Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam rereleases Tea For The Tillerman

[It Aint Necessarily So]

I just became aware that he has rerecorded all of the tracks of that album (his son was behind the project) with Cat Stevens performing with Yusuf fifty years apart (same person, for those unfamiliar).

This is especially poignant in the song Father And Son, where an older man is advising his son on how to live (It's not time to make a change, just relax, take it easy You're still young) followed by the son's response (From the moment I could talk, I was ordered to listen).

Here are the two albums:

And here is a nice discussion of this:

Also, here is a very inspirational version of Peace Train, a song not found on either of these albums, with Yusuf joining in on piano in the last half (you might even notice a member of the Doobie Brothers in Maui appearing immediately before him). If you like this global format, look for other examples from the Playing For Change series on YouTube:

Here's hoping @Conscious thoughts takes a peak. I think you'll identify with this.

 

[Spirit of Light]

I just became aware that he has rerecorded all of the tracks of that album (his son was behind the project) with Cat Stevens performing with Yusuf fifty years apart (same person, for those unfamiliar).

This is especially poignant in the song Father And Son, where an older man is advising his son on how to live (It's not time to make a change, just relax, take it easy You're still young) followed by the son's response (From the moment I could talk, I was ordered to listen).

Here are the two albums:

View attachment 57877 View attachment 57878

And here is a nice discussion of this:

Also, here is a very inspirational version of Peace Train, a song not found on either of these albums, with Yusuf joining in on piano in the last half (you might even notice a member of the Doobie Brothers in Maui appearing immediately before him). If you like this global format, look for other examples from the Playing For Change series on YouTube:

Here's hoping @Conscious thoughts takes a peak. I think you'll identify with this.

Thank you for sharing this @It Aint Necessarily So it's very good lyrics in the songs

 

[metis]

Cat Stevens is one of my all-time favorite singers, and I play his "Best of..." a lot.

 

[sun rise]

I particularly love his version of the hymn "Morning Has Broken"

The youtube has this about the background of the song:

The hymn originally appeared in the second edition of Songs of Praise (published in 1931), to the tune "Bunessan", composed in the Scottish Highlands. In Songs of Praise Discussed, the editor, Percy Dearmer, explains that as there was need for a hymn to give thanks for each day, English poet and children's author Eleanor Farjeon had been "asked to make a poem to fit the lovely Scottish tune". (...) "Bunessan" had been found in L. McBean's Songs and Hymns of the Gael, published in 1900. Before Farjeon's words, the tune was used as a Christmas carol, which began "Child in the manger, Infant of Mary", translated from the Scottish Gaelic lyrics written by Mary MacDonald. The English-language Roman Catholic hymnal also uses the tune for the Charles Stanford hymns "Christ Be Beside Me" and "This Day God Gives Me", both of which were adapted from the traditional Irish hymn St. Patrick's Breastplate. Another Christian hymn "Baptize In Water" borrows the tune. Piano arrangement by Rick Wakeman. (Wikipedia) // The sheet music for the piano part can be found at manymidi.com/sheetmusic.htm - (contribution of (ElmoPiano)

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Cat Stevens is one artist I have a very hard time making an exception for. Supporting a death fatwa, Peace Train is something he should really reconsider.

 

[exchemist]

I just became aware that he has rerecorded all of the tracks of that album (his son was behind the project) with Cat Stevens performing with Yusuf fifty years apart (same person, for those unfamiliar).

This is especially poignant in the song Father And Son, where an older man is advising his son on how to live (It's not time to make a change, just relax, take it easy You're still young) followed by the son's response (From the moment I could talk, I was ordered to listen).

Here are the two albums:

View attachment 57877 View attachment 57878

And here is a nice discussion of this:

Also, here is a very inspirational version of Peace Train, a song not found on either of these albums, with Yusuf joining in on piano in the last half (you might even notice a member of the Doobie Brothers in Maui appearing immediately before him). If you like this global format, look for other examples from the Playing For Change series on YouTube:

Here's hoping @Conscious thoughts takes a peak. I think you'll identify with this.

Blimey I'd forgotten Cat Stevens. I remember finding his voice - and his songs generally - very annoying when I was at university, in the mid 1970s.

 

[icehorse]

Cat Stevens is one artist I have a very hard time making an exception for. Supporting a death fatwa, Peace Train is something he should really reconsider.

I used to LOVE Cat Stevens. But calling for Rushdie to be executed is not forgivable in my mind. ***MOD EDIT***

 

[Debater Slayer]

Cat Stevens is one artist I have a very hard time making an exception for. Supporting a death fatwa, Peace Train is something he should really reconsider.

This.

I don't see how any supporter of progressive values can endorse someone like Cat Stevens beyond merely listening to his music, if even that. Progressives have called out multiple artists on problematic beliefs and stances, and I absolutely think supporting the death penalty for "blasphemy" is a strong reason to boycott someone.

 

[Revoltingest]

Cat Stevens is one artist I have a very hard time making an exception for. Supporting a death fatwa, Peace Train is something he should really reconsider.

Cat Stevens' comments about Salman Rushdie - Wikipedia
**** Cat Stevens, whatever name he goes by.

 

[muhammad_isa]

..calling for Rushdie to be executed is not forgivable in my mind.

He didn't. I know Yusuf Islam. It was a "media circus".
I remember in Birmingham Central Mosque UK, there was a lot of emotional deriding of Rushdie going on, and I took the microphone in Friday prayers and told them all to calm down.

I am a new Muslim, like Yusuf, and the congregation were furious with me.
"What sort of Muslim are you?", they said.

The answer is "a Muslim who doesn't agree with anarchy".
..and neither does Yusuf !

