ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Yusuf: Still Cat Stevens

Updated on June 27, 2014

Yusuf: Singing Again... and Speaking Out For Peace

Cat Stevens is the name he went by for only a decade of his life, but it's the one he built his music career on, and it's the one many people around the world still know him by today. Yusuf, as he is now known, was born in England in 1948 as Steven Demetre Georgiou. He didn't feel his rather lengthy name was well-suited for album covers, however. And so he selected the name 'Cat Stevens' -- in part because he'd been told he had 'cat's eyes' and in part because... well, people tend to be fond of cats. They became fond of him, too. Cat Stevens became a very successful 70's folk rock artist, with a number of gold, platinum, and multi-platinum albums to his credit. He is known for idealistic change-the-world songs -- "Peace Train" -- and for introspective ballads, among them "Father and Son".

In the late seventies, following a conversion to the Muslim religion, Cat Stevens became Yusuf Islam... and walked away from his pop music career. He went twenty-eight years without putting out a new album of popular music. In recent years, he has said that it might have been a mistake to leave his fans hanging, and leave them speculating -- if he had continued with his music career, he believes, people might have had more understanding of him as a person, and of his religion. He emphasizes that he still believes in the famed "Peace Train".

Father and Son -- 1979 - A Transition

Here Cat Stevens performs a song about the generational divide -- "Father and Son" -- for a Unicef 1979 Year of the Child benefit. It would be many years before he would perform again on stage with a guitar.

Yusuf says that, while a portion of the Islamic community does believe that the guitar and other stringed instruments encourage immorality, he find no such ban in the quran. He emphasizes that the choice to step away from his music career was always his own. In the CBS interview (see above), he describes picking up a guitar -- his son's -- for the first time in many years, and realizing his fingers still knew the positionings.

Yusuf Sings "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" - 2007 Performance

"I'm just a soul who's intentions are good..." This song, also featured on "An Other Cup" is a cover -- a bit of a departure for a singer-songwriter who usually performs his own material. I imagine it's a song that speaks to him. As I listen to the words -- "If I seem edgy, I want you to know I never mean to take it out on you... Sometimes I find myself regretting some little thing, some foolish thing that I have done" -- I think of the controversies Cat Stevens/ Yusuf Islam has been enmeshed in over the years.

An Other Cup

Tea for the Tillerman was another era (and an artist of another name). But here's another cup of wistfulness.

Other Cup
Other Cup
Purchase includes CD and MP3.
 

Yusuf Islam's Current Projects

There's a time when it would have seemed very unlikely -- if we could have envisioned MySpace at all -- but Yusuf Islam has a MySpace page. He has a homepage as well which details his current projects.

Peace Train, Take This Country - Take Me Home Again

This performance is part of a 2007 interview. Here Yusuf/ Cat sings two different versions of "Peace Train": a classic version and a blues version. The song takes on a new poignancy in wake of the events of recent years -- and because there was a time it looked like the artist would never sing those words again.

...or write it.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)