Today’s classic song of the day is “Sitting” by Cat Stevens. Released in September of 1972, the song went to #16 on the Billboard Hot 100.
“Sitting” is a song about the inner struggles and existential questions that all of us ask at one time or another in our lives, but particularly as we’re approaching adulthood. The song’s Zen-like lyrics still resonate today:
Oh I’m on my way, I know I am
Somewhere not so far from here
All I know is all I feel right now
I feel the power growing in my hair
Sitting on my own, not by myself
Everybody’s here with me
I don’t need to touch your face to know
And I don’t need to use my eyes to see
And later in the song:
I’m not making love to anyone’s wishes
Only for that guide I see
‘Cause when I’m dead and lowered low in my grave
That’s gonna be the only thing that’s left of me
That defiance appealed to me back in junior high—and still does today.
“Sitting” was the first track on the album Catch Bull at Four, Cat’s third big album, after Tea for the Tillerman and Teaser and the Firecat, and the only one to hit number one. (Tillerman hit #8, Teaser hit #2, and his next two albums, Foreigner and Buddha and the Chocolate Box, both hit #3.) Catch Bull spent three weeks at #1 and was named by Billboard as the #14 album for all of 1972. Personally, it’s my favorite of all his albums.
Those of you around back then probably recall that Cat Stevens was a big deal back in the early ’70s with a slew of hits that everybody knows, such as “Wild World” (#11 on the Billboard Hot 100), “Moonshadow” (#30), “Peace Train” (#7), “Morning Has Broken” (#6), “Oh Very Young” (#10), and “Another Saturday Night” (#6). He even had a song written about him, Carly Simon’s “Anticipation” (which just happens to be yesterday’s classic song of the day). Carly wrote it while waiting for a date for which Cat was late; good things apparently do come to those who wait.
Cat’s career trailed off by mid-decade, then in 1977 he became a Muslim and changed his name to Yusuf Islam. He abandoned his musical career at about the same time and, in 1989, he became embroiled in the whole Salmon Rushdie fatwa thing, which didn’t help his legacy. In recent years he’s returned to music, first as Yusuf Islam and, in 2017, back under his old name of Cat Stevens.
In case you’re wondering, neither Cat or Yusuf is his real name; the guy who sang this song was born Steven Georgiou in London, England, July 21, 1948. That makes him 75 years old and he’s still going strong, having released a re-imagining of his Tea for the Tillerman album (titled Tea for the Tillerman 2, natch) in 2020. I always liked Cat’s music; it was gentle and lyrical and just hit a sweet spot when I was in junior high school. I still listen to it today—especially this album.
