Music
Some classic rock songs are beautiful because of their ambiguity. Few songs are more ethically ambiguous than Cat Stevens’ “Father and Son.”
Some classic rock songs are beautiful because of their ambiguity — and few songs are more ethically ambiguous than Cat Stevens’ “Father and Son.” It’s hard to tell what to think of the titular father when you first listen to the song. Stevens himself gave us his two cents.
Cat Stevens ‘never really adopted’ a character from ‘Father and Son’
Pop hits generally aren’t very deep. Stevens’ “Father and Son” is a heartbreaking and morally grey song about an old man who tells his son to abandon his ambitions for practical concerns. In response, the son rejects his father’s advice. Should listeners consider the father wise or overly pessimistic? The tune doesn’t provide any answers.
During a 2020 interview with GQ, Stevens was asked if he sympathized with the father from “Father and Son.” “Absolutely,” the “Peace Train” singer replied. “I’ve never really adopted the father. Even though I look much closer to his persona now, with the grey beard and everything.”
Stevens was asked if “Father and Son” related to events in his life. “I think my life has been a play out of my lyrics, whether I wrote them before I did it or not,” he said. “Now, of course, I’m in more of a reflective mood, so I could write about what I’ve done.”
How ‘Tea for the Tillerman’ ‘shook’ Cat Stevens
Stevens’ two most famous tunes are “Father and Son” and “Wild World.” Both ditties appear on the record Tea for the Tillerman, which helped to start the singer-songwriter boom of the 1970s. Stevens revealed how the release of Tea for the Tillerman changed his life.
“It was a roller coaster,” he said. “Once it began, it was non-stop, it went faster and faster. My success was an incredibly large thing to deal with. When it came to my fourth album [Tea for the Tillerman], it just went ‘Wham!’ and zoomed up in the Billboard charts. That shook me and I didn’t feel that comfortable. I didn’t want to be nailed into any particular goal. I didn’t want to feel I was a product, which tends to be the thing that happens when you get to a certain stature. Or you become a kind of a hologram of yourself.”
‘Father and Son’ wasn’t a hit in the United Kingdom at 1st
The Official Charts Company reports “Father and Son” and “Wild World” did not chart in the 1970s. Stevens redid “Father and Son” with Ronan Keating. That version of the song reached No. 2 in the United Kingdom and charted for 13 weeks. Decades after its initial release, “Wild World” climbed to No. 52 for a single week.
In contrast, Tea for the Tillerman was an immediate hit. It hit No. 20 and charted for 31 weeks. It remains the most popular record in Stevens’ discography. In 2020, Stevens released Tea for the Tillerman 2, a reimagining of the original album. One of the most notable tracks on Tea for the Tillerman 2 is a remake of “Father and Son” that includes both the original vocals from Stevens’ youth and new vocals from his old age.
“Father and Son” is one of the best folk hits of all time — Stevens understands it in a nuanced way.
