Members Sgt. Rock Posted January 24, 2012 Members Share Posted January 24, 2012 I keep on getting requests for Cat Stevens but there is no song by him that interests me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tim_7string Posted January 24, 2012 Members Share Posted January 24, 2012 Do you think these requests are because the requesters think that you would do a good job on them (musically and singing-wise) or do you think it's more that they expect a solo acoustic performer to automatically know his work (along with James Taylor, Jack Johnson, Gordon Lightfoot, etc.)? If I wasn't into Cat Stevens, I'd pick probably something safe like "Morning Has Broken," since it can also be used in other situations (church functions). I'm not a huge fan, but I don't mind him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pogo97 Posted January 24, 2012 Members Share Posted January 24, 2012 How about "Another Saturday Night." Not really his song, but he covered it. Or "The First Cut Is the Deepest" which he wrote but wasn't his hit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dparr Posted January 24, 2012 Members Share Posted January 24, 2012 I play "Father And Son". It goes over very well. Cat Stevens is awesome. [video=youtube;Q29YR5-t3gg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q29YR5-t3gg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Notes_Norton Posted January 24, 2012 Members Share Posted January 24, 2012 I get requests for songs that I don't care for all the time. My policy is that if you stand on stage long enough, people will tell you what they want to hear. So when requests come in I balance the following: Then I balance the requests and decide whether to learn it or not. Some songs I didn't really want to learn were "Sugar Sugar", "Two Pina Coladas", "Tennesee Waltz", "Theme From New York, NY", "Alley Cat" and a few others. But they are just songs, and once I start playing them I forget that I didn't want to learn them. Some like "Alley Cat" and "NY.NY" I only do when requested, others I mix in every now and then just to add variety to the act. The song I hate calling the most is "Yakety Sax". It was challenging at first, but after you get it under your fingers, it's really an easy song to play. The problem is that it's rote memorization and there is no room for experimentation or different forms of expression. We only do this when requested. But the funny thing is, once the music starts, I turn off my "left brain" like I do when playing any other song, and enjoy the experience of playing in spite of myself. My advice is this. If it's requested often enough, or by someone influential, or by a regular customer, or any other good reasons, learn one. I wouldn't do "Another Saturday Night" for Cat Stevens because it probably won't satisfy the requester who might know it's really a Sam Cooke song. But "Wide World", "Morning Has Broken" or anything else that made the Billboard top40 would be fine. But of course, I'm me and you are you -- YMMV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mike McLaughlin Posted January 24, 2012 Members Share Posted January 24, 2012 Flip side on Cat Stevens, when others request him, I've had people say "don't do his songs, he turned Muslim". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlueStrat Posted January 24, 2012 Members Share Posted January 24, 2012 I never cared for his stuff either. And with there being a gazillion other songs and songwriters out there to cover, I've been able to successfully avoid playing any of it for the last 4 decades. Ditto Gordon Lightfoot, though I may do "Early Morning Rain" as it's a great song and a classic. It is funny and entertaining, though, to try to play any song you know to the tune of "The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald". The lyrics to Stairway to Heaven work especially well! It usually gets a good laugh from the crowd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Telecruiser Posted January 24, 2012 Members Share Posted January 24, 2012 Here's a great Cat Stevens song that I do. It goes over great.[video=youtube;HQXbtlbQX70] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted January 24, 2012 Members Share Posted January 24, 2012 9 times out of 10, whenever anybody asks for a specific artists, they usually mean "play one the big hits I know". On the off chance you get somebody you really wants you to go "deep catalog", you risk boring everyone else who isn't familiar with that song. A request for Cat Stevens probably means "Peace Train", "Wild World", "Morning Has Broken" "Father and Son" or MAYBE "Moonshadow". My personal choice in a solo/duo situation would be "Sitting", but 'sitting' might be the total sum of the response you get from most people on that one. "First Cut is the Deepest" is a good choice because a lot of people know it, and it should please the diehard Stevens fan who will probably be the only other person in the room besides you who knows he wrote it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Terry Allan Hall Posted January 24, 2012 Members Share Posted January 24, 2012 Flip side on Cat Stevens, when others request him, I've had people say "don't do his songs, he turned Muslim". I try to ignore the truly ignorant...saves time! I do a lot of Cat Stevens tunes...rarely get any crap about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pinkfloydcramer61 Posted January 24, 2012 Members Share Posted January 24, 2012 People shouldn't care at all that he's Muslim. My only beef with him is that he came out in support of the "hit" on author Salman Rushdie. As Dennis Miller commented on SNL, "Well, so much for that 'Peace Train' crap!" But I would play his tunes on request. So what if he went off his rocker-that's happened to alot of musicians. If we only covered tunes by the sane ones we would have trouble getting through the night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Telecruiser Posted January 24, 2012 Members Share Posted January 24, 2012 9 times out of 10, whenever anybody asks for a specific artists, they usually mean "play one the big hits I know". On the off chance you get somebody you really wants you to go "deep catalog", you risk boring everyone else who isn't familiar with that song.A request for Cat Stevens probably means "Peace Train", "Wild World", "Morning Has Broken" "Father and Son" or MAYBE "Moonshadow". My personal choice in a solo/duo situation would be "Sitting", but 'sitting' might be the total sum of the response you get from most people on that one."First Cut is the Deepest" is a good choice because a lot of people know it, and it should please the diehard Stevens fan who will probably be the only other person in the room besides you who knows he wrote it. I know what you are saying but I have always preferred to do songs that I like to play. If I feel forced to have to play a song I don't care for it never comes out right. I have turned down requests many times without out a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rodclement Posted January 24, 2012 Members Share Posted January 24, 2012 We do Father & Son and people like it. Rod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted January 24, 2012 Members Share Posted January 24, 2012 I know what you are saying but I have always preferred to do songs that I like to play. If I feel forced to have to play a song I don't care for it never comes out right. I have turned down requests many times without out a problem. Fair enough. I was simply coming from the perspective of trying to answer the question of "what would be a good Cat Stevens song should I play if requested?" Presumably if anyone already had a preferred Cat Stevens song, they wouldn't need to ask the question in the first place. (Not that that question had been specifically asked here, but it WAS the general tone the thread had taken.) Actually, for me, my all-time favorite Cat Stevens song is "How Can I Tell You". Or "The Wind". I'd probably have either of those in my back pocket for a Cat Stevens request. Whether anyone but me would ever want to hear either of the those? