Friday, February 3, 2012

The Listening Booth: Tea For The Tillerman



Tea For the Tillerman by Cat Stevens (1970)


1.) Where Do The Children Play?
     And just like that, I am back in 1996, in the 10th grade. My friend Damian and I are talking about how much we love this British Singer/Songwriter from the 1970's whose melodies and lyrics intoxicate us. He starts singing about "...Lorry Loads,pumping petrol gas", and I express ignorance. He asks if I've ever heard the Tea For the Tillerman album, and I say no, just the greatest hits. Two days later he brings me a vinyl (Vinyl? In 1996? How cool was this guy?) copy of the record to borrow. I take it home, drop the needle, and an agnostic finds God coming out of his speakers, and he welcomes me into his arms.

2.) Hard Headed Woman
     The night I was married, I sang this to my new wife at a karaoke bar. It's not desriptive of her in the least, but the power that pours out of the singer's lungs after the second bridge make this about the most rocking acoustic ballad ever, and I was feeling pretty rocking that night. On another note, this song shows why Cat Stevens made me want to be a rhythm guitarist.

3.) Wild World
     The big hit, covered by many, perfected by one. Back when I was writing songs, I remember begging the ancients to allow me just one line that sounded as good as "But then a lot of nice things turn bad out there." How did analog ever get replaced by digital? This clean, warm sound is how every recorded tune should stand after its pressing: Crisp, beautiful and perfect stereo separation.

4.) Sad Lisa
     We read a lot of gothic novels in 10th grade: Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, The Turn Of The Screw... this is a song for those pages. When listening to this for the first time, I saw in my mind's theatre an empty shell of a woman, and the man who loved her. I watched him walking through his ancient ancestral home, begging for the return of her love. It was a fruitless wish however, for he "knows no one can see her". The subtle power of the string section on this piece should be required listening for record producers. It will humble them.

5.) Miles from Nowhere
     I was once in a band named after this song. We played one gig before we realized there was already a group in Australia with the same name. We assumed that they had heard the same message of determination and patience in the face of adversity that my band mate and I had. It's a shame we didn't just keep it the moniker. I'm sure they wouldn't have minded sharing.

6.) But I Might Die Tonight
     This is where I would hear the needle crackle, indicating side two on the tape I made of this borrowed record. What intestinal fortitude it took to open a second act up with a 1:53 manifesto of individuality and non-conformity. Few chapters in holy books have the power this record has.

7.) Longer Boats
     I've since learned that this song is about aliens, but I still here it as a fantastical journey down an English river, with storybook friends and neighbors popping up at every bend. It was years before I realized Cat was saying "Parson" instead of "Possum", which I think would have been much cooler for Mary to take the hand of. I wouldn't want to drop my pants in the sand regardless, but that's what makes Mary such a brave soul, watching little green men take the key from the door and what not!

8.) Into White
    This is a lovely, fragile little nursery rhyme that would make Lewis Carrol envious. It apparently was written during an acid trip, but I can't imagine such a perfect rhyme scheme coming out of that cloud. The Red-legged chicken is my favorite image from an album lush with them. The air of wonder that this work projects never ceases to brighten my day.

9.) On The Road to Find Out
     Here, Mr. Stevens tells us how he said goodbye to Carnaby Street stardom and picked up, picked up, picked up a good boook now.. Rarely has such an about face been turned in a pop musicians life, nor has a Genre, so nascant in its development, been handed such a touchstone. It was years of listening before I even noticed there were drums on this album, so controlling of your attention is that voice.

10.) Father & Son
       It still stops me in my tracks, that dueling guitar introduction. Then comes the voice of age and reason, trying to explain how much easier it is to calm down and enjoy life. Yet the guitars echo their opening stance, and youth's voice sings shivers in through my earphones, stinging me with the words I must have shouted countless times in some form or another to my parents. I want to grab that voice and explain how one day it will identify with the words of its father. It happened to me just now. I need a kleenex.

11. Tea for The Tillerman
      The woman who made the rain come deserves her wine, the sinners deserve forgiveness, and a happy day is never closer than this collection of songs. As the short curtain call ends my latest journey into a master's world, I realize that few things in life are more reliable than this.

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