Justin Townes Earle and Steve Earle.
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That made me think of the old Cat Stevens song "Father & Son." The 2 points of view. The son seeing himself as different from the father, and the father believing the son really will be just about the same as he was.
Here's Cat, as a young man, singing the great song beautifully, powerfully. And here's old Cat -- "look at me, I am old" -- singing the song again, in his Yusef Islam self-re-invention. The voice is the same, slightly mellowed.
Who knows if the young man and the old man are different or the same?
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My daughter was wonderful and sensible and loving until she turned 13 and the hormone fairy showed up, shot her full of something, and she became insane for about 5 years.
We both survived - barely. I turned her over to her mother to raise, they understood each other.
She is now my princess again, and mother to my grandchildren.
Isn't Steve Earle the big lefty? Not surprised he lived off food stamps (lived off us) for the sake of his "art."
When my wife complains about our kids to her Mom, my mother-in-law smiles.
I recall that Charlotte had three sensible kids, but it seems the others left home as soon as they could.
"karmically correct." I haven't seen anyone use that phrase without a heavy wink-and-nod in a long time. It's definitely old, but not quite ready to be new again.
We both survived - barely. I turned her over to her mother to raise, they understood each other.
Something's missing in this fact pattern.
I love that song - and I just bought it (and a few other of his), last night on iTunes.
As a parent, you try and pass along some wisdom. It's all you can do. Kids think they know, but they have to find out on their own - then you keep your fingers crossed.
my youngest child came to my home unexpectedly and we sat down yesterday and talked for two hours. Did he need a favor or not? no, not this time.
I don't think so. Anyway, no computer, no tv, no radio. (no internet or cable in my house).
only a couple of christmas cookies, not even tea this time.
I can't complain that we can still do that like when he was six, seven, eight, nine.... I am usually at home and there to listen if someone wants to talk. Or if they don't, i can hear their silence and understand.
Yusef Islam (Cat Stevens) is a terrorist.
Please don't support him by giving him publicity and by encouraging others to listen to or buy his music.
He was such a great songwriter; too bad he went off the tracks. He’d of done better if he joined the Hare Krishnas or the Moonies. In fact, he’s so trapped in Islam that he actually supported the Ayatollah’s death sentence on Salmon Rushdie, who I’m sure felt as though he was being followed by a crescent moonshadow — or a suicide bomber.
Yusef Islam (Cat Stevens) is a terrorist.
And why is that?
and why is that?
Well, for one thing, you immediately rose to his defense.
Watching the Cat Stevens clip I was amazed that he started Father And Son, a VERY recognizable chord progression and introduction, and nobody clapped!
He deserves an audience that is more culturally plugged in!
And I am not sure that Cat is a terrorist, and I frankly doubt that he is. The story as I get it, is that when he was a young Muslim somebody asked Cat about Salman Rushdi and the fatwa. The reporter asked if Rushdi should be killed like the Muslim clerics say and Cat said yes because he wanted to be obedient.
In my mind, this makes him a schmuck, not a terrorist. Killing innocent people is required in my book before you are a terrorist like you know, Rush Limbaugh. 8)
Trey
It was shame listening to the author of Peace Train defending the fatwa against Salmon Rushdie.
It wasn't just, "I want to be obedient". This was the late '80's and Stevens had been a muslim for over a decade. He said the fatwa was correct because it was only the sticking of a knife into one person's heart, whereas what Rushdie did stuck a knife into millions of hearts. He got a satisfied look on his face like he'd just made an unassailable point.
He may not be an actual bomb-throwing terrorist, but he is a shameless supporter of terrorism.
Hey Tim, can you find a reference for that quote? Because if you can it makes this denial of his more interesting. If it went down as you described then he's frankly lying in this CBS interview.
Actually, the attached article has the exact original quote:
"Salmon Rushdie, or indeed any writer who abuses the prophet or indeed any prophet, under Islamic law, the sentence for that is actually death. It's got to be seen as a deterrent, so that other people should not commit the same mistake again,"
So unless tim can find a source for his quote, I imagine he pulled it out of his ass.
