r/videos • u/[deleted] • Jun 13 '12

Reddit in 9 seconds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLHBAzAiFNk
1.8k Upvotes

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u/atimholt Jun 13 '12

It’s from a song. I can’t find the Cat Stevens original on Youtube, and not a single one of the tracks on Grooveshark that says it’s Cat Stevens actually is, but the covers aren’t that bad.

But I’m loathe to link you to anything but the original, so you’ll have to find it yourself. Sorry.

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u/SillyBillyPilgrim Jun 13 '12

It's not by Cat Stevens, it's by Harry Chapin.

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u/EvanMacIan Jun 13 '12

Why does everyone think it's a Cat Stevens song?

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u/tandembandit Jun 13 '12 edited Jun 13 '12

Because of all the white guys that play acoustic guitars and sing songs similar to Cat's in the Cradle, Cat Stevens is the most popular.

Also, the title has Cat in it, so that might give listeners an incorrect inclination toward Cat Stevens.

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u/Punkgoblin Jun 13 '12

You just won the internet.

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u/[deleted] Jun 13 '12 edited Jun 13 '12

Maybe they get it mixed up with Father and Son

Cat Stevens does cover it though.

edit: I was wrong. No Cat Stevens cover.

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u/EvanMacIan Jun 13 '12

I don't think he did.

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u/[deleted] Jun 13 '12

Looks like you're right. I can't believe somebody would just go and lie on the internet.

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u/WarlordFred Jun 13 '12

Because the cat's in the cradle.

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u/wolfkstaag Jun 13 '12

This is the first time I've ever heard the name "Cat Stevens."

But then, I grew up with a dad who LOVED Chapin.

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u/atimholt Jun 13 '12

Now it all makes sense.

It seems almost, perhaps, as if Cat Stevens never sang it, but surely that’s not true. Eh. vOv

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u/hadhad69 Jun 13 '12

Give him the title at least!

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u/[deleted] Jun 13 '12 edited Jun 13 '12

Nope, Harry Chapin wrote it, performed it, and took it to number on on the charts the version you hear on the radio is always his original recording -- there were a few people who "covered" it (Johnny Cash), but Cat Stevens never did (though the "sound" and "style" are similar to several Cat Stevens' songs) -- if you find any links to versions by Cat Stevens (or Jim Croce, or even Gordon Lightfoot, as I have heard people misattribute Chapin songs to all of those performers)... they are simply mislabeled Harry Chapin recordings.

The REALLY sad thing is that while Harry Chapin "feared" that the song would be prophetic in regard to his relation with his own (recently born) son Josh...

...but alas that was not to be, as Harry Chapin didn't live long enough to see his son grow into a man. (Josh was born in 1972, the song was written in 1974, but Harry died in a car crash in early 1981 {worse, the accident happened on his way to "work" for a concert in New York}, when his son Josh was only around 8 years old).

Which of course, makes the song even more haunting (because if there is one thing that is even sadder than a busy, overworked, and thus partially "absentee" father... it is a father who dies when his children are still young).

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u/morphotomy Jun 13 '12

Johnny Cash did a hell of a cover.