The single sold 500,000 copies domestically, earning a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America. The song also peaked at number three on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart.

The cover was issued as a single in 1993 and peaked at number six on the US Billboard Hot 100, the group's highest position on that chart. In 1992, American hard rock band Ugly Kid Joe included a cover of the song, renamed ' Cats in the Cradle' (without the apostrophe), on their debut album America's Least Wanted. Ugly Kid Joe version 'Cats in the Cradle' ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. Chapin also said the song was about his own relationship with his son, Josh, admitting, 'Frankly, this song scares me to death.' Ĭash Box called it 'a tender story of a father and his son and a perfect representation of how roles change in the relationship over the years,' stating it was a 'lyrical delight.' Charts She was also inspired by a country music song she had heard on the radio. The song's lyrics began as a poem written by Harry's wife, Sandra 'Sandy' Gaston the poem itself was inspired by the awkward relationship between her first husband, James Cashmore, and his father, John, a politician who served as Brooklyn borough president. However, the son's own job and family prevents him from promising to spend time with him, and the father realizes that his son has indeed grown up to be just like him. In the final verse, the now-retired father calls his adult son and asks if they can spend some time together. After the son graduates from college, he declines his father's offer to relax with him and instead asks for the car keys.

Not long after his son's birth, the father is repeatedly unable to spend time with him due to his job, despite his son looking up to him and saying he will grow up to be just like his father. 'Cat's in the Cradle' is narrated by a man who becomes a father in the first verse.

Cat in the kettle artist