The cited quote is vague, but if the standard for being labeled a terrorist is believing "blasphemers should be executed", then a whole lot of otherwise law-abiding people are terrorists--and many of the comments on this site would constitute terrorism.
Yusef Islam (Cat Stevens) is a terrorist.
-- And why is that?
Elaine: Andrea Doria? Isn't that the one they did the song about?
Jerry: Edmund Fitzgerald.
Elaine: I love Edmund Fitzgerald's voice.
Jerry: No, Gordon Lightfoot was the singer. Edmund Fitzgerald was the ship.
Elaine: I think Gordon Lightfoot was the boat.
Jerry(Sarcastically): Yeah, and it was rammed by the Cat Stevens.
"Elaine: I think Gordon Lightfoot was the boat.
Jerry(Sarcastically): Yeah, and it was rammed by the Cat Stevens."
If Cat Stevens was a boat I think it would have rammed the Achille Lauro instead.
Yusef Islam (Cat Stevens) is a terrorist.
Frederson: "and why is that?"
chickenlittle: "Well, for one thing, you immediately rose to his defense."
lol. I've never seen Freder defend anyone who wasn't an America-hater, a terrorist or a terrorist sympathizer of some sort.
For the record, I don't believe Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam is a terrorist. But he's more than likely a terrorist sympathizer and certainly a misguided person.
May 23, 1989 NYT article:
Cat Stevens Gives Support To Call for Death of Rushdie
The musician known as Cat Stevens said in a British television program to be broadcast next week that rather than go to a demonstration to burn an effigy of the author Salman Rushdie, ''I would have hoped that it'd be the real thing.''
...He also said that if Mr. Rushdie turned up at his doorstep looking for help, ''I might ring somebody who might do more damage to him than he would like.''
''I'd try to phone the Ayatollah Khomeini and tell him exactly where this man is,'' said Mr. Islam, who watched a preview of the program today and said in an interview that he stood by his comments.
I hate what Cat Stevens let himself become, but I still love the Cat Stevens who once was, and I think we've seen some evidence that he wants to be that person again. When he was at his worst, he refused to play music at all. I would like to welcome him back into the world of good and rational people, if he wants to come back.
Well, Freder, I'm thinking your ass-pulling theory is losing a bit of heft.
If Cat wants back (and I hope he does), then he’s in a world of hurt. Apostasy from Islam is punishable by death, which sort of resembles the sentence they gave Rushdie.
Calling Buddah and the Chocolate Box. . . .
From the article:
Also on the show was Dr. Kalim Siddiqui, director of the Muslim Institute in London and one of the organizers of a nationwide demonstration against ''Satanic Verses'' that is scheduled for Hyde Park on Saturday. He said: ''I wouldn't kill him, but I'm sure that there are very many people in this country prepared at the moment. If they could lay their hands on Rushdie, he would be dead.
''As a British citizen, I have a duty, if you like, a social contract with the British state, not to break British law. We are not a pacifist religion. We don't turn the other cheek. We hit back.''
Glad that's settled.
All this talk about Cat Stevens dovetails nicely back into talk about Steve Earle who wrote a song about John Walker Lindh that caused a bit of a ruckus a few years back.
Why can't you say, If you know, then why can't you say.
You've got too much deceit, deceit kills the light,
light needs to shine, I said shine light , shine light.
Love, That's no way to live your life,
you allow too much to go by, and that won't do.
No, lover.
You know, I put away my Cat Stevens for quite a while back then, on account of the Fatwah, over Salman's Rushdie's "Satanic Verses," of which I bought three copies (a minor deal) in hardback (a major big deal, due to finances then), plus another 2-3 as gifts. In that period of years of my life, I did pretty much the same thing with regard to the film "The Last Temptation of Christ."