The main reason he left London for Dubai was to escape the media.
I don't blame him.

 

[Debater Slayer]

He didn't. I know Yusuf Islam. It was a "media circus".
I remember in Birmingham Central Mosque UK, there was a lot of emotional deriding of Rushdie going on, and I took the microphone in Friday prayers and told them all to calm down.

I am a new Muslim, like Yusuf, and the congregation were furious with me.
"What sort of Muslim are you?", they said.

The answer is "a Muslim who doesn't agree with anarchy".
..and neither does Yusuf !

The main reason he left London for Dubai was to escape the media.
I don't blame him.

The Wikipedia article on the controversy explains that while he didn't endorse vigilantism or anarchy, he was indeed in favor of an Islamic interpretation according to which blasphemy was a capital crime:

Cat Stevens' comments about Salman Rushdie - Wikipedia

At best, he's a religious extremist with a violent and inhumane stance on "blasphemy." That he escaped the U.K. to avoid being called out on this is not surprising or admirable.

 

[muhammad_isa]

At best, he's a religious extremist with a violent and inhumane stance on "blasphemy."

You don't know the half of it..
He didn't become a Muslim to become a spokesman for Islam.
The media wouldn't leave him alone.
It is easy to put one's foot in it.

You can believe what you want to believe.
I know better.

 

[Debater Slayer]

You don't know the half of it..

His comments and stance are documented. It's not like they're a secret.

He didn't become a Muslim to become a spokesman for Islam.
The media wouldn't leave him alone.
It is easy to put one's foot in it.

It's good that the media didn't overlook his support for a belief that basically amounts to supporting state-sanctioned murder for expressing certain views.

You can believe what you want to believe.
I know better.

Or I can believe his own recorded words. That seems more realistic to me.

 

[muhammad_isa]

Or I can believe his own recorded words..

I didn't claim that he didn't say things that he regretted.
I'm just glad that I am not famous, and being hounded all the time.

Is Yusuf Islam supposed to be G-d? Is he allowed to make a mistake?
On one side, he had the community advising him as a new Muslim, and on the other, the western culture/media .. his roots.
He just wants to be left alone, and remembered for positive things.

Me?
I'm not famous. Yet satan still hisses at me

 

[Shadow Wolf]

You don't know the half of it..
He didn't become a Muslim to become a spokesman for Islam.
The media wouldn't leave him alone.
It is easy to put one's foot in it.

You can believe what you want to believe.
I know better.

Because he went from being a renowned artist to a piece of **** over night. Stevens supported the death fatwa for blasphemy. That is something that can't be overlooked or dismissed. He stood with a call for murder over blasphemy, which is an extremist view and far beyond mere censorship.
If any artist deserves the public's scorn it's Cat Stevens. It's not Dave Chappelle or JK Rowling. It's this wanker he believes it's ok to kill those who blaspheme. He's a hypocrite to his own art.

I didn't claim that

He hasn't expressed that. He won't talk about it, he hasn't recanted, and apparently it's a touchy subject for him and his son goes into high alert mode when the subject is breeched.

 

[Debater Slayer]

If any artist deserves the public's scorn it's Cat Stevens. It's not Dave Chappelle or JK Rowling.

I believe all of them do, and thankfully, all of them have been strongly criticized for specific things they've said.

It's just that Stevens takes the extremism one step further by tacitly approving of murder. He's quite possibly the worst out of the three.

 

[muhammad_isa]

Because he went from being a renowned artist to a piece of **** over night. Stevens supported the death fatwa for blasphemy. That is something that can't be overlooked or dismissed. He stood with a call for murder over blasphemy, which is an extremist view and far beyond mere censorship.

It doesn't surprise me in the least, that the subject causes people to be emotional, on both sides of this debate.

The Satanic verses?
Rather provocative, I would have thought.

Leave me out of it.
"I seek refuge with G-d from the cursed satan !"

 

[JustGeorge]

**Moved to General Debates**​

 

[Twilight Hue]

Cat Stevens is one artist I have a very hard time making an exception for. Supporting a death fatwa, Peace Train is something he should really reconsider.

Yea. The old cat is gone, and destroyed by a violent religion.

But we had had those kind of twists happen before with people that cast the wrong impressions and leaving masses in shock.

 

[Link]

Because he went from being a renowned artist to a piece of **** over night. Stevens supported the death fatwa for blasphemy. That is something that can't be overlooked or dismissed. He stood with a call for murder over blasphemy, which is an extremist view and far beyond mere censorship.
If any artist deserves the public's scorn it's Cat Stevens. It's not Dave Chappelle or JK Rowling. It's this wanker he believes it's ok to kill those who blaspheme. He's a hypocrite to his own art.

He hasn't expressed that. He won't talk about it, he hasn't recanted, and apparently it's a touchy subject for him and his son goes into high alert mode when the subject is breeched.

The thing is if he went the path to realize Quran and Sunnah doesn't allow this, he would be like me, alone with no community. The people who can think for themselves and disavow "scholarship" are few and it's easy to get lost when you do this. It's easy to for example dismiss the Sunnah, and become "Quran only" which is a big deviance from my view.

I've realized for example "khums" is not what Shiite Muslims teach it to be, and the sent ones from God never take wealth from the people for themselves so let alone people who claim to represent them using their name to collect money for themselves and their livelihood in representing Islam. Quran emphasized how the sent ones don't ask wealth from people.

I am one without a community and it's lonely.

But I'd rather stand for the truth - even if alone - then support falsehood for sake of being part of consensus of a community who anyways, don't think for themselves, but rather "some of them are authorities for others" (batha'ahum awliya bathan) that is they pick authorities from themselves and follow them without their own research.