Father and Son (song)
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"Father and Son" is a popular song written and originally performed by British singer Cat Stevens on his 1970 album Tea for the Tillerman.
The song, whose music is soft but 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 what he must do, to echo this Stevens sings in an deeper register for the Father parts, whilst using a higher, more emotive one for the son parts. Stevens originally wrote it as part of a proposed musical project with actor Nigel Hawthorn called Revolussia, that was set during the Russian Revolution; the song was about a boy who wanted to join the revolution against the wishes of his father. The musical project faded away but "Father and Son" remained, now in a more general context that reflected not just the societal conflict of Stevens' time, but also captured the impulses of older and younger generations in general.
Although not released as a single, "Father and Son" received substantial airplay on progressive rock and album-oriented rock radio formats, and played a key role in establishing Stevens as a new voice worthy of attention. A year later in 1971 it was put on the B-side of Stevens' single "Moonshadow".
Sandie Shaw's version of the song, released in 1972, became her twenty-ninth and final single on the Pye Records label, which had given her a highly successful string of hits in the 1960s, making her the most successful British female singer of that decade.
On the 1974 album "Junkie and the Juicehead Minus Me", Johnny Cash released a slightly changed version of the song with his stepdaughter, Rosie Nix Adams, with the title "Father and Daughter", with aptly changed lyrics.
In 1995, the Irish boy band Boyzone did a rendition of the song, and it reached #2 on the UK Singles Chart.
In 2001 the producers of the film Moulin Rouge! wanted to use "Father and Son" underneath the opening scene, but Stevens, now the devout Muslim Yusuf Islam, refused on religious grounds given the somewhat racy nature of the film. [1]
2003 saw Johnny Cash revisit the original song with Fiona Apple accompanying during the 'son' verses on disc 3 of the "Unchained" boxed set.
The American rock band The Flaming Lips released the EP Fight Test in 2003, whose title song echoed "Father and Son". Stevens/Islam is receiving royalties for "Fight Test" following a relatively uncontentious settlement; The Flaming Lips' frontman, Wayne Coyne, claims that he was unaware of the songs' similarities until producer Dave Fridmann pointed them out.
"Father and Son" was then covered by Irish singer Ronan Keating, who had been a member of Boyzone, on his greatest hits compilation 10 Years of Hits (2004). Keating's version was released as a single in the fourth quarter of 2004 and featured re-recorded vocals by Stevens/Islam. Keating credits the song for introducing him to music and for sparking his interest in song writing. "Father and Son" debuted at number two on UK Singles Chart and became Keating's eleventh top ten single. Keating donated all the profits from the single's release to the Band Aid Trust, as Band Aid 20's rendition of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" was the current number one. Keating said that he was very happy to be number two in the charts below Band Aid. The music video for the release showed Keating singing while walking amongst hundreds of stantions holding father-and-son portraits of all types, then joined midway by Stevens/Islam singing the 'Father' parts.
In 2006, Rod Stewart included his take on "Father and Son" on his "rock standards" album Still the Same... Great Rock Classics of our Time.
[edit] Formats and track listings
These are the formats and track listings of major Ronan Keating single releases of "Father and Son".
CD single #1
- "Father and Son" (New Steve Mac with Strings)
- "When You Say Nothing at All" (Spanglish version)
CD single #2
- "Father and Son" (New Steve Mac with Strings)
- "Father and Son" (Metrophonic mix)
- "I Hope You Dance" music video
- "Father and Son" music video
