Harry Chapin
"Cat's in the Cradle," released in 1974, is a song by Harry Chapin — a narrative ballad tracing the relationship between a father and son across the span of a lifetime.
Chapin was born on December 7, 1942, in Brooklyn, where he attended P.S. 41 before going on to Brooklyn Technical High School. He worked across several disciplines, functioning as a singer-songwriter, guitarist, banjoist, pianist, and composer, as well as a film director. That breadth of creative investment shaped the storytelling quality present in his music, which tends to unfold as compressed narrative rather than conventional pop construction. His career as a recording artist and performer stretched from his emergence in the early 1970s until his death on July 16, 1981, in New York City, at the age of thirty-eight.
Chapin received the Congressional Gold Medal, one of the highest civilian honors the United States Congress confers. His authorized catalog entry is maintained under the name "Chapin, Harry" in the Library of Congress Name Authority File, preserving the formal record of a body of work by an American musician who died in the city where he was born.
Quotes by Harry Chapin
I’m in the Dance Band on the Titanic Singing “Nearer my God to thee” and the icebergs on the starboard bow Won’t you dance with me?
If we can muster up that degree of commitment and get away from the uniquely American perception that if something can’t be done immediately it isn’t worth doing, then I think the Hunger Movement, this small but growing minority of us, can have a truly significant impact.
The major thing I’m afraid of is being 65 and saying, ‘Gee, I wish I had done this and that, and that.’ I want to face old age knowing I’ve tried all I wanted to try.
The reason nobody else in my business has any impact is because they’re all comatose.
I never really drove a cab, but I do have a hack license in case of emergencies – like no money.
Why were the little girls all frightened To be just what they are The boys were told to ask themselves How high how far The girls were told to reach the shelves While the boys were reaching stars That’s why little girls were frightened To be just what they are.
But high up on the mountain When the wind is hitting it If you’re watching very closely The rock slips a little bit...
I’ve got nothing against selling out, but just let me do it for something that matters. Not so I can be Number One With a Bullet, as it were, but so I can leave this world feeling like I made a difference.
You see, I have no real complaints of how you’ve left your past behind I guess what gets me worried is you’ve erased him from your mind.
Oh all the times I’ve listened, and all the times I’ve heard All the melodies I’m missing, and all the magic words, And all those potent voices, and the choices we had then, How I’d love to find we had that kind of choice again.