Though he’s greatest referred to as a rosy-eyed, hippie-era guitarist, Yusuf / Cat Stevens’ lyrical honesty and diverse instrumentation are way more complicated than first meets the ear. His voice – at instances twangy, at others mushy and honest – matches seamlessly with booming choruses and delicate missives alike. Mired within the imaginative and prescient of a peaceable future however clouded with fear at what’s to come back, Yusuf’s music comforts and frets in equal measure.
To name Yusuf solely a singer-songwriter would ignore his penchant for orchestration and grandeur, heights that sit alongside his mild, people tunes. He’s additionally had a hand in hits past his personal: earlier than he broke by as an artist, he wrote each “Here Comes My Baby” and “The First Cut is the Deepest.”
Cat Stevens left his music profession behind in 1977 when he transformed to Islam, taking up the identify Yusuf Islam. In 2006, he returned to the studio, after which he launched 2006’s An Different Cup, 2009’s Roadsinger, and 2014’s Inform ‘Em I’m Gone. In 2014, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame, and has continued to launch music. In 2020, as an example, he recasted his 1970 traditional Tea for the Tillerman.
Existential Eulogies
(“Wild World,” “Father and Son,” “I’ve Got a Thing About Seeing My Grandson Grow Old,” “Oh Very Young,” “Dying to Live”)
Yusuf’s songs at all times need the most effective for his or her addressee, and that steeps them in sentiment: every monitor advises and frets, usually accessing a knowledge far past his age on the time of writing. He wrote each “Wild World” and “Father and Son” round age 22. Two of his most well-known tracks, they’re cautionary and fearful – the narrator realizes he might not be capable of information or stick with others without end. “Wild World” recounts his uncoupling from actress Patti D’Arbanville, whereas “Father and Son” was initially created for a musical set in the course of the Russian Revolution – this challenge was halted when he contracted tuberculosis. When it was later launched, many felt it highlighted the divide between generations. The truth that “Wild World” is ostensibly a breakup track and “Father and Son” seems familial, is of no significance: each tracks are pushed by empathy, by wanting the most effective for others after you’re gone, saddled with the notice that it is probably not potential.
“Oh Very Young” is preoccupied with intangibility: an individual slipping by your fingers and what they depart behind, particularly once they cross younger. “I’ve Got a Thing About Seeing My Grandson Grow Old” finds the narrator taking good care of himself, motivated to remain alive so he doesn’t miss out on the longer term.
Yusuf ruminates existentially to a point on all these songs, however none so explicitly as “Dying to Live.” Throughout a pseudo-jazzy piano monitor, an remoted man wonders about life’s objective and which means.
Aspirational Anthems
(“Sitting,” “If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out,” “Can’t Keep It In,” “Hard Headed Woman”)
Generally, Yusuf’s enthusiasm bursts out into the open; he fairly actually “Can’t Keep It In.” It’s onerous to not smile just a bit bit while you hear the lyrics “I gotta show the world, world’s gotta see / See all the love, love that’s in me” sung out loud. It’s not hamfisted as a result of it’s honest. On these songs, he’s practically shouting. However warmly, with pleasure. On “Sitting,” he imagines success from the outset (“Oh, I’m on my way, I know I am”) and affords a singular approach of imagining that optimism (“I feel the power growing in my hair”).
These songs appear made for the sake of singing: you may examine them to the “I Want” songs of musical theater. Simply take heed to “If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out” (which additionally seems on Harold and Maude) – the title says all of it. Whether or not it’s pleasure he desires to specific or possess (“Hard Headed Woman” is an ode to the kind of motivating lover he craves), Yusuf’s aspirational anthems reverberate with private but common ambitions.
Spiritual Reckoning
(“Morning Has Broken,” “King of Trees,” “The Wind,” “Miles from Nowhere”)
Even earlier than Yusuf’s conversion to Islam, he was ruminating on the world. “Morning Has Broken” is initially a Christian hymn. An ode to nature, the crucial “praise” asks listeners to collectively expertise that first morning mild, that first blackbird singing: the concept each new day is a brand new delivery of the world. The pure marvel is much more obvious on “King of Trees,” the place synths and keyboards open on Yusuf praising nature’s majesty and resilience, at the same time as people threaten to destroy it.
“The Wind” is extra introspective. Over fingerpicked guitar, Yusuf listens to the “wind of his soul”; he admits to “[swimming] on the Devil’s lake” however says he’ll “never make the same mistake.” “Miles From Nowhere” takes non secular reckoning into observe: it’s all concerning the journey. Every time the track builds up from the verse, he cries: “Lord, my body has been a good friend / But I won’t need it when I reach the end.” His preoccupation with loss of life is immaterial when faith enters the track: there’s conviction, at all times, even when it’s not clear what that perception is.
Choral Crooners
(“Peace Train,” “Tea for the Tillerman,” “Moonshadow”)
Yusuf has by no means been afraid to usher in a conventional refrain for his songs, and so they at all times usher in pleasure. “Peace Train” – his first Prime 10 US hit – rolls on the wheels of its backing voices, bolstered by their reverential, outstretched arms. His optimism reveals most clearly on these songs. The group vocals naturally sign unity and group – that optimistic hippie vibe he’s most frequently related to.
The choral impact is a bit totally different on decidedly temporary “Tea for the Tillerman,” the place group vocals don’t work all through the track as an echo, however as a substitute serve for a dramatic finish. The monitor begins out with mushy piano, Yusuf’s vocals ambling ahead. It speeds into the euphoric phrase “happy day,” and that’s the place the choir flows in; the homonymous album closes out on a really fast, joyous observe.
“Moonshadow” alternates between sloping, quiet verses that reward nature and extra jubilant choruses whereby he affords himself as much as this magnificence, regardless of the worth. The choir backing on this track is most paying homage to people custom: the voices be part of him with full power for the ultimate refrain.
Mournful Moments
(“Trouble,” “Sad Lisa,” “Where Do the Children Play,” “Maybe You’re Right”)
Yusuf usually wavers between optimism and pessimism in his songs. Generally, although, they’re extra totally dejected. “Trouble,” as an example, was written after a 12 months of convalescence, when at 19, he was hospitalized and anticipated to die. It marinates in sorrow. (You will have heard it in Harold and Maude, the place it performs earlier than Maude’s loss of life.)
“Sad Lisa” is equally sullen. Like his sentimental household songs, it focuses on an individual he desires to save lots of, its piano paying homage to a lullaby. On the identical album, “Where Do the Children Play?” additionally worries for others’ wellbeing. Nonetheless, it’s extra involved with consumerism and capitalism – and, by extension, our basic sense of wellbeing amid “progress.”
All the time one to purpose by feeling, “Maybe You’re Right” analyzes then tries to maneuver on from a breakup. The narrator sees either side. However nonetheless, desperation surges: “So tell me, tell me, did you really love me like a friend? / You know you don’t have to pretend / It’s all over now, it’ll never happen again.” With that admission, he involves phrases with it, repeating like a mantra: “it’ll never happen again.” On the finish, he’s circled again to the place he started: it’s anybody’s blame and each their regrets.
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