Father and Son
Father and Son ( father and son ) is a song by Cat Stevens . He released the song on the 1970 album Tea for the Tillerman and 1971 as the B-side of the single Moonshadow . The piece is a dialogue between father and son and addresses the generation conflict .
text
Cat Stevens originally wrote the song for the planned musical Revolussia , which was to play during the Russian Revolution . The song was about a boy who wanted to take part in the revolution against his father's will. Since Cat Stevens fell ill with tuberculosis , the musical was postponed. Nevertheless, he published the song in 1970, but in a version that has no relation to Russia and its revolution, but generally reflects the generational conflict between father and son.
Neither the word “Father” nor the word “Son” appears in the text of the piece. The piece is a dialogue between father and son, with Cat Stevens singing the son's stanzas an octave higher in the original version. The piece consists of five stanzas, the first two and the fourth are from the father, the third and the last stanzas are the responses of the son.
The first lines of the song from the father are characteristic:
"It's not time to make a change, just relax take it easy
You're still young and that's your fault, there's so much you have to know"
"It is not the right time for changes, relax, take it easy.
You are still young and that is your weakness, there is still a lot you have to learn"
This theme is varied slightly as it is repeated. At the end of the son's replies it says:
"Now there's a way, and I know
That I have to go away"
"Now there is a possibility and I
know that I have to go away"
music
The basic key of the piece is G major . On the original recording, the piece is accompanied by two acoustic guitars , drums , bass and, towards the end, a piano . The guitar played with the strumming attack is the most noticeable. Somewhat unusual is the background vocals that start towards the end of the piece, which comes from Stevens' guitarist Alun Davis . Davis sings simple, somewhat arbitrary phrases like “ go and make your decision ”. Between the third and fourth verses there is an instrumental part that is the length of a verse and in which a guitar performs a variation of the vocal melody.
Cover versions
Cat Stevens re-recorded the song several times at a later date, including as Yusuf Islam, as he calls himself today. There are many other cover versions of the piece, for example by Ronan Keating , who published it in 2004 and in which Yusuf Islam took over a verse from the father's vocal part.
In 1974 Johnny Cash and his stepdaughter Rosie Nix Adams released a cover version of the song entitled Father and Daughter on his album Junkie and the Juicehead Minus Me .
In 1977 the melody was used for a television advertisement for the Teekanne company ; for this, Oliver Peters recorded the piece under the title When the Teapot Sings .
In the 1998's maxi-single No Matter What by Boyzone also located a cover version of the song.
Individual evidence
- ^ Lifeline - 1969 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Homepage of Yusuf Islam
- ^ Cat Stevens Concerts, TV & Radio gigs and other important dates . majicat.com
- ↑ Oliver Peters . discogs.com
- ↑ When the tea kettle sings on YouTube
