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The Byrds - Eight Miles High

The Byrds - Eight Miles High Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Fifth Dimension
Released: 1966

Eight Miles High Lyrics

Eight Miles High and when you touch down
You'll find that it's stranger than known
Signs in the street that say where you're going
Are somewhere just being their own

Nowhere is there warmth to be found
Among those afraid of losing their ground
Rain gray town known for its sound
In places small faces unbound

Round the squares huddled in storms
Some laughing some just shapeless forms
Sidewalk scenes and black limousines
Some living some standing alone

Writer/s: GENE CLARK, DAVID CROSBY, ROGER MC GUINN
Publisher: BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC, HORI PRO ENTERTAINMENT GROUP, Reservoir One Music, RESERVOIR MEDIA MANAGEMENT INC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Eight Miles High

Many people believe this song is about drugs, but the band claimed it was inspired by a flight where singer Gene Clark asked guitarist Roger McGuinn how high they were in the sky. McGuinn told him six miles, but for the song they changed it to eight.

This story was likely a smokescreen to keep the song in the good graces of sensitive listeners. The band had been doing a lot of drugs at the time, including LSD, which is the likely inspiration. If the band owned up to the drug references, they knew it would get banned by some radio stations, and that's exactly what happened when a radio industry publication reported that the song was about drugs and that stations should be careful about playing it. As soon as one station dropped it, others followed and it quickly sank off the charts.

In his book Echoes , Gene Clark said that he wrote the song on his own with David Crosby coming up with one key line ("Rain gray town, known for its sound"), and Roger McGuinn arranging the song with help from Crosby.

In the Forgotten Hits newsletter, McGuinn replied: "Not true! The whole theme was my idea... Gene would never have written a song about flying. I came up with the line, 'Six miles high and when you touch down.' We later changed that to Eight because of the Beatles song 'Eight Days a Week.' I came up with several other lines as well. And what would the song be without the Rickenbacker 12-string breaks?"

This song is often cited in discussions of "Acid Rock," a term that got bandied about in 1966 with the release of Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde album. The genre covers a kind of psychedelic music that became popular at the time, and also the look and lifestyle that went with it. "Acid Rock" was hailed as a pathway to higher consciousness and derided as senseless drug music. At the end of the '60s, the term petered out, as rock critics moved on to other topics for their think pieces.

The band recorded this on their own, but Columbia Records made them re-record it before they would put it on the album, partly because they had contracts with unions. The Byrds liked the first version better.

Don McLean referred to this in his song "American Pie," which chronicles the change in musical style from the '50s to the '60s. The line is "Eight miles high and falling fast- landed foul out on the grass." McLean could be sardonically implying that the song is about drugs, since "foul grass" was slang for marijuana. (thanks, Brett - Edmonton, Canada)

Husker Du recorded a noise-pop version in 1985. (thanks, Paul - Glasgow, Scotland)

Tori Amos - Wild Way

Tori Amos - Wild Way Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Unrepentant Geraldines
Released: 2014

Wild Way Lyrics

I hate you
I hate you, I do
I hate that
You're the one who can
Make me feel gorgeous
With just just a flick of your finger
It is that easy

Yes there was a time
You didn't always get your way
Back there where my heart
Was not so easy to invade
When my battlements were strong
Before the Pilgrims came
Don't forget you were the one
Who loved my Wild Way

I hate you
I hate you I do
I hate that
I turn into a kind
Some kind of monster
With just just a flick of your finger
It is that easy

Of course there was a time
You didn't always get your way
Back there where my heart
Was not so easy to invade
When my battlements were strong
Before the pilgrims came
Don't forget you were the one
Who loved my wild way

I hate you
I hate you I do
I hate that
You're the one who can
Make me feel gorgeous
With just just a flick of your finger
It is that easy
To hate you
To hate you

Writer/s: MYRA ELLEN TORI AMOS
Publisher: SWORD AND STONE PUBLISHING CO.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Wild Way

This song finds Tori Amos drawing parallels between gender relations and the treatment of Native Americans. "I've always been aware of my part Cherokee ancestry," she told Uncut magazine, "the idea that I'm both conquered and conqueror. 'Wild Way' explores how violent, manipulative men will fetish women as they use them, just as pilgrims fetished Indians while they were committing genocide. And society hasn't really confronted either."

