Yusuf (Cat Stevens)
a.k.a.
Yusuf, Cat Stevens, Yusuf Islam, Steven Demetre Georgiou
CAT'S OUT OF THE BAG
The Artist Formerly Known as Cat Stevens Revisits His Timeless Songbook
Twenty years ago, Cat Stevens stopped being Cat Stevens, hanging up both his guitar and his name after an illustrious folk-rock career. Calling himself Yusuf Islam, the pop star devoted his life to his family (he's married with five kids), his Islamic faith, and public service (he runs a Muslim school outside London and a children's charity). Many fans of Stevens' music felt saddened at the loss of the man who had given them such timeless classics as "Father and Son," "Peace Train," and "Oh Very Young," and then betrayed when, in 1989, Islam/Stevens reportedly supported the Ayatollah Khomeini's call for the death of Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses. Islam denies such an endorsement. Now he's reentered the public eye via A&M/Universal's reissue program, which has resulted in The Very Best of Cat Stevens and has returned to the racks six classic Stevens albums: Mona Bone Jakon, Tea for the Tillerman, Teaser and the Firecat, Catch Bull at Four, Foreigner, and Buddha & the Chocolate Box. Delving into his music for the first time in years, Islam has supervised the reissues. Barnes & Noble.com's Bill Crandall spoke with this influential songsmith about his musical career and where he's been ever since.
Barnes & Noble.com: Is it important to you to reconnect with an American audience?
Yusef Islam: Yes, because I'm trying to make up for perhaps a little bit of selfishness on my part for not explaining myself fully. I suppose that by being absent from the music business, it appeared that I just dropped out, but really I never did. I was continuously working and doing various things. But for all intents and purposes I went out of circulation. I think the most important thing for me is that link of communication. It's certainly not the money, because I don't need the money.
B&N.com: What was it like to engross yourself in your pop albums again?
YI: It was intriguing rediscovering some of the little treasures that I buried in the songs, and little ideas -- and some big ideas, quite substantial issues that I tried to address. It helps me to understand myself today. One of the things that I'm trying to explain is that it's not so much that I've changed as much as I sort of developed from those beliefs and ideals that I held as a young singer-songwriter to today, where I try to live those beliefs and those ideals.
B&N.com: Do the songs play like diary entries for you?
YI: Exactly. They're open records of my journey, which I think quite clearly highlights the mysterious road I was on. I was living all sorts of dreams in those days, [laughs] but there was a very serious search going on as well, and that's what's so clear in looking back at those lyrics. Like "On the Road to Find Out," "Miles From Nowhere," "Father and Son" [all from Tea for the Tillerman]: "There's a way/[And] I know/I have to go away."
B&N.com: What are some of the songs that resonate best for you today?
YI: For the lyrics, I suppose "Father and Son" is one of the major milestones. A song called "Tuesday's Dead" [from Teaser and the Firecat] -- some of the words in that were very profound: "If I make a mark in time/I can't say the mark is mine/I'm only the underline of the word." That's great, but I didn't know what I was talking about. [laughs] Today I can understand it. For the musical element, Foreigner still stands out as something monumental, I think. Even though not many people thought it was my best work, to me, it's me being personal. And other things like some of the little instrumentals I did. I [hear them now and] think, "Did I play all those synthesizers?" [laughs]
B&N.com: You don't even play guitar anymore, right?
YI: Yeah, I sold my last guitar back in 1981 for charity, and that was it really. I never resumed the guitar. But the songs are still there, and I've moved on to articulating my ideas through speech. Today, I can talk, whereas [if you'd asked] me these questions 25 years ago, you'd find it very difficult to understand what I was saying. I was incoherent. That's why I had to write songs -- although I am still writing songs.
B&N.com: Is a pop album out of the question in the future?
YI: Well, if you mean "pop" as in popular, I would hope that I could do something popular. [laughs] But as far as "pop" as in the sloganistic term, I don't think so. My career is there for everyone to see and delve into. For me, what I'm doing today is more important, but what I did yesterday is still important. I recently did a track with a nice Malaysian harmony group, Raihan, called "God Is the Light," and people say, "Wow, that sounds just like Cat Stevens." So occasionally it may slip out. [laughs]
B&N.com: Do you listen to contemporary pop music?
YI: I don't, but my son does. He tries to inform me about what's going on at the moment. I don't really know all the names that he mentions. I'm a little bit out of it, I suppose; I'm more of the golden oldie type.
B&N.com: So, you still listen to old pop music?
YI: Yeah, if I were surveying the stations on the radio, I would probably zoom in on one of those golden oldies stations. I like looking at the different messages that come out of songs. Think about Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" -- there's a very heavy message in that: A lot of people not quite knowing what to believe so they try to believe in a lot of things, and they suffer. There are a lot of important messages in some of those songs. Of course, the Beatles were so important to the whole background of the change that took place in the world 30 years ago, of which I was part, so I have to acknowledge their contribution. And Bob Dylan. And then going back, I used to like the blues. I used to like Nina Simone. And as songwriters go, Burt Bacharach. It goes on and on.
B&N.com: Many people still link you to Salman Rushdie and the death sentence the Ayatollah put on him. What would you like to say to those people?
YI: Well, as time goes on, people see what the worth of a person is by what he does. That tells you the picture. If you look at everything I've done in humanitarian work and education, and in trying to improve this world through a revival of morality through spiritual meaning, that's what I'd like people to remember.
B&N.com: How would you like Cat Stevens, the artist, to be remembered?
YI: Someone who... took us forward.
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