"Caros audiophiles, this week I was thinking again about some early musical memories. When I was about 9 years old our family had a nanny/au pair to help my mother look after her four young children. I no longer remember clearly her features or her personality, although I imagine her to be slim with long blonde/brown hair like Francoise Hardy. But I do remember that she used to spend her evenings in her bedroom playing her guitar and listening to vinyl LPs on her little record player. These were the days of the acoustic singer/songwriters, people like Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, Joni Mitchell, John Denver and James Taylor. Sometimes she would invite me to her room to hear her music. And there was one LP record in particular that I discovered there, that I fell in love with, and have always cherished since. A record which she gave me when she left our family.
Tea For The Tillerman is the album in question. This and its following album Teaser & The Firecat remain timeless classics of the singer/songwriter genre. Beautiful melodies, deceptively simple guitar playing, lyrics full of passion and compassion, of human insight and humanity, of personal searching and universal social conscience.
The first video has the song which remains my favourite of all. I don't know why, even at 9 years old, this song struck such a chord with me. I don't think I was ready to leave the safety of my home! There must be some of the melancholic saudade in my maternal Portuguese blood, some nostalgia for a future that was still to happen.
Evidently the video presents a very early performance of the song, before it becomes famous. It is funny to hear such a humble introduction, our singer recognising its universal theme but not its future classic status:
The second video is a surprise to me. If you know the cover sleeve of Teaser & The Firecat you will recognise the animation, but I did not know there existed an animated film.
What a sad loss to our ears and hearts when Cat Stevens disappeared into a wilderness and became Yusuf Islam. Following a strict orthodox Muslim code he apparently for many years denounced music as something blasphemous unless it was sung or played in the service of praise to Allah.
Did he not realise that so much of his music spoke of universal themes, of universal tolerance and love? Well, thank goodness he has returned. And even if his new songs cannot compare to his early masterpieces, it is nice to see him back, almost like a prodigal son, reclaiming his heritage and helping to bridge the Christian and Muslim worlds:
A proxima.
PO
PO
I learnt late to appreciate the singer/song-writers you write about. I was more used to pop, rock, to music that was played on the Portuguese radio: Elton John, Supertramp, the odd French one, Rod Stewart, David Bowie. Not accoustic, "inspirational" music. Maybe because I was more into rhythm and not so much into lyrics. Appreciating voices and lyrics reveals, maybe, more maturity. Nowadays I love lyrics. Imagine by John Lennon is a huge, huge favourite of mine. Thank you, P. As ever. Bjs. pcp
ResponderEliminarBack in the eighties - that era of joy for those born in the late sixties / early seventies -, I was in the highschool, somewhere in the Portuguese countryside, a bit far from the big city and the bright néon lights.
ResponderEliminarI remember well one not specially gifted English teacher that by that time was trying to get some respect from a bunch of 'wild at heart young men'. One of the lectures was about the concept of 'generation(s) clash'.
I had the chance of, whilst being aside from the urban modernity, experiencing the power of music, films, books as ways of capturing student's attention, thus, ways of delivering true knowledge, stimulating our senses and our intellect in a totally different manner.
The mentioned topic ("the generation(s) clash") was illustrated by two songs: "she's leaving home", by those four-touched-by-the-hand-of-God-guys-from-Liverpool, and "father and son", by Cat Stevens.
I've never forget the lessons:
a) in life, there always two sides, even when you are one of those two sides..;
b) there are things very difficult to articulate. Art is also about that - the ability to express what "can not" be expressed within the common day-to-day human language;
c) if you want to transmit something, be brave and creative, take risks.
This is the power of music: here I am, a kid with 14 or 15 years, in the middle of the eighties, with 10 tiny hearts instead of fingers.
Thanks for that, Phillip.
Flowers from Lisbon,
gi.
post scriptum:
ResponderEliminar'i've never forgotten', of course. sorry for the mistake above..
gi.
Dear gi, thank you so much for posting your comments. You write most eloquently, better than I, but I'm pleased to have taken you back to your 'wild' teenage days.
ResponderEliminarI think we two must be trans-inspirational (does the word exist?), telepathic anyway: I nearly did not include Father & Son this time, having an idea to post it another time with...She's Leaving Home! These songs so obviously belong together, both speaking of the son/daughter generational conflict with their parents, the need to break free and find their own path. Musically also, they both incorporate a chorus idea inspired from Greek tragedy ("Stay stay stay/why must you go and make this decision alone?" and "We gave her most of our lives/sacrified most of our lives/we gave her everything money could buy") where the parents counter-sing simultaneously with their children. I wonder if Cat Stevens was inspired by the Beatles' song or by his own Greek heritage? PO
...for anyone who wishes to compare with Father & Son, here is a link to She's Leaving Home:
ResponderEliminarhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGZQYas4Z3w
PO
What a coincidence indeed, dear Philip!
ResponderEliminarI would use that famous quote: 'go back to the ancient Greeks - to some extent, they invented everything..'.
Interesting question: who has influenced whom? It would be a nice challenge for a 'music addicted detective'!
And thanks, of course, for your kind compliments :).
Audiophiles regards,
gi.
P,
ResponderEliminarAnother great post. What I particularly liked was the text that you wrote in a way that we call in Portuguese 'maneira solta', meaning that you wrote it without any kind of constraints, with adjectives & etc that result in a kind of poetry - I tried and read it loudly and ... what a great sound your words can make.
I also liked very much the 1st clip - we can see CS in a simple way, meaning that sometimes people acquire throughout their lives gestures and 'poses' that are not natural. Here we can see the genuine person. The part where he prepares the guitar for the song, etc, all that adds to the distinctiveness that CS had at that time.
Great end of afternoon here in Lisbon for me. Thanks for that Philip.
The very first time I ever danced in a man's arms - I was probably 12 or 13 years old, he was 16 going on 17- was by the sound of "Morning Has broken" by Cat Stevens. I can never forget that moment, when a little girl like me felt that the whole world was out there, somewhere, waiting to be discovered, new sensations to be experienced, while Cat Stevens with his sexy and unique voice, took me to heaven. Gato Esteves, as we used to call him. Thanks Po for bringing him back to life.
ResponderEliminarMaf
Hey Maf the same with me:)I was 13 and wear a kilt! Can't believe this!!
ResponderEliminar