Cat's in the Cradle

    1. Cat's in the Cradle   Time 2008-05-29 18:42
  • http://www.MySpace.com/JamesGraffhttp://www.GarageBand.com/artist/Jame...http://www.JamesGraff.comJames Graff (aka graffjamie or Jamie or me) singing and playing "Cat's in the Cradle" by Harry Chapin on his Takamine 12 string acoustic/electric guitar while someone (possibly Steve Kiss - from the Hungarian superband INDEX) plays James' electronic drumkit at the Sherwood Tiki Pool Bar in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA.Chapin based the song on a poem written by his wife Sandy about Harry's neglectful father. He wrote the song after he got upset because he missed his son's birth while he was touring. The song tells of a father and son who can't schedule time to be with each other and its a warning against putting one's career before family. The verses start out with a natural harmony and depict the tale of a father with his newborn son. Although dad gets the necessities of child rearing accomplished, he doesn't allow himself to put in quality time with his son because of his career. Initially, this seems like no big deal because of his hectic and oblivious life working and paying bills. The recurring verse has the son saying, "I'm gonna be like you Dad, you know I'm gonna be like you..." Over time, both father and son grow into a switching of life roles. The father realizes his son's ambitions and goals of college, grades, and driving and wants to spend more time with him, yet slowly grasps the reality that now his son has no time for such things. In the last verse, Chapin illustrates that the "son" is all grown up with a fast paced job and kids of his own. In a glaring twist of roles, we see that the son now has no time to spend with his father. Sadly, dad realizes that his boy has become just like him.Some of the lyrics reflect America's movement into a faster paced, almost numb society, hence the line, "Little boy blue and the man on the moon." Ugly Kid Joe released this as the second single from their 1992 album America's Least Wanted. Their first single was "Everything About You." This song was used for a commercial in Northern Ireland about the Troubles at the time. In the spot, a father is involved in one of the political groups and he isn't much of an example for his son (flash back father with gun running into house terrorizing family of opposite religion, etc.). Because of this the kid ends of following in his foot steps. It tried to send the message that following a bad example can become a vicious circle and unless we change, the troubles will never go away and our children will suffer. "My electronic drumkit - that night - consisted of my Drumkat 12 pad brain/controller, my hatkat and 1 or 2 of my 2 DW5000 kick drum pedal/midi triggers. Every night I play solo is usually an "Taking ALL your requests - and ignoring them completely" open mic/jam night. It's just more fun, open and honest that way. Sometimes the audience knows better than I do what they want to hear. Because I have been taking request for so long: It's amazing how often I start to cue a backing track or start playing the first chord of a song just as someone shouts out to me or hands me on a knapkin! Telepathy, mind reading, intuition?? All I want to do is make people happy. I want to play exactly what they want hear - and if that happens to be THEM playing or singing - GREAT! Sure, I want to hog the stage - I just can't bring myself to do it!" "If you were to dedicate the rest of your life to easing suffering in the world - now and into the future - what would you do???""I am a musical slut: I will play ANY instrument, in any style, with any one, for ANY amount of money - all going to charity!!"James Graff (aka graffjamie, jamie, me) started on piano at three and now plays ALL musical instruments: 100+ originals, 400+ request list in ALL styles: Classical, Baroque, Jazz, Ragtime, Blues, Country, Soul, Rock, Funk, Reggae, Disco, Hard Rock, Metal, Punk, etc. James Graff went to Mountz Grammer School, Spring Lake, NJ, was president of his class at Manasquan High School, NJ and studied both Finance at the Wharton School of Business and Systems Engineering at the Moore School of Engineering all at the "Ivy League" University of Pennsylvania, Philadelpia, PA. He was born in Manhattan, New York City, NY lived in Spring Lake, NJ, for 35 years, Boca Raton, FL for ten years and Tallinn, Estonia for three years and Tartu, Estonia for 6 years!Please check out:http://www.myspace.com/jamesgraffhttp://www.garageband.com/artist/jame...http://www.jamesgraff.comhttp://www.isounds.com/jamesgraffTHANKS for all your time and effort!! ENJOY!!
  • Tag: »"Cat's »"James »Asylum »Chapin »Cradle" »Graff" »Harry »Soul »acoustic »jamie »string »takamine »the
  • play:
  • :