Lifehouse - Cling And Clatter

Lifehouse - Cling And Clatter Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: No Name Face
Released: 2000

Cling And Clatter Lyrics

Too many voices, It won't take long
Which one's right, which one's wrong
Yours is most likely to be misunderstood
Screaming in tongues

On the top of my lungs
'Til I find you, 'til you found me
Somehow I always knew that you would
And I am contemplating matters

All this Cling And Clatter
In my head, and what you said
Is ringing, ringing faster
And it's all good if you would

Stop the world from making sense
And if I could just realize
It doesn't really matter
It doesn't really matter

It doesn't really matter
If I could touch
The sound of silence now
You know I would if I knew how

To make these intentions
Come around
I'm hearing without listening
And believing every word

You are not saying
Speaking without a sound
Trapped inside
Of these four walls

Walking brainless muppet dolls
Mushroom face
Beneath the tangles
Bleeding silhouette inside

Dancing like an angel would

Writer/s: Aniello, Ron John / Wade, Jason
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, RESERVOIR MEDIA MANAGEMENT INC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Cling And Clatter

Lifehouse lead singer Jason Wade: "That's about trying to make your way through the cling and clatter - all the noise and emotional distractions - to get to what you really need. It's about sorting through the conflicting voices inside and outside your head." (thanks, Patti - Mahopac, NY)

Capital Cities - Tell Me How To Live

Capital Cities - Tell Me How To Live Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: In a Tidal Wave Of Mystery
Released: 2013

Tell Me How To Live Lyrics

The grass is greener
The grass is greener

Been a good man
Been a good man all my life
Can’t stand the feeling, I’ve been so hypnotized

Been a good man
Been a good man all my life
Can’t stand the feeling, I’ve been so hypnotized

Ain’t nobody gonna Tell Me How To Live
Ain’t nobody gonna tell me how to live
Ain’t nobody gonna tell me how to live

Ain’t nobody gonna tell me how to live

The grass is greener, greener on my side
You know you love the feeling
I’ve come to hypnotize

The grass is greener, greener on my side
You know you love the feeling
I’ve come to hypnotize

Ain’t nobody gonna tell me how to live
Ain’t nobody gonna tell me how to live
Ain’t nobody gonna tell me how to live
Ain’t nobody gonna tell me how to live

Been a good man
Been a good man
I’ve come to
I’ve come to hypnotize

Ain’t nobody gonna tell me how to live
Ain’t nobody gonna tell me how to live
Ain’t nobody gonna tell me how to live
Ain’t nobody gonna tell me how to live

Writer/s: SIMONIAN, SEBU / MERCHANT, RYAN
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Tell Me How To Live

Sebu Simonian of Capital Cities singles this out as one of his favorites from the duo's debut album. In our 2014 interview , he told us about the song:

"That one incorporates the oud, which is an ancient Armenian stringed instrument; kind of like an ancient guitar. It has a little bit of a guitar vibe, with this strong Hip-Hop feeling to it.

I think we were able to do something clever with that: it's got electronic sounds mixed with the very ancient Armenian stringed instrument. I think it's special and new, so I like that track a lot."

Lifehouse - Only One

Lifehouse - Only One Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: No Name Face
Released: 2000

Only One Lyrics

She's got a pretty smile it covers up the poison
That she hides she walks around in circles in my head
Waiting for the chance to break me chance to take me down
Well I see the burden you gave me
It's too much to carry it's too much to bury inside
I guess you're the Only One
Nobody changes I guess you're the only one
That's still doing everything else ...
You're still the only one yeah you're still the only one
Wisdom shallow oh so peeling
Now I'm up to my ankles and I'm drowning
Away in a sea sarcastic faces familiar places
Everything that's quite the same it's all confusing ...
Amusing literally tainted a picture you've painted to me
I guess you're the only one
Nobody changes I guess you're the one
That's still doing when everything else goes down
You're still the only one
We never change faces
I guess you're the only one that's still doing
Everything else goes down
Just cause the sounds in your head
Doesn't mean it has to be in mine
Don't believe what you said still can't get it out of my mind
I've tried to find myself in approval
I've already been there already done that
It got me no where it brought me nothing
But a good place to hide in no one to confide in
Now I guess you're the only one
Nobody changes I guess you're the only one
That will never change faces
I guess you're the only one

Writer/s: JASON WADE
Publisher: RESERVOIR MEDIA MANAGEMENT INC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Only One

