It's not time to make a change
Just relax, take it easy
You're still young, that's your fault
There's so much you have to know
Find a girl, settle down
If you want you can marry
Look at me, I am old, but I'm happy

I was once like you are now, and I know that it's not easy
To be calm when you've found something going on
But take your time, think a lot
Why, think of everything you've got
For you will still be here tomorrow, but your dreams may not

How can I try to explain? 'Cause when I do he turns away again
It's always been the same, same old story
From the moment I could talk I was ordered to listen
Now there's a way and I know that I have to go away
I know, I have to go

It's not time to make a change (away, away, away)
Just sit down, take it slowly
You're still young, that's your fault (I know)
There's so much you have to go through (I have to make this decision)
Find a girl, settle down (alone)
If you want you can marry
Look at me (no)
I am old, but I'm happy

All the times that I cried (stay, stay, stay)
Keeping all the things I knew inside
It's hard, but it's harder to ignore it (why must you go)
(And make this decision?)
If they were right, I'd agree, but it's them they know not me (alone)
Now there's a way and I know that I have to go away
I know I have to go


Lyrics submitted by Novartza, edited by Anulamas

Father And Son Lyrics as written by Yusuf Islam

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Father And Son song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

90 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +15
    Song Meaning

    This is NOT a CONVERSATION between a father and son! I think most people are missing something very basic. Look at the personal pronouns. In the first sentence (you) is understood and the next sentences we see "You're, your, and you". The Father is talking to the son (or at him). Now look at the son's section of the song. You will see "he/him" written or inferred when speaking about the father. He is not speaking TO his father. He is talking to a third party or, most likely, to himself. That is NOT a conversation. A conversation goes BOTH ways. The father is speaking unilaterally to the son - this is the way it's going to be. The son is NOT speaking back. Like many children do, they storm out of the room or clam up (even when they are adults) and the son’s part of the song is what is going through his angry head afterwards. “He doesn’t understand me, he won’t even listen to me, that’s it — I’m out of here!”

    I think Cat Stevens was a genius in lyrics and meaning (many of which are very subtle) and this song is one of many. This is a great example of what happens to Fathers and Sons at an age where the son might feel like a man but the father is still treating him like a boy. This was written around Vietnam timeframe, the album came out in 1970. Many sons were saying, "Dad I'm a man and I want to join the service and go away to Vietnam" or "Dad this war is bs, I'm going away to live in Canada, or to protest the war, or to live in a commune"... We are not privy to what started the conversation. Think back to when you were this age and tried to have a conversation with a parent. Many parents don’t listen. Before you can finish the sentence, “Dad/Mom I’ve been thinking about taking my college money and cutting an album, and…“ And you don’t get to finish the sentence. Perhaps that is where this song starts. Whatever the son said, the father interrupts with “it’s not time to make a change, just sit down and take it easy”… (read -> you’re not going anywhere) This song makes it hard to judge the father, because he has such a soft voice, but his first sentence is still comes across as an order (Parent to small Child) and not an opinion (as if between adults). It is pleasantly worded, but in essence the father is saying, “this is the way it is going to be”. In the second sentence (about youth) the father insults him. What he is really saying is “Let me tell you what’s wrong with you”. He eventually says “but your dreams may not” giving us a clue that the son wants to chase his dreams and the father thinks his dream may be a fad (if the kid had the benefit of the father’s experience, the child would realize that he is wrong). Perhaps the father went through the same thing with his father and his dreams were crushed. Is the father right? If the kid was 18 and wanted to go to Nam instead of college some may agree with the father. If the kid was 18 and named Steven Demetre Georgiou (Cat), and wanted to forego college to pursue a music career, I’d have to agree with the kid.

    Lyrics2Deepon November 12, 2010   Link
  • +6
    General Comment

    I think this is a song about a Son who is frustrated and wants to go out into to the world to make his dreams come true. The first verse is the father's advice to his son before he heads off into the world. His father, gives him typical parental advice to keep his dreams simple, and be careful. The advice to find a girl and settle down" along with, " I am old but I'm happy" are an attempt to convince his son into a conservative path. He knows the son lacks experience and may do something stupid and impulsive with the lines, "there's so much you don't know" and the awesome poetic line, "Take your time, think alot, think of everything you got, for you will still be here tomorow but your dreams may not". The words emphesize the love the father has for his son and his desire to see his son happy and not broken by the world. The son answers back with the typical response of a frustrated youth, that being, that his father's love for him is limiting his potential and holding him back. This frustration is depicted in one of my favorite lines of all time, "from the moment I could talk, I was ordered to listen". The line, "If they were right I'd agree but it's them you know not me" suggests that it may be a response to other people like the son who the father knew and who had failed at great loss. The story of these people, maybe friends of the father in his younger days, may have been told to the son in order to dissuade him from following his dreams and loosing everything. None-the-less at the end of the song the son states that he must satisfy his desire to venture out with the line, "I have to go". It seems that the son heeds his father's warnings and will keep them in mind but also must find out for himself what he is capable of.

    quisp2112on January 24, 2007   Link
  • +6
    General Comment

    The song, whose music is soft with a lilting dynamicism, 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. To echo this, Stevens sings in a deeper register for the father's lines, while using a higher, more emotive one for those of the son.

    MeGallegoson August 21, 2009   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    No, I definitely don't think it's about suicide. It's about the classic story of parent and child. Living, loving, but eventually the child has to leave the nest. The father knows this, though it hurts, and it's just advising his son, who is still young and prideful.

    I'm moving thousands of miles away to college this fall. This song makes me teary-eyed.

    BtownMeggyon August 05, 2002   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    I think this song is about a young man and his father. The father wants him to go the same way he went. to the family life. The son want to go out and do something with his life that his father doesn't approve of. it seems to me that the father is scared for his son that his sons dreams may not come true so he don't even want him to take a chance and end up with heartbreak.

    AshenCharmon April 08, 2003   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    A wonderful song about a conversation between a father and his son. The son is just beginning to realize the world and he is very unhappy to see the world as it is. The father is experienced so he tries to calm down his son. A wonderful piece of art.

    mercanfaton January 09, 2002   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    The classic story of the younger generation who are ready to take on the world with their ideals and what they know inside their hearts vs the older generation that have lived enough to understand what the world is about and that living a simpler life, away from the true pains of the world, would be a better path to take than tackling the world head on.

    BrainDamageon August 24, 2002   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    I think its about neither Father or Son understanding each other as well as they think they do, and both of them getting the messages wrong. The Father keeps telling the Son to relax and settle his life down, but the Son doesn't want his Father's life (which his Father can't see) and gets angry when he feels like his Father isn't listening to what he wants in life.

    ZeroOneon October 23, 2004   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    Such a beautiful song, and very thought provoking when you are a father! Anyway, the meaning of the song can be found on Cat Stevens' (nee Yusuf Islam) own web site - yusufislam.org.uk/fatherandson.shtml

    So it is about a son wanting to leave home and join the Russian Revolution. I'm glad I know that now!

    robman_84on December 08, 2004   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    I think it great that Ronan Keating covered the song once again with Cat Stevens. Once he said that Cat was his childhood idol. oh my, it must be strange to sing this song with your idol, and even more strange with someone who said he will never sing these songs again.

    mo_dhia_oiron March 03, 2005   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve. The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future. Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere" The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Album art
Holiday
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday". I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
Album art
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988. "'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it." "There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Album art
No Surprises
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Album art
Magical
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.