Saturday, April 30, 2011

Cat's in the Cradle by Harry Chapin

I found a good interpretation of the lyrics, but it was submitted anonymously, so sorry I can't properly give due credit: 

"The son doesn't only represent the child. He also represents the family as a whole. The father is too busy with work and doesn't have the time to spend with his family. As the lyrics say "the cats in the cradle" - the family is at home - "and the silver spoon" which is a symbol of wealth the father has to earn. The "little boy blue" is the child that is sad because his father is away, while the father is represented by "the man on the moon" - the one far away who is unreachable, idealized by the child who sees the father as his male role model. So this is the metaphorical way of describing the pairs of opposition the song is talking about. The family which is in contrast to work and the sad and left-alone boy in contrast to his never-having-time-for-him father and role model." 

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