Rule #3, you are NOT ALLOWED to read the video description. NO EXCEPTION FOR MY DAD!
Lyrics Analysis
Cat's in the Cradle is sung from the point of view of a father (now retired) reflecting on his relationship with his son. Time spent together (or lack thereof) is a focus.
The refrain of the song has several references to childhood: Cat's cradle is a string figure game, I interpret silver spoon as a nursery rhyme-y reference (e.g. hey diddle diddle). Little Boy Blue is a character in a nursery rhyme. The man in the moon is a whimsical interpretation of the moon's appearance from earth that could be told to a young child. These references look back to early childhood, where life was simpler and more innocent. These fragments also suggest the selectiveness of memory in terms of what parts of childhood we remember (telling stories and playing games with a child can be a positive memory).
The four verses of the song each focus on a scene from the past with less positive memories of the relationship. The father was frequently absent from home in the early years, having a job requiring plane travel to pay the bills. The father was not physically present when his son took his first steps. The father gave his son a tenth birthday present ball but was too busy to play with his son. The son nevertheless adored his father as a child, wanting to be like him, expressing this through words and facial expressions. The lack of time spent together reciprocates in the third verse, where the son comes home from college, and the father wants to talk, but the son instead wants to borrow the car keys and spend his time elsewhere. The final verse has the father long since retired, the son moving to a distant place, and the father calling his son to ask him to visit, but the son is too busy with a new job and sick kids.
The son's birth, 10th birthday, and college study are all described (in the first three verses) as occurring "just the other day", indicating how time runs at significant speed through parenthood.
At the end of the final verse, it occurs to the father that his boy had grown up just like him (as the son had indicated in previous verses). The idea is not spending time with his son had the long-term unintended consequence his son wouldn't spend time with him.
The refrain ends with a (both sides twice) dialogue "When you coming home, Dad/Son?" "I don't know when, but we'll get together then, Son/Dad. You know we'll have a good time then." I take "you know we'll have a good time then" as a comment that when they do spend time together it's a positive thing, although this is not explored by the song.
Post retirement, even without visiting they can still talk on the telephone, which the son indicates is nice. The final refrain's dialogue uses more confident wording to describe the positive experience when they do see each other, saying "we're gonna have a good time then" instead of "You know we'll have a good time then." The end of the song is framed to be in the present, and the future is more malleable than the past, and perhaps the lesson is one can change one's behavior to try to bring about a future one likes more such as more contact with ones son or parents.
Personal
I relate to the idea that memories of childhood are selective for both positive and negative memories and there are aspects of regret in certain areas. I don't feel a lot of regret related to the amount of time I see my Dad or son (I go out to lunch with my Dad fairly regularly when he's in town).
Previous video (#10): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eymtTwRoFFU
MUSX: https://bit.ly/3XGpHtp
Transcript: https://bit.ly/3ZmWjda
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