The “Peace Train – Another Saturday Night” Cat Stevens Tribute rolls into Belmont 16s this Saturday night (May 21). To celebrate, we asked you to nominate your favourite Cat Stevens songs, so we could put together a definitive top 5 list, as voted by you.
Cat Stevens defined a generation with songs that the whole world sang along with. The “Peace Train – Another Saturday Night” tribute is a night of music and story‐telling which will strike a chord deep inside the heart of anyone who longs for something more, a journey back in time, recreating the sights and sounds, seeking out the man in the music and telling the story behind the songs.
Hear twenty‐five hits sung with remarkable authenticity by one of Australia’s most exciting artists. Darren Coggan takes the audience on a ride of discovery, back through the joys and the sorrows, the triumphs and the pain, in a celebration of the life of one of the most inspiring and prolific singer songwriters of our time, Cat Stevens.
The top 5 Cat Stevens songs as voted by you
1 – Father and Son
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?”
2 – Wild World
The song is in the form of the singer’s words to his departing lover, inspired by the end of their romance. Stevens later recalled to Mojo: “It was one of those chord sequences that’s very common in Spanish music. I turned it around and came up with that theme–which is a recurring theme in my work–which is to do with leaving, the sadness of leaving, and the anticipation of what lies beyond.”
3 – Moon Shadow
Stevens, who is now known as Yusuf Islam, considers this his favourite of his old songs. It is one of the songs that convinced him to release a Greatest Hits record of his work as Cat Stevens. He felt its uplifting message could help people.
4 – Where Do The Children Play
The song reflects awareness of the turmoil of the late 1960s and the issues involved: war, urban sprawl, poverty, ecological disaster, and the future of humankind. The same themes and concerns are repeated later in many of his songs.
5 – Peace Train
The song climbed to #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart during the week of October 9, 1971, becoming Stevens’ first US Top 10 hit.Not everyone found Cat Stevens’s peace-themed song convincing, however. Robert Christgau criticized “Peace Train’s” message in his November 1972 Newsday review of a concert by Stevens at the New York Philharmonic Hall: “I don’t mind when Johnny Nash sings a charming ditty about how things are getting better, but when Stevens informs the world that we’re all on a peace train, I get annoyed. We’re not, and if Stevens ever stops shaking his head long enough to see clearly for a second, he might realize it.”
