UMeYusuf, the artist also known as Cat Stevens, duets with his younger self in a new version of his classic song “Father and Son,” which has been released as a digital single and via streaming services.
The track will appear on the remade version of Stevens’ breakthrough 1970 album Tea for the Tillerman, which arrives on Friday, September 18.
The song features verses sung alternately from the opposing points of view of a father and his son, as each character expresses their feelings about their lives. The updated version features Yusuf’s newly recorded vocals on the “father” verses combined with an archival Stevens performance for the “son” parts taken from a 1970s concert he played at the Troubadour venue in Los Angeles.
A stop-motion animated video for “Father and Son” that brings the song’s two characters to life has premiered at the Yusuf/CatStevens YouTube channel.
“‘Father and Son’ feels pretty appropriate for what’s going on right now, if you take the father figure as being the establishment,” Yusuf notes. “However, I don’t think revolutions are that kind to the previous order, its main objective is to turn it around and to get rid of them. Whereas I don’t personally believe in that; I believe in a kind of a change that would not necessarily destroy everything.”
As previously reported, Tea for the Tillerman² features re-recorded versions of all 11 tracks from Tea for the Tillerman in celebration of the album’s 50th anniversary.
Released in November 1970, Tea for the Tillerman features such enduring tunes as “Where Do the Children Play?,” “Wild World,” “On the Road to Find Out” and the aforementioned “Father and Son.” The album peaked at #8 on the Billboard 200 chart and has sold over 3 million copies in the U.S.
By Matt Friedlander
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