In my continuing obsession with all things iPod, I've been going through all my songs and making sure they all have correct information, including artwork (album covers), album name, composer, etc. I've also been adding lyrics and while searching the internet for song lyrics, came across
this useful site. You can
waste spend LOTS of time here: not only do they have lyrics, but lots of trivia--it's like Pop-up Video on a website!
So I'm listening to "Cat's in the Cradle" by Harry Chapin (you know, the song that every single straight man in America over the age of 30 sings at karaoke) and I'm all "hmm, I should add that to the iPod" and then thought I'd look it up. So I
found it on Songfacts and was amused at this incisive commentary:
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.Gee, ya think?! I mean, that's all pretty obvious!
And by the same contributor:
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."Huh? Stop trying to be deep, dude.
But this is fascinating (from the
page on Dan Fogelberg's "Same Old Lang Syne"--what? I love that song):
The melody phrase at the beginning of each verse ("Met my old lover at the grocery store...") was taken by Fogelberg from Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture." (To get the effect, just sing that lyric twice, slightly speeded up. Maybe add a few fireworks explosions for good measure.) This song is one of several Pop tunes that have phrases or entire melodies ripped off from classical composers - Paul Simon's "American Tune" (from J.S. Bach), Billy Joel's "This Night" (from Beethoven), among others.So cool! I'd never noticed that!
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
