Cat's In the Cradle by Harry Chapin (cover)

Glennwillow · #1 05-24-2017, 02:52 PM

Tom (Acousticado) on this thread asked if I would consider doing a Harry Chapin song. That was 8 days ago.

So I went looking and decided to do "Cat's in the Cradle" because it's a song I was very familiar with and it was probably Harry Chapin's most successful song. I used the chords and lyrics found here. This is from the Harry Chapin Music website.

I actually played this song with the original recording a fair number of times and the chords are accurate. My tendency was to play the song too fast, and I probably still played it a little faster tempo compared to Harry Chapin. I also needed to listen to how Harry Chapin fit all those words into the musical framework of the song. In an interview online here Harry Chapin's wife said she wrote the original poem and then later Harry Chapin set the song to music after they'd had a child.

My feeling was that this song had a 500-word musical structure into which Harry had to fit about a 1000-word poem! I found that there was little elasticity in this song for fitting the words in if I was a little late starting a line or if I tripped over my own tongue. So I spent a good week working on this song trying to figure out how to handle all the words.

In spite of that, I still slightly tripped over the words in two places in my recording of the song, but I hope I have still done justice to the song. I also left out a few words that I felt were non-essential.

Regarding playing this song on capo 8, I ended up using my old Martin D-35 for this song because the bigger body has enough lower resonances that it keeps the accompaniment from sounding too "tinkly." I tried this song on some other OM guitars and it was just too thin sounding.

I actually changed keys to D and tried this on capo 3 with my 12-string where I could use the octave strings to play the instrumental intro, but in the end, I gave up on that and went back to capo 8 on the 6-string, but this time using the D-35.

You may also notice that the guitar is played in drop-D tuning. Harry Chapin Music doesn't tell you that, but there is no other way to play those bass runs in the accompaniment without doing that. So because of the drop-D tuning, I am playing the G chord in the chorus with my pinky up on the E string, 5th fret.

(whew!) I know that maybe this is too much information...

Thank you for listening and I hope you enjoy it!

I learned a few things, too...

- Glenn

Acousticado · #2 05-24-2017, 03:18 PM

Glenn, OMG, that was brilliantly done! Thanks so much for covering Harry. Your song choice is great...I love Cats. You make it seem effortless. Since I first heard you play, I've thought you would perform any song of Harry's just wonderful. And you did. Thanks again, so much! I'm going back to view/listen again, and again, and again.....

Dru Edwards · #3 05-24-2017, 03:26 PM

Glenn, what a great performance! Tom nailed it when he posted "You make it seem effortless". You've got an amazing voice, and great guitar chops too.

Nice to see that D-35 I've read about so much over the past few years in action

.

Glennwillow · #4 05-24-2017, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acousticado

Glenn, OMG, that was brilliantly done! Thanks so much for covering Harry. Your song choice is great...I love Cats. You make it seem effortless. Since I first heard you play, I've thought you would perform any song of Harry's just wonderful. And you did. Thanks again, so much! I'm going back to view/listen again, and again, and again.....

Thank you so much, Tom. I'm so glad I didn't let you down on this song! Thanks so much for listening, for your appreciation, and for your kind words!

- Glenn

Glennwillow · #5 05-24-2017, 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

Glenn, what a great performance! Tom nailed it when he posted "You make it seem effortless". You've got an amazing voice, and great guitar chops too.

Nice to see that D-35 I've read about so much over the past few years in action

.

Thanks so much, Dru, for listening and for the kind words.

Regarding the D-35, I was kind of despairing about this song on other guitars. I just didn't think it sounded good. It was only yesterday afternoon that I gave up on the 12-string idea and tried the D-35 and realized, hey, this guitar seems to have enough bass (even capoed up on the 8th fret) that it seems to work better. I felt so relieved!

Thanks again Dru for listening and taking the time to comment.

- Glenn

islandguitar · #6 05-24-2017, 06:52 PM

Really nice, Glenn! Always nice to hear a great cover from you! I so appreciate the time and consideration you give to the preparation and refinement of reaching your goals with each song.
Thanks again,
Fred

#7 05-24-2017, 07:45 PM

Excellent as always Glenn. Such a heartbreaking song.

Glennwillow · #8 05-24-2017, 07:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by islandguitar

Really nice, Glenn! Always nice to hear a great cover from you! I so appreciate the time and consideration you give to the preparation and refinement of reaching your goals with each song.
Thanks again,
Fred

Thank you Fred, for listening and for your comments.

For me, it's an interesting opportunity to learn something new when someone makes a suggestion or song recommendation. A person wonders if he (or she) is equal to the task. So it is rewarding to finally come up with a response.

Thanks again, Fred, for the kind words.

-- Glenn

Glennwillow · #9 05-24-2017, 07:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by J-Doug

Excellent as always Glenn. Such a heartbreaking song.

Hi Doug,

Thanks for your thoughts, Doug. Yes, it is kind of a heart breaking song. But it's also interesting how many people seem to relate to this song. Even if we were very responsible parents, we always seem to wonder if we have done enough. Even if we were responsible children, we always seem to feel guilty that we did not spend quite enough time with our aging parents.

I noted that about 10 million people have listened to Harry Chapin"s original version of this song on YouTube, so it seems to have a fairly universal appeal to people.

Thanks for your thoughts Doug.

-- Glenn

B-Nads · #10 05-24-2017, 08:26 PM

Excellent rendition, Glenn. Very enjoyable listen.

Johan Madsen · #11 05-24-2017, 08:32 PM

That was really great ! Very good sound and your voice fits that tune very well, nice playing too!

SoCalSurf · #12 05-24-2017, 08:59 PM

That was really nice to listen to. I want to say it sounded "pleasant," but that understates it. I really enjoyed it. Such an emotional song.

Glennwillow · #13 05-24-2017, 10:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by B-Nads

Excellent rendition, Glenn. Very enjoyable listen.

Thanks so much for listening and commenting Brent! Much appreciated!

- Glenn

Glennwillow · #14 05-24-2017, 10:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johan Madsen

That was really great ! Very good sound and your voice fits that tune very well, nice playing too!

Thank you Johan! I'm glad you liked it!

- Glenn

Glennwillow · #15 05-24-2017, 10:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoCalSurf

That was really nice to listen to. I want to say it sounded "pleasant," but that understates it. I really enjoyed it. Such an emotional song.

Thanks so much SoCalSurf! I suppose it is an emotional song, but I think when I sing that song, I tend to feel more "guilty." As if, I'm sure as a parent or as a child, I could have done more. And I think we all tend to feel that way to some extent.

Thanks for listening and taking the time to comment!

- Glenn