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted January 24, 2012 Members Share Posted January 24, 2012 If we only covered tunes by the sane ones we would have trouble getting through the night. ^^THIS. Cat Stevens wrote some incredible music that is still incredible regardless of what anyone thinks of him now. And most musicians are filled with a huge degree of bull{censored} one way or another. I remember when that Salman Rushdie incident happened and 10,000 Maniacs pulled their cover of "Peace Train" from the CD versions of the "In My Tribe" album. Fair enough statement. Then again, I also remember going to see Natalie Merchant in concert up here in Tahoe and listening to her make some comments about the environmental situation at the Lake and her dismay about the pollution created by business interests and thinking "wait a minute, bitch...didn't you just take a Limo up here from the Reno airport and your band equipment showed up in a big diesel truck blasting fumes across the lake just so you could charge $60 a seat and make a bunch of money from people, many of whom drove up in their pollution-speweing cars to see you play? Spare me the hypocritical concern you have for OUR environment." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted January 24, 2012 Members Share Posted January 24, 2012 Or I'd play this one just to set everyone's head scratching... [video=youtube;nHBu_zGGpeg] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fancyfootwork Posted January 24, 2012 Members Share Posted January 24, 2012 Yeah, I just never got the Cat Stevens thing. If they asked me I would say "Wouldn't you rather hear Van Morrison? And no, I don't mean Brown Eyed Girl." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pinkfloydcramer61 Posted January 24, 2012 Members Share Posted January 24, 2012 Then again, I also remember going to see Natalie Merchant in concert up here in Tahoe and listening to her make some comments about the environmental situation at the Lake and her dismay about the pollution created by business interests and thinking "wait a minute, bitch...didn't you just take a Limo up here from the Reno airport and your band equipment showed up in a big diesel truck blasting fumes across the lake just so you could charge $60 a seat and make a bunch of money from people, many of whom drove up in their pollution-speweing cars to see you play? Spare me the hypocritical concern you have for OUR environment." Well said! That's like Barbara Streisand writing a book about how people should dry their clothes on a clothesline, to save the environment. Advice like that is for the little people and yes, most musicians are way full of bull{censored}. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jersey Jack Posted January 24, 2012 Members Share Posted January 24, 2012 As I recall the incident Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam indicated that what Rushdie did was indeed against Islamic law, but he stopped short of endorsing the fatwa. Since then he has expressed his regret that his comments were misunderstood and has repeatedly said that he does not and did not then endorse assassination. Obviously we'll all have to make up our own minds about his behavior at this time. Stevens was wildly popular in the early 70s when I was in high school. Expecially among women--if you wanted any action, you had to deal with Cat wailing in the background, along with JT and Carole King! So dude, if your requester is a middle-aged lady, you might just get lucky. :poke: Seriously, though, his first 3-4 albums have some great tracks on them. No problem for me honoring such a request. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pogo97 Posted January 24, 2012 Members Share Posted January 24, 2012 Well said! That's like Barbara Streisand writing a book about how people should dry their clothes on a clothesline, to save the environment. Advice like that is for the little people and yes, most musicians are way full of bull{censored}. In fact, we should avoid polluting and, if possible, wash our clothes less frequently and dry them on a clothesline. And there's nothing wrong with saying so. Barbra may be a long way from an enviro-saint, but negating the message because of the messenger is a logical error. We're all little people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted January 24, 2012 Members Share Posted January 24, 2012 In fact, we should avoid polluting and, if possible, wash our clothes less frequently and dry them on a clothesline. And there's nothing wrong with saying so. Barbra may be a long way from an enviro-saint, but negating the message because of the messenger is a logical error.We're all little people. All true, and I've got no problem with musicians making political/social statements. But I DID take some exception to Natalie Merchant telling us we should all do more to Save Lake Tahoe when she created probably more pollution as a result of her single-night appearance than I've created in all my years of living here. If she was really that concerned about the environmental health of the lake, she should have turned down the engagement. But that might have cost her several thousand dollars to do so? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted January 24, 2012 Members Share Posted January 24, 2012 I've never read "The Satanic Verses", nor any other Salman Rushdie book, but he does get a big from me for, at age 57, marrying Padma Lakshmi... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the_big_e Posted January 24, 2012 Members Share Posted January 24, 2012 I have read "The Satanic Verses", hard work and not worth the effort in the end (load of bloody rubbish basically!).As for Cat Stevens, I've always liked his music. His religious beliefs are up to him. He don't bother me, I don't bother him. Seems fair to me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members chemikool Posted January 25, 2012 Members Share Posted January 25, 2012 I'm a Cat Stevens newbie... "First Cut Is The Deepest" or "Father and Son" would be the ones to pick up for a solo act, judging by this thread? What are his best albums? I've never really listened to him before. I'm a total newbie...where should I go first? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dparr Posted January 25, 2012 Members Share Posted January 25, 2012 I'm a Cat Stevens newbie... "First Cut Is The Deepest" or "Father and Son" would be the ones to pick up for a solo act, judging by this thread? What are his best albums? I've never really listened to him before. I'm a total newbie...where should I go first? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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