Lead singer Jason Wade: "I wrote "Only One" right after someone in my life did something I felt was totally wrong. It was a really tough time for me. I have these trails in my life, like my dad leaving and my not being with him anymore, and then this man, who I really looked up to, failing. "Only One" is about how sometimes people are just not there for you and you have to look somewhere else for guidance." (thanks, Patti - Mahopac, NY)

Ice Cube - It Was a Good Day

Ice Cube - It Was a Good Day Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: The Predator
Released: 1993

It Was a Good Day Lyrics

Break me, shit, yo

Just waking up in the morning gotta thank God
I don't know but today seems kinda odd
No barking from the dogs, no smog
And momma cooked a breakfast with no hog
I got my grub on, but didn't pig out
Finally got a call from a girl want to dig out
Hooked it up on later as I hit the do'
Thinking will i live another twenty fo'
I gotta go cause I got me a drop top
And if I hit the switch, I can make the ass drop
Had to stop at a red light
Looking in my mirror not a jacker in sight
And everything is alright
I got a beep from Kim and she can fuck all night
Called up the homies and I'm askin' y'all
Which park, are y'all playin' basketball?
Get me on the court and I'm trouble
Last week fucked around and got a triple double
Freaking brothers every way like M.J.
I can't believe, today was a good day

Drove to the pad and hit the showers
Didn't even get no static from the cowards
Cause just yesterday them fools tried to blast me
Saw the police and they rolled right past me
No flexin', didn't even look in a niggas direction as I ran the intersection
Went to $hort Dog's house, they was watchin' Yo! MTV Raps
What's the haps on the craps
Shake 'em up, shake 'em up, shake 'em up, shake 'em
Roll 'em in a circle of niggaz and watch me break 'em
With the seven, seven-eleven, seven-eleven
Seven even back do' little Joe
I picked up the cash flow
Then we played bones, and I'm yellin' domino
Plus nobody I know got killed in South Central L.A.
Today was a good day

Left my niggas house paid
Picked up a girl been tryin' to fuck since the twelfth grade
It's ironic, I had the brew she had the chronic
The Lakers beat the Supersonics
I felt on the big fat fanny
Pulled out the jammy, and killed the punanny
And my dick runs deep so deep so deep put her ass to sleep
Woke her up around one
she didn't hesitate, to call Ice Cube the top gun
Drove her to the pad and I'm coasting
Took another sip of the potion hit the three-wheel motion
I was glad everything had worked out
Dropped her ass off, then I chirped out
Today was like one of those fly dreams
Didn't even see a berry flashing those high beams
No helicopter looking for a murder
Two in the morning got the fat burger
Even saw the lights of the Goodyear Blimp
And it read Ice Cube's a pimp (yeah)
Drunk as hell but no throwing up
Half way home and my pager still blowing up
Today I didn't even have to use my A.K.
I got to say It Was a Good Day

Hey wait, wait a minute fool stop the shit
What the fuck am I thinking about?

Writer/s: ISLEY, MARVIN / GOODMAN, ALBERT / JACKSON, O'SHEA / RAY, HARRY MILTON / ROBINSON, SYLVIA / ISLEY, O'KELLY / JASPER, CHRISTOPHER / ISLEY, ERNIE / ISLEY, RUDOLPH / ISLEY, RONALD
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

It Was a Good Day

The song was meant to be a contrast to the other songs on Ice Cube's album, The Predator, which was recorded in the wake of the LA Riots of 1992. According to Cube, "The inspiration was my life at the time... I was at the top of the rap game. It was the summer of '92 and I was in a hotel room, really in a state of euphoria. I had all the money I had dreamed of. I was in a good frame of mind. And I remember thinking, 'Okay, there's been the riots, people know I will deal with that. That's a given. But I rap all this gangsta stuff – what about all the good days I had?"

The song's music video is the first half of a two-part series. It is the prelude to the video for "Check Yo Self," which depicts Ice Cube being arrested in front of his home and being sent to prison.

The song is exactly 4:20 in length, an allusion to the song's depiction of hedonistic activity (specifically, marijuana use). (thanks, Fujiko - Lexington, KY for above 3)

The slinky groove on this song is sampled from an Isley Brothers tune called "Footsteps in the Dark."

Ice Cube ends this song on a negative note, ordering his DJ to stop the record and declaring, "Stop this s--t! What the f--k I'm thinking about." Turns out the good day may have been imaginary.

