Yusuf / Cat Stevens has shared another new recording of an old song with his reimagined take of “Father and Son”, out today. The updated take on the beloved folk ballad will appear on his forthcoming 50th-anniversary reissue of Tea For The Tillerman, due out September 18th on UMe.
The arrival of “Father and Son” 2.0 follows previously-shared releases from Tea For The Tillerman 2 over the past few months including “Where Do The Children Play?” and “On The Road To Find Out”.
Yusuf’s 2020 take on “Father and Son”, which presents the perspectives of a father and a son, uses re-recorded vocal parts for the father’s lyrics alongside a live recording of him performing the son’s part at the Troubadour in Los Angeles in 1970. The combination of new-meets-old mirrors the song’s beautiful and tear-jerking message of family relationships, rebellion, and conformity, and still resonates as strongly today as it did in 1970.
“‘Father and Son’ feels pretty appropriate for what’s going on right now, if you take the father figure as being the establishment,” Yusuf said in a statement to go with the song’s arrival on Thursday. “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.”
Listen to the new recording of “Father And Son” with its claymation-style animated video below, which was directed by Chris Hopewell.
Yusuf / Cat Stevens – “Father And Son”
[Video: Yusuf / Cat Stevens]