Today’s Track of the Day delves into my personal childhood. The song is ‘Cats in the Cradle’ by Harry Chapin and it reminds me of my youth, and of my father. When I was around eight or nine years old, my father was in jail for six months. He had caused an accident while drinking and driving, no one was seriously hurt but it was still wrong.
I missed my father, because even though he did wrong, he was still my father. I had trouble sleeping at first because while my father was away, my family was staying with my grandmother. It was then that I discovered the song ‘Cats in the Cradle’ on an old .45 record that my mom had. Listening to the words of the song helped me to get to sleep and helped me through those six months.
It became a routine to play the song every day, and especially right before bed. In the song, the son wants to grow up to be like his father. There were definitely aspects of my father I wanted to aspire to, but there were characteristics I didn’t really want. The closing verse of the song is where the father realizes his son has indeed grown up to be like him. I always felt the father was sort of disappointed that his son had become so much like him.
In September of 2015 I lost my father to cancer, and it was tough. The first time I heard this song after he passed, I broke down and cried. This song holds so many memories for me, both good and bad. I wanted to share this song with you all today to remind everybody to always take the time to tell your loved ones how you feel.