This was Ice Cube's most popular song, getting lots of spins on Urban radio stations and some play on Top 40 stations with bold program directors. Of course, the version used on the radio was heavily edited, but there was little mistaking what he meant by "my Jimmy runs deep."

It was Ice Cube's highest Hot 100 chart placing, and an especially lucrative one since he wrote the song entirely by himself (credited to his real name: O'Shea Jackson). Many of his other chart entries are collaborations, including his recording with the female rapper Yo-Yo on "You Can't Play With My Yo-Yo" (#36, 1991) and "Check Yo Self," which he recorded with Das EFX (#20, 1993).

Lifehouse - Somebody Else's Song

Lifehouse - Somebody Else's Song Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: No Name Face
Released: 2000

Somebody Else's Song Lyrics

Can't change this feeling I'm way out of touch
Can't change this meaning it means too much
Never been this lonely never felt so good
Can't be the only one misunderstood I remind myself of somebody else
Feeling like I'm chasing like I'm facing myself alone
I've got somebody else's thoughts in my head I want some of my own
I want some of my own I want some of my own

Can you see me up here would you bring me back down
Cause I've been living to see my fears as they fall to the ground
I remind myself of somebody else
Feeling like I'm chasing like I'm facing myself alone
I've got somebody else's thoughts in my head I want some of my own
I want some of my own I want some of my own am I hiding behind my doubts
Are they hiding behind me closer to finding out it doesn't mean anything
I remind myself of somebody else now

Writer/s: Aniello, Ron John / Wade, Jason
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, RESERVOIR MEDIA MANAGEMENT INC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Somebody Else's Song

Lead singer Jason Wade said that "When I was writing "Somebody Else's Song" I had this picture of some kid with all these expectations on him, about what he's supposed to become in the world and what he's supposed to do. That's where I got that lyric "I've got somebody else's thoughts in my head / I want some of my own." It's about figuring things out for yourself. There was this whole period where I was searching and trying to think for myself. I was, like, I don't want to believe in something just because my parents believe in it. Or, I don't want to go to college just because they told me to go to college. I think people go through that kind of stuff their whole lives." (thanks, Patti - Mahopac, NY)

Patsy Cline - Leavin' On Your Mind

Patsy Cline - Leavin' On Your Mind Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: The Patsy Cline Story
Released: 1963

Leavin' On Your Mind Lyrics

If you got Leavin' On Your Mind
Tell me now, get it over
Hurt me now, get it over
If you got leavin' on your mind

If there's a new love in your heart
Tell me now, get it over
Hurt me now, get it over
If there's a new love in your heart

Don't leave me here, in a world
Filled with dreams that might have been
Hurt me now, get it over
I may learn to love again

If there's a new love in your heart
Tell me now, get it over
Hurt me now, get it over
If there's a new love in your heart

Hurt me now, get it over
If there's a new love in your heart

Writer/s: PIERCE, WEBB / WALKER, WAYNE P.
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Leavin' On Your Mind

Written by Wayne Walker and Webb Pierce, this was one of Cline's three posthumous Top 10 Country hits. The other two were "Sweet Dreams" and "Faded Love."

This song was first recorded by the Canadian singer Joyce Smith in 1961.

Country singer Jamie O'Neal covered this song for her 2014 covers album Eternal. She said in a Songfacts interview : "You don't hear a lot of songs like that these days that are just that really raw emotion. It's almost like desperation in a way. I feel like back then people used to sing and lay it all out on the table when they loved somebody."

This song was featured in the season one Lost episode "Tabula Rasa."

Lifehouse - Sick Cycle Carousel

Lifehouse - Sick Cycle Carousel Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: No Name Face
Released: 2000

Sick Cycle Carousel Lyrics

If shame had a face
I think it would kind of look like mine
If it had a home would it be my eyes?
Would you believe me
If I said I am tired of this
How here we go now one more time

I tried to climb your steps
I tried to chase you down
I tried to see how low I could get down to the ground
I tried to earn my way
I tried to tame this mind
You better believe that I tried to beat this

So when will this end
It goes on and on
Over and over and over again
Keep spinning around i know that it won't stop
Till I step down from this for good

I never thought I'd end up here
I never thought Id be standing where I am
I guess a kind of thought it would be easier than this I guess
I was wrong now one more time

I tried to climb your steps
I tried to chase you down
I tried to see how low I could get down to the ground
I tried to earn my way
I tried to tame this mind
You better believe that I tried to beat this

