Yusuf Islam 

(born Steven Demetre Georgiou; 21 July 1948), commonly known by his

former stage name Cat Stevens, is a British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.[1] His
1967 debut album reached the top 10 in the UK, and the album's title song "Matthew and Son"
charted at number 2 on the UK Singles Chart. Stevens' albums Tea for the Tillerman (1970)
and Teaser and the Firecat (1971) were both certified triple platinum in the US by theRIAA.[2] His
musical style consists of folk, pop, rock, and Islamic music.[3][4][5]

His 1972 album Catch Bull at Four spent three weeks at number one on theBillboard 200,
and fifteen weeks at number one in the Australian ARIA Charts.[6][7] He earned
two ASCAP songwriting awards in 2005 and 2006 for "The First Cut Is the Deepest", and the song
has been a hit for four artists.[8] His other hit songs include "Father and Son", "Wild World", "Peace
Train", "Moonshadow", and "Morning Has Broken". In 2007 he received the Ivor Novello Award for
Outstanding Song Collection from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors.[9]

In December 1977, Stevens converted to Islam,[10] and he adopted the name Yusuf Islam the

following year. In 1979, he auctioned all of his guitars for charity[11] and left his musical career in
order to devote himself to educational and philanthropic causes in the Muslim community. He was
embroiled in a long-running controversy regarding comments which he made in 1989 about the
death fatwa on author Salman Rushdie. He has received two honorary doctorates and awards for
promoting peace from two organisations founded byMikhail Gorbachev.

In 2006, he returned to pop music – releasing his first album of new pop songs in 28 years,
titled An Other Cup.[12][13] With that release and subsequent ones, he dropped the surname "Islam"
from the album cover art – using the stage name Yusuf as a mononym.[13] In 2009, he released
the album Roadsinger, and in 2014, he released the album Tell 'Em I'm Gone, and began his first
US tour since 1978.[14] He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014.[15] His second
North American tour since his resurgence, featuring 12 shows in intimate venues, began on 12
September 2016.[16]

"Father and Son" is a popular song written and performed by English singer-songwriter Cat
Stevens (now known as Yusuf Islam) on his 1970 album Tea for the Tillerman. The song frames
an exchange between a father not understanding a son's desire to break away and shape a new
life, and the son who cannot really explain himself but knows that it is time for him to seek his own
destiny.
 Stevens sings in a deeper register for the father's lines, while using a higher one for those of the
son. Additionally, there are backing vocals provided by Stevens' guitarist and friend Alun
Davies beginning mid-song, singing an unusual chorus of simple words and sentences such as
"No" and "Why must you go and make this decision alone?".
 This is about a Russian family where the son wants to join the revolution but his father wants
him to stay home and work on the farm. Stevens made up the story, but his relationship with
his own father was an influence on the song. When he appeared on The Chris Isaak Hour in
2009, Stevens said: "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."

 The dialogue between father and son hints at Stevens' lonely childhood. The song contains a
lyrical trick of verse and chorus sung by different people with different perspectives on the
situation.

 This was a hit in Europe for the Irish group Boyzone in 1995. Stevens, now known as Yusuf
Islam, was happy that the wholesome group had success with it.

 This was released as the B-side of Stevens' hit "Moonshadow."

 The producers of the 2001 movie Moulin Rouge wanted to use this in the film and had some
of the actors record it, but Stevens would not let them because the racy content of the movie
clashed with his Muslim beliefs. Much of the plot was based on the song, and the script had to
be rewritten when Stevens refused permission. The song "Nature Boy," sung by David Bowie,
was used instead.

 On The Flaming Lips' 2002 album Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, there is a song called
Fight Test that sounds a lot like this. In 2003, the song was released as a single in the UK
and got a lot of attention. Faced with a lawsuit, The Flaming Lips agreed to split the royalties
from "Fight Test" with Stevens.

 Yusuf Islam was featured in a recording of this song with Irish tenor Ronan Keating. It was
released in the UK as a single in 2004 and charted there. >>

 Movies that have used this song include Omero (1982) and Pirate Radio (2009). It was also
featured in a 2011 short film calledImmigrants' Children Will Always Break Their Parents
Hearts.

In 2017, director James Gunn used it in his film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, where it
plays in the last scene. Gunn thought of the song after hearing Howard Stern play a (very
lame) version of it on acoustic guitar coming out of break on his radio show.
 This is NOT a CONVERSATION between a father and son! I think most people are
missing something very basic. Look at the personal pronouns. In the first sentence (you) is understood
and the next sentences we see "You're, your, and you". The Father is talking to the son (or at him).
Now look at the son's section of the song. You will see "he/him" written or inferred when speaking
about the father. He is not speaking TO his father. He is talking to a third party or, most likely, to
himself. That is NOT a conversation. A conversation goes BOTH ways. The father is speaking
unilaterally to the son - this is the way it's going to be. The son is NOT speaking back. Like many
children do, they storm out of the room or clam up (even when they are adults) and the son’s part of
the song is what is going through his angry head afterwards. “He doesn’t understand me, he won’t
even listen to me, that’s it — I’m out of here!” 

I think Cat Stevens was a genius in lyrics and meaning (many of which are very subtle) and this song
is one of many. This is a great example of what happens to Fathers and Sons at an age where the son
might feel like a man but the father is still treating him like a boy. This was written around Vietnam
timeframe, the album came out in 1970. Many sons were saying, "Dad I'm a man and I want to join the
service and go away to Vietnam" or "Dad this war is bs, I'm going away to live in Canada, or to protest
the war, or to live in a commune"... We are not privy to what started the conversation. Think back to
when you were this age and tried to have a conversation with a parent. Many parents don’t listen.
Before you can finish the sentence, “Dad/Mom I’ve been thinking about taking my college money and
cutting an album, and…“ And you don’t get to finish the sentence. Perhaps that is where this song
starts. Whatever the son said, the father interrupts with “it’s not time to make a change, just sit down
and take it easy”… (read -> you’re not going anywhere) This song makes it hard to judge the father,
because he has such a soft voice, but his first sentence is still comes across as an order (Parent to
small Child) and not an opinion (as if between adults). It is pleasantly worded, but in essence the
father is saying, “this is the way it is going to be”. In the second sentence (about youth) the father
insults him. What he is really saying is “Let me tell you what’s wrong with you”. He eventually says “but
your dreams may not” giving us a clue that the son wants to chase his dreams and the father thinks
his dream may be a fad (if the kid had the benefit of the father’s experience, the child would realize
that he is wrong). Perhaps the father went through the same thing with his father and his dreams were
crushed. Is the father right? If the kid was 18 and wanted to go to Nam instead of college some may
agree with the father. If the kid was 18 and named Steven Demetre Georgiou (Cat), and wanted to
forego college to pursue a music career, I’d have to agree with the kid.