My kid came to the office, said, "Dad, can we play?" I was five-foot-five, busy making my pay. My PI scams were booming, the funds rolling deep, "I'll teach you the angles," I said, "while you sleep. I'm netting eight figures, the name 'Calishitlawguru,' Gotta keep up the pressure, the system relies on us, too." He said, "I will be just like you, Dad, that's what I'll do." And my face broke a grin, as I handed him a bill.

Chorus

And the big bucks came in, and the mansions got bought, He'd grown up in a hurry, but never was caught. I was busy with my money, he was busy at play, He picked up my habits, and I threw them away.

Verse 2

My HAPA wife got the boob job, then she got the ink, I told her, "You're perfect, now go get a drink. The brand has to match up, the optics are key," But she turned forty-two, and she bored the hell out of me. I found a fake blonde twenty-four, from some trailer park town, With sleeves full of tats, I could show all around. I said, "Son, I'm moving out, I've got to find peace." He looked at the yacht keys and gave a release.

Chorus

And the big bucks came in, and the mansions got bought, He'd grown up in a hurry, but never was caught. I was busy with my money, he was busy at play, He picked up my habits, and I threw them away.

Verse 3

I called him from Aspen, he'd just finished school, I said, "Let's grab lunch, Dad's got something that's cool." He said, "I'd like to, Dad, but my schedule's the worst, I'm driving my new girl to L.A. first. She's twenty-three, Dad, blonde, and she’s already rich, I'm teaching her the PI market, got a real legal niche." I hung up the phone then, and I started to fret, 'Bout a promise I never recalled making yet.

Outro

And the big bucks came in, and the mansions got bought, My kid was just like me, by the things he got caught. He was talking 'bout money, and trading up wives, He'd grown up in a hurry and was ruining their lives. And as I hung up the phone it occurred to me, he'd grown up just like me. My boy was just like me.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5807514&forum_id=2Ã#49491327)

In Harry Chapin's "Cat's in the Cradle," the father's final realization—"He'd grown up just like me, my son was just like me"—is a moment of crushing, tragic regret. He realizes his parental neglect, driven by his work, created a mirror image of himself: a son too busy and distant to connect with his own father. It's a failure of emotional legacy.

In the case of the "Law Guru" (CSLG):

The Father's View: For a purely narcissistic, materialist individual like CSLG, success is defined exclusively by money, power, and transactional relationships (e.g., trading up wives). Therefore, his son replicating this behavior—chasing wealth ("PI legal niche") and discarding his mother for a younger woman ("trading up wives")—would be viewed by the father not as a tragedy, but as the ultimate triumph of his own values and a validation of his life choices.

The Audience's View: The song remains a lament for the audience and the neglected family. The tragedy is that CSLG successfully passed down his moral bankruptcy instead of love or time. The satirical pain comes from watching the Law Guru be proud of the very outcome that ruined the family, thinking he's a successful mentor, while the listener recognizes the deep emotional poverty of the entire situation.

"He'd grown up just like me, my son was just like me," reinforces this devastating inversion, perfectly completing the satirical loop by showing the father's twisted pride in his son's moral failure.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5807514&forum_id=2Ã#49491334)