect- he stops wanting to spend time with his father. So now that his father has time for him, he's not interested; he'd rather spend time cruising with his friends. When the son is thirty, married with kids, he comes to realize the folly of this ("love to dad if I could find the time"), but now he doesn't have any time for his father, because his own responsibilities take priority.
5. always_busy

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   Nov 25th 2007 !⃝

   I have read many interpretations, but find none that clarify the "Cat's in the Cradle" line. My idea is... now that the kids are gone, the family cat is still at home, and the only "baby" mama has to love, so the cat gets to sleep in the empty cradle, and gets all the attention, and is pampered by the lonely mother. Am I close? Does that sound reasonable to anyone else? It sure is the case in my house. Please Help!

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
6. anonymous

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   Nov 4th 2006 !⃝

   The song never suggests that the "son" becomes too busy for his own children, although the father says "he's grown up just like me" the song makes you look at "time" as the most valuable commodity we have,...And its all that are children really want and need. I think for most fathers today with young children,.... This song hits home and has us learn to repeat the cycle of being too busy to spend time with our kids. God bless our mothers, and we can learn from our fathers.....The good,....And from the bad.
7. Spen

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   Jul 9th 2006 !⃝

   I mainly agree with this, except that I don't think he's got the same neglect with his children, for one of his reasons for not coming to see his dad was that the kids have the flu. So I just think that he has grown up like his father and he's too busy for him, but not for his own kids.
8. anonymous

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   Nov 26th 2005 !⃝

   This is a song about a man who neglects his son throughout the boy's childhood. The man is always too busy with himself. Times change and the man has more free time (I've long sinced retired, my son has moved away)and wishes to now have a relationship with his son. He comes to learn that his son is wrapped up in his own life and has no time for him (the father). Lots of people only understand the first part of the meaning - that the father is reaping what he sowed. The second, less conveyed meaning, is the father's realization that he's taught his son this neglect. He realizes he has doomed his son to a life of neglecting his own children. The saddest part of the song is when it is said "As I hung up the phone it occured to me he'd grown up just like me, my boy was just like me." This line conveys the father's realizations and sadness of what he has passed down to his son.

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