I'm not going to share, in all its complexity, what I think about all of that now, looking back. Nor am I going share here what I thought then, as notated in media, pre-blog-age [before bloggage]. (Primarily because I think y'all'l thank me for that forbearance. Don't think I never take that into consideration!)
In most recent years, I've been revisiting (revisiting ≠ embracing) everything.
Are we 100% sure we want to dismiss artistic outputs based on politico-religious issues of the artist? Even it's pre-"off-the-rails," so to speak?
If so, what do we do about all those icons from the near-, mid- and way-past, on whom we rely culturally but would eschew if they existed now?
(By the way, does this comment make me a hard-headed woman?
I'd say probably not, but who knows?)
It's fun, by the way, to listen to and analyze (and make certain connections with regard to) that last-linked song, if you have a sense of history, music history and world music, and even just a bit of knowledge of theory and tonalities & etc. I'd bet, for just one example--among other obvious ones--that Theo could, if he wanted to.
(One observation about the visuals in that video: the word "davening" comes to mind.)
I forgot to say about this ...
Steve says he raised his kid on food stamps because he wasn't prepared to do anything else with his life but make music.
... ('scuse my french, as certain of my aunts and uncles used to say) ... fuck that.
And may I take this opportunity to thank the people in my own life who didn't consider an attitude such as Earle Sr.'s a perq (arrogantly) of their own natural talents & gifts & circumstances. Etc.
At least, not in that way.
Well, I can't do too much analysis of Hard Headed Woman, except to note that there is an opening flourish of the famous traditional Japanese folk song, Sakura Sakura (cherry blossom) 桜 花見.
Here is a MIDI version, if you like that sort of thing.
Here are the lyrics:
桜 桜 Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms,
野山も里も On Meadow-hills and dale,
見渡す限り As far as you can see.
霞か雲か Is it a mist, or clouds?
朝日に匂う Fragrant in the morning sun.
桜 桜 Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms,
花ざかり Flowers in full bloom.
桜 桜 Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms,
弥生の空は Across the Spring sky,
見渡す限り As far as you can see.
霞か雲か Is it a mist, or clouds?
匂ひぞ 出づる Fragrant in the air.
いざや いざや Come now, come,
見に行かん Let’s look, at last!
Cherry blossoms in Japan are traditionally associated with the short time of life: The transience of the blossoms, their extreme beauty and quick death make them an extreme metaphor for the fleeting nature of life.
In China, cherry blossoms are associated with the feminine principle.
Given the lyrics of Cat Stevens' song, you may make of these what you will. Frankly, there seems to be no particular association, save that Stevens wanted something Oriental-sounding to give his listeners the chance to say to one another, "Deep, man, deep. Hey, pass that joint!"
My own taste in Cat Stevens begins and ends with Moonshadow.
If you want to know what ol' Theo likes in a male singer, well, there's this. The sync is about 5 seconds off, which is extremely irritating, but the thought of standing in that room with the musicians in 1725 more than makes up for it. Stick with it until he begins the aria, as the recitativo is a bit distant. The harpsichordist is Gustav Leonhardt, playing the role of J.S. Bach, which is very improbable, because he looks just like Rameau. The movie, Chronik der Anna Magdalena Bach, is a nice, ghostly remberance of our former Christian civilization, just before it came off the rails.
The former Cat Stevens is a near-ghostly reminder of my own California youth, just before I come off the rails.
Brought to mind another father-son-aging song by Harry Chapin
People sing and say weird things from then and now…
of course, as i listen to my all beatles all the time shuffle on my walks every now and then, I put the order on shuffle, not the albums in their chronolgical progressions. Sometimes it's amazing when a love ballad comes on or all we need is love stuff and then the next song pops up:
i'd rather see you dead little girl than see you with…
better read the wiki entry on that for the explanation just in case john is watching my wheels go round.
wow, I did not know this:
"A 1966 version of "Run for Your Life" performed by Nancy Sinatra was released on her album Boots"
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