The story behind Cat Stevens "Father and son"

There is no doubt among her many fans that Cat Stevens’ “Father and Son” is one of her most beloved songs. It tells the timeless story of a father who does not understand his son’s desire to find his own path in life and the son’s inability to explain to his father why it must be so. Stevens sang both parts, singing the melody line in lower notes when he was assuming the role of the father and an octave higher when he was singing the role of the son. At the end he sings both parts simultaneously, first with the father in the foreground and the son in the background followed by a reversal of roles. But what inspired Stevens (now known as Yusuf Isalm, after his Muslim conversion) to write the song? Was it based on his relationship with his own father, someone else, and his father, or was it a complete fiction?

It certainly wasn’t about Stevens and his own father. Shortly after the song was released, he told an interviewer, “I never really understood my father, but he always let me do what I wanted, he let me go. ‘Father And Son’ is for those people who can’t break up.” . lose.” And in an interview in the The Chris Isaac HourIn 2009, Stevens recounted of their relationship: “He was running a restaurant and I was a pop star, so I wasn’t following the path that he laid out. But we certainly didn’t have any antagonism between us. I loved him.” and he loved me.”

Actually, the song started as a fiction. Written during his early success in England before becoming well known in the United States, Stevens originally composed “Father and Son” for a musical project with actor Nigel Hawthorne called revolution. It was supposed to be about a boy who wanted to join the Russian revolution against his father’s wish. However, the project fell by the wayside due to Steven’s health. He was forced to recuperate for over a year after contracting tuberculosis and suffering a collapsed lung. However, the song remained in Steven’s repertoire, ending up on his famous 1970 release “Tea for the Tillerman”.

So how did Stevens view the song after he released it? In his own words, “Some people think he was taking the son’s side. But how could he have sung the father’s side if he couldn’t have understood it too? I was listening to that song recently and I heard a line and that was the father.” of the father of the father of the father of the father of the father of the father of the father of the father of the father of my father speaking”.