So when will this end
It goes on and on
Over and over and over again
Keep spinning around
I know that it won't stop
Till I step down from this

Sick Cycle Carousel,
This is a sick cycle, yeah
Sick cycle carousel
This is a sick cycle, yeah

So will this end
It goes on and on
Over and over and over again
Keep spinning around
I know that it won't stop
Till I step down from this for good

When will this end
It goes on and on
Over and over and over again
Keep spinning around
I know that it won't stop
Till I step down from this for good

Sick cycle carousel
Sick cycle carousel
Sick cycle carousel
Sick cycle carousel
Sick cycle carousel
Sick cycle carousel
Sick cycle carousel

Writer/s: SCOTT FAIRCLOFF, JASON WADE
Publisher: RESERVOIR MEDIA MANAGEMENT INC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Sick Cycle Carousel

Jason, the singer songwriter guitarist from Lifehouse, said:
"It's about my relationship with my girlfriend. There was a specific time when we felt the struggles of going through a relationship, of trying to communicate and going through all the things you go through to get to that point of real depth. I wrote the song during the most crucial time when we were either going to break up, or continue our relationship." (thanks, Patti - Mahopac, NY)

Bingo Players - Knock You Out

Bingo Players - Knock You Out Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Single Release Only
Released: 2014

Knock You Out Lyrics

Eight miles high and when you touch down
You'll find that it's stranger than known
Signs in the street that say where you're going
Are somewhere just being their own

Nowhere is there warmth to be found
Among those afraid of losing their ground
Rain gray town known for its sound
In places small faces unbound

Round the squares huddled in storms
Some laughing some just shapeless forms
Sidewalk scenes and black limousines
Some living some standing alone

Writer/s: GENE CLARK, DAVID CROSBY, ROGER MC GUINN
Publisher: BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC, HORI PRO ENTERTAINMENT GROUP, Reservoir One Music, RESERVOIR MEDIA MANAGEMENT INC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Knock You Out

On December 17, 2013, one half of Bingo Players, Paul Bäumer, died after an ongoing cancer battle. Maarten Hoogstraten announced in early 2014 that Bingo Players would be continuing on as a solo act, as per Paul's wishes. He released this song around the same time.

The song was built around by Bäumer and Hoogstraten of Australian singer-songwriter Sia Furler's demo vocal. New Yorker Kim Viera was then brought in to sing on the track. The Berklee College School of Music graduate first broke through after her soulful rendition of Rihanna's "Diamonds" became a viral hit.

Hoogstraten told Billboard magazine that he instantly connected to Sia's lyrics about self-empowerment and triumph over haters. "It's all about overcoming struggles and emotional challenges, it really reflects [where I am] right now," he said. "When I play it, it's spot on. I could write those lyrics myself."

Harry Chapin - Cat's in the Cradle

Harry Chapin - Cat's in the Cradle Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Verities And Balderdash
Released: 1974

Cat's in the Cradle Lyrics

My child arrived just the other day
He came to the world in the usual way
But there were planes to catch, and bills to pay
He learned to walk while I was away
And he was talking 'fore I knew it, and as he grew
He'd say, "I'm gonna be like you, dad
You know I'm gonna be like you."

[Chorus]
And the Cat's in the Cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man in the moon
"When you coming home, dad?" "I don't know when
But we'll get together then
You know we'll have a good time then."

My son turned ten just the other day
He said, "Thanks for the ball, dad; come on, let's play
Can you teach me to throw?"
I said, "Not today, I got a lot to do."
He said, "That's okay."
And he walked away, but his smile never dimmed
And said, "I'm gonna be like him, yeah
You know I'm gonna be like him."

[Chorus]

Well, he came from college just the other day
So much like a man, I just had to say
"Son, I'm proud of you. Can you sit for a while?"
He shook his head, and he said with a smile
"What I'd really like, dad, is to borrow the car keys
See you later; can I have them please?"

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man in the moon
"When you coming home, son?" "I don't know when
But we'll get together then, dad
You know we'll have a good time then."

I've long since retired, and my son's moved away
I called him up just the other day
I said, "I'd like to see you if you don't mind."
He said, "I'd love to, dad, if I could find the time
You see, my new job's a hassle, and the kid's got the flu
But it's sure nice talking to you, dad
It's been sure nice talking to you."
And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me
He'd grown up just like me
My boy was just like me

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man in the moon
"When you coming home, son?" "I don't know when
But we'll get together then, dad
We're gonna have a good time then."

