| Cat Stevens – On The Road To Find Out Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| Pretty sure he sings, "The good book" in the formal recording, so logically tbe Bible as that is a common English nickname for the Bible going way back. Even if he wrote "a" the song context makes no sense if interpreted as a random "Good book" like a Grieshem novel for the beach. A good Book woyld just mean geab one if tbe many Bibles available. Cat wasn't into Islam until much later than the '70-'72 period in which this was written. My psychological assessment is that Cat soured on Christianity as it was the representative Faith of his parents (Greek Orthodox and Swedish Protestantism....likely Lutheran). When they divorced and remained friends it had an affect on him....IMHO....Like lots of Western teens and early 20's youth, spiritual quests usually include looking into other major religions. Cat had the money to do this from his early teen fame, so he visited the homelands of Hinduism (Katmandu), Buddhism (Buddha & the Chocolate Box), and eventually, Islam (Post pop fame). This quested cane from a nwar-death battle with Tuberculosis and hebce, a stark spiritual transformation between his teen late 60s bebopp songs and those relective, artistic songs of Mona Bone Jakon and Tea for the Tillerman. | |
| Cat Stevens – Tuesday's Dead Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| Pretty understandable especially if "Tuesday" was just picked at random. The essence of the song is spiritual quest for Truth and the Word refers to Bible. We all have to personally seek Truth and stay humble even when we discover it, or it is revealed to us. Don't be doom & gloom but be hopeful and attempt to change the world around you for the good. | |
| Cat Stevens – Northern Wind Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| Could it possibly be about Billy the Kid? I think he was from the Northern Plains states but settled somewhere in Arizona for a period of time and possibly into Mexico to avoid the law. Seems like he was married too at one time, so all of those elements might be in the song. | |
| Cat Stevens – Into White Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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I think much of what's already said here gives plausibility of meaning to several points in the song. However, I think it's simply connected to one of the themes in the album, and that is childhood or children. I followed his music throughout his career and he always wrote songs about childhood, spiritual themes/love, and romantic love. These are easily discernible as the three consistent themes. I wasn't always comfortable how he mixed and, at times, innerwove these themes even into the same song (like Sun/C79 or Moon and Star). When her kept them seperate, they were beautiful. Otherwise, a little discomforting or even disturbing.) I believe Cat was influenced by Carol's Alice in Wonderland (a British work) as evidenced by the term "dog mouse" which is similar to Dormouse in the story. Like Alice in Wonderland it's a fantasy written from a child's perspective or for a child. It's like a dream and seeing the everyday things of life as represented by other elements. For instance a table made out of paper, a window that is simply light, a house made out of barley as opposed to bricks, green painted walls that are really peppers, etc. The country rural setting versus the city also adds to the mood of the song. The country always being the place for more isolated reflection and poetic creation by being close to Nature vs The hustle of the city where Cat grew up. The other elements I see are more real, like where the child or the person steps outside to the porch or entrance and reports what they see: a garden with an endless sky, a small mouse, a yellow flower (Delaney) possibly like a morning glory that closes at night and opens with the daylight. I believe the sad blue eye drummer is a toy soldier that has been weathered by being outside and now has spider webs on it. The owner of the web is walking around on the head of the toy soldier and is spotted by a real red legged chicken, who is ready to kill or eat it. All the scenes conclude with the dream ending by the child awakening, opening their eyes to light, which disolves all the images of the dream. (This is like Alice in Wonderland in which the dream of Alice's ends when the falling cards are in reality her sister dropping leaves on her, which awaken her.). However, I also like what someone posted in that the images written are really the poetic creation of the artist who is writing them down from their mind's eye, a place of color and images, onto simple white paper. |
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