Writer/s: CHAPIN, HARRY F./CHAPIN, SANDY
Publisher: Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Cat's in the Cradle

This heartbreaking song tells of a father and son who can't schedule time to be with each other, and it serves as 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 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. With a heavy heart, dad realizes that his boy has become just like him.

This song is based on a poem that Harry's wife Sandy wrote. She told us: "'Cat's In The Cradle' was a combination of a couple of things. Whenever I was on a long drive I would listen to country music, because words would keep me awake more than just music. And I heard a song… I can remember the story, but I don't remember who sang it or what the title was, but an old couple were sitting at their breakfast table and looking out the window, and they saw the rusted swing and the sandbox, and they were reminiscing about the good old days when all the children were around and then the grandchildren, and how it passed, and now it's all gone.

The other part of the idea – this is always a problem, because Harry introduced the song at all his concerts and said, 'This is a song my wife wrote to zap me because I wasn't home when our son Josh was born.' I was always kind of amused by that because of the fact that we learn life's lessons too late. We don't learn lessons before the fact. We don't have a child born and then have all this wisdom. So I always thought it was interesting the way he told the story.

But I learned the story because my [first] husband was going to New York to be a lawyer, and I had a teaching job in New York. While we were apartment hunting, we were living with his parents in Brooklyn. His father was the borough president of Brooklyn at the time, which I think was a much more important job than it is today. But every day when he got home from work, he would start talking to his son about, 'It'd be great if you'd go down to the club on Tuesday night, I'd like to introduce you to some of the people I know,' and so forth. And he started trying to engineer a career for him which leads to politics. They did not have any relationship or communication because they had been so busy until his son went off to college and was gone. I don't remember exactly how, but he started talking to me. My father-in-law would say me, even though we were all in the same room, 'Tell Jimmy I would like to see him down at the clubhouse on Tuesday.' It was really very strange.

So this is the way the evenings went. The conversation was going through me. So I realized what had happened. You know, relationships and characters and personalities and all those things are formed by two, so I realized that that hadn't happened. And it was very jerky at that stage. So I observed something that gave me the idea for the song."

It took the birth of his son for Harry Chapin to decide to turn the poem his wife wrote into a song. Sandy Chapin explained in her Songfacts interview: "Harry and I would exchange writing of all kinds. We were always working on each other's writing. Some of my writing at a certain period were 20-page papers for a doctoral program at Columbia. So it wasn't always that poetic. But we both looked at each other's stuff. And then one time he came home and he said, 'What have you been doing?' I showed him 'Cat's In The Cradle,' and he said, 'Well, that's interesting.'

You know, sometimes he'd pick up something and put music to it. And that didn't really grab him at all. And then after Josh was born, it did. He picked it up and he wrote music to it."

Sandy Chapin runs the Harry Chapin Foundation, which does what it can to continue supporting the causes Harry championed when he was alive. While Sandy does a lot of work for the foundation, her focus is her family and her role as an on-call grandmother for six grandchildren. As can be expected of the woman who wrote "Cat's In The Cradle," she values the time she can spend with them while they are still young.

In our 2009 interview, she said: "The eldest of the six has just gone into 6th grade, which means not only does she live in a community where the kids grow up fast, but now she's in a middle school where everybody thinks they're teenagers and ought to be in high school. So you know, you have to grab those years. It used to be when I would drive up to the house, she would jump out and run and greet me, and say, 'Grandma, what's the project for today?' Because I would always bring some arts and crafts. We'd make Thanksgiving place cards, or Christmas tree ornaments. But all through the year I was always doing projects with them. So now she's answering her e-mail, she's on her cell phone and doing dates, walking around town with her friends, being a grownup, and doing all the after school activities. You have to grab that chance when you have it." (Read more in our interview with Sandy Chapin .)

The message about procrastination and missed opportunities makes this song an excellent parable for use in church sermons, where it remains very popular.

Harry Chapin included various symbols of childhood in the lyrics as reminders of how quickly it ends. "Cat's Cradle" is a game played with string, "Silver Spoons" are ornamental spoons for babies, and "Little Boy Blue" is a nursery rhyme. "Man In The Moon" could be about the human features children see when they look at the moon.

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. (thanks, Tess - L'Derry, Ireland)

There have been many cover versions of this song, but the only one to chart is by Ugly Kid Joe, a puckish rock band known for their novelty hit "Everything About You." Released as a single from their 1992 album America's Least Wanted, their rendition went to #6 US and #7 UK (the only UK chart entry for the song, since Chapin's original didn't make the tally).

In their remake, Ugly Kid Joe changed the lyric "Man in the moon" to "Man ON the moon," apparently thinking the song was referring to Neil Armstrong's 1969 lunar landing. Another tweak: their version is titled "Cats in the Cradle," without the apostrophe. This indicates that there is more than one cat in the cradle, but it's unlikely the band was concerned with the vagaries of grammar.

Ugly Kid Joe's version is earnest, however. When we spoke with their lead singer Whitfield Crane , he said, "That song means a lot to me just because of my childhood."

The video for the Ugly Kid Joe version was directed by Matt Mahurin, an illustrator whose work has appeared in many high-profile magazines. Mahurin was shooting a lot of music videos around this time, including clips for Alice in Chains ("No Excuses") and Soundgarden ("Outshined").

For the "Cats in the Cradle" video, Mahurin shows the boy growing into a man, ending with a shot of the father old and lonely. It's an elegant and touching portrayal of the song, with lots of cinematic slow-motion footage.

The scenes where Whitfield Crane is singing were shot in Mahurin's game room - he had Crane sit on the pool table and sing. They had what they needed after one take.

This song plays throughout a Nissan commercial that debuted during the 2015 Super Bowl (between the Patriots and Seahawks). In the spot, a champion race car driver spends most of his time away from home and rarely sees his son. At the end of the commercial, he shows up in a Nissan to surprise his now-teenaged son.

We found the ad troubling for two reasons:

1) The idea that an absentee father can show up late in his child's life and all will be forgiven.
2) At one point in the commercial, the driver survives a crash. Chapin was killed in a car accident.

Still, any time the song is used in a commercial, Chapin's estate gets paid, which ultimately benefits his foundation.

Brantley Gilbert - Small Town Throwdown

Brantley Gilbert - Small Town Throwdown Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Just as I Am
Released: 2014

Small Town Throwdown Lyrics

Aw Son
Round these parts there ain't much to do
Except work like a dog til Friday
Punch that clock
Cash that check raise a little hell til Sunday
Its about that time

There's a party back in the woods tonight
Heard it thru the redneck grapevine
Gotta keg of beer and a buncha girls
Sure enough gonna be a good time

It's a Small Town Throwdown
Its time to tall boy up let them tailgates down
Yea Man its on tonight right into morning light
Crank that country up loud
It's a small town throwdown

Ow we bout to throw it down son
Now we gotta field full of daisy dukes
Round here we know how to grow em
Rockin' little body and long tan legs
Sure ain't scared to show em naw

Show a little son girl
Somebody said them city boys
Riding around looking for some trouble
If they bring it cross that county line
Ya know there's gonna be a rumble

It's a small town throwdown
Its time to tall boy up let them tailgates down
Yea Man its on tonight right into morning light
Crank that country up loud
It's a small town throwdown

Come on
It's a small town

(Small town) Throwdown (Throwdown)
Its time to tall boy up
Let them tailgates down
Yea man its on tonight
Right in to the morning light
Crank that country up loud

(Crank it up loud)
It's a small town Throwdown(Throwdown)
It's a small town throwdown
Its time to tall boy up
Let them tailgates down
Aw man its on tonight

Right in the morning light
Crank that country up loud
It's a small town throwdown
It's a small town throwdown
Now that's country ha ha, son

Writer/s: DAVIDSON, DALLAS / AKINS, RHETT / HAYSLIP, BEN / GILBERT, BRANTLEY
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Small Town Throwdown

Gilbert tapped labelmates Thomas Rhett and Justin Moore for this Country-rocker. "Oh, it was awesome," Rhett said to The Boot of working with his Valory Music Co labelmates. "You know, we're the three guys on the label, and so it's just really cool to have, first of all, three of your buddies on a song, and second of all, all three of the guys on your label on the same song."

The song was penned by Gilbert and the Peach Pickers, a songwriter team composed of Rhett Akins (Thomas Rhett's dad), Dallas Davidson, and Ben Hayslip. "It's just a throwdown song, a party song," Gilbert told Billboard magazine. "It's when we all get together out in the middle of nowhere – we don't need a club, a cover charge or nothing. Most of the time, you charge somebody three dollars for a Dixie cup, and let them drink a keg all night."