While he was still "Cat Stevens" he was worn out on our record player. He was a breath of fresh air in rhythms beats and lyrics and remained a firm favorite of millions of listeners. Until he went down another road and became an untouchable for most western DJs.
His older music still stands, at least for me.

oh, i love this. reminds me of my childhood bedroom. AM radio next to the bed. listened all the time to stuff like this. 

 Zep wrote:
This is why i don’t listen to commercial music radio, no deep dives like this

Happy to see RP digging into some really old deep tracks that need to see the light of day.

Recently, I bought the remastered version of this disk on a whim and it is undoubtedly the best sounding remaster in my collection. Truly amazing...

 the_jake wrote:
 
Check out the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster... :)

I'm just not sure that "hard-headed" is usually considered a positive in a partner??

 misterbearbaby wrote:
 


'Conviviality', what?

 Zep wrote:
 
Is a pastafarian a believer in noodles? 
I may consider taking up that one.  

We had to listen to his crap when I was young - please inter his oeuvr.

I find the whole scope of hatred directed towards Yusuf Islam to be no better than hatred towards Jews, Buddhists, Quakers, and Pastafarians. It's an anathema.

Early Cat Stevens, however, is quite a joy. 

 123heyaho! wrote:
 
I'm as against killing people as they come, though I think the whole controversy was WAY overblown....there's a Wiki article about it, which includes:  

...Islam said that some of his comments were "stupid and offensive jokes" made in "bad taste,"[1] while others were merely giving his interpretation of Islamic law but not advocating any action.[2][3] Islam also said that later in the same programme he promised to accept the judgment of a British court if it found Rushdie innocent of any crime, blasphemy or otherwise.[1]

And this album came out 7 years before his conversion to Islam which was 12 years before the 'controversy' - so maybe we can all FORGIVE him and move on?  This one's still a 10 to me...Long Live RP and FORGIVENESS!!

 MattRudely wrote:
 
Sometimes on message boards like these it can be hard to tell if someone is making an ironic joke or just using the wrong word.   I'm not sure "dearth" was the word you were looking for.

 markybx wrote:
 No hi-viz but the prominent flotation aids serve that purpose for a significant proportion of the population...

 123heyaho! wrote:
 

 Stephen_Phillips wrote:
 

No. It's exactly like this.

No, no, no! How can y'all still like a guy who supported killing a man for writing a BOOK?!?

First concert I ever attended, 1976, and one of the best!

I can vouch for the sentiments expressed in this lovely song. I found my hard  headed woman..and we've been married for 20 years so far! 

 Stephen_Phillips wrote:
 

"What does that drill signify?"

Replies Sigmund (supposedly), "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."

Not in today's advertising world.

 PeteyGreens wrote:
 
For a moment I thought Lazarus had finally found a decent job. 

Anyway, hope life is grand for you these days PeteyGreens

Liking the comments section on this one. There seems to be a dearth of stupid people here.

 WonderLizard wrote: 
  Re-bumping this excellent post.

While I was in Iraq, several of the local guys on my team kept referring to this other fellow as "Jusef Islam" even though his name was Amir. This puzzled me so I asked what was up. Turns out Amir was from the UK originally and had converted to Islam, and he was a pain in the ass about it - what we Westerners call "holier than thou." Jusef Islam is the name Cat Stevens took when he converted and apparently his pronouncements about Islam aren't welcome to the natives. So any Westerner who converts and becomes a pain is called a "Jusef Islam."

One thing I discovered overseas - Arabs have a very sly sense of humor.

Where is the 18 volt lithium battery pack on that drill? 

 Carl wrote:
 
Nah! Three-sixteenths at least.

 Stephen_Phillips wrote: 
OMG! She's using a—gasp!—eighth-inch drill bit!

 Stephen_Phillips wrote: 
Nope, I think that's a hard-hatted woman.

Is this the sort of hard headed woman he is thinking of?

 

I honestly thought that 'Drive' from R.E.M. was starting when this song came up...

Cat Stevens twice. This has been a DAMN GOOD day.

In the early '70's there was a shuttle bus driver at the Univ of Texas that always played Tea for the Tillerman while driving.  I'll always associate Cat Stevens with that time and place.  And Salvation Sandwiches and the Armadillo, too, for that matter.

I searched all over Rio de Janeiro for this man -just to hear him sing. 

saw him perform in the 70s in Hawaii --he is real, and can really kill a song! Beatutiful Soul.  

I love Cat Stevens (this song made me imagine a Conehead woman in a hajib)

At the very top of the 'singer/songwriter" pile

More feline songs like this please ... 

 misterbearbaby wrote: 
i get it but when someone endorses someone elses murder decree it's beyond religion
murder is murder
i don't care what book they got it from
 

 misterbearbaby wrote: 
Well said.  I gave this a 10 based on 1) I am a huge Cat fan before the different direction and 2) your dissertation quoted above.

Nice song. I grew up with Cat.

I think I'll be a big a-hole and bloviate about Muslims now... Blahblahblah.... OK. The music he put down in the timeframe was gorgeous and had charms to soothe the savage beasts- at least the *primal scammers* I lived with in college. I'm serious, put on "Tea For The Tillerman" and the atmosphere instantly switched from drug-related pandemonium and uproar to calm and conviviality and dangerous objects no longer filled the air. It never failed.  Odd, what?

  Hearth & Head Woman with deeds in store.

Happy Anniversary Yusuf

 WonderLizard wrote: 
Amen, brother. Now if Cat impresses that on others who believe as he once did, then he is more righteous yet.

And I say Amen to these lyrics too. Hard headed. But also good hearted, which his lyrics should also have said. 

Nice song.
Drank a lot of inexpensive wine and ate a lot of KFC about the time this came out.
Co-incidence.

Hard headed women are much better on the self than hard hearted women.

Cat Stevens' trick: he wrote touchy-feely songs and sang them in a gruff manly voice.
 

Two Cats in the same day! No offense to Bill/Rebecca for pandering to trends, but it seems we're in the midst of a reconsideration of his work--and very fine work it is--after his unfortunate blunders re Rushdie. I'm no supporter of any edict which demands the death of another, and maybe his support of the Rushdie fatwa at the time was heartfelt; nonetheless, he's changed. I'll take his repentance at face value and welcome him back to the ranks of stellar singer/songwriters.

IMHO the greater blessing is forgiveness. Rushdie's alive and well. Let it go.

 ruthless wrote: 
He is! Go to the Website link above. He is now known as Yusuf and has at least two releases.

 Sloggydog wrote: 

well said...

Play the ball not the man people.  This album and Teaser and the Firecat reach the heights of musical genius attained by so few so essentially people shut up and enjoy the bloody music.

 Decoy wrote: 
Maybe not much outside of Myanmar or Sri Lanka, but they definitely do exist.

 Stingray wrote: 
No dude I think he's a Scientologist now! Fer sure! OMFG!

 

 shayde wrote: 
Read the transcripts.  Yusuf clearly had his head way up his own ass during that interview, and whether or not he was joking, he said things he really shouldn't have which he tried to take back.

So, yeah, he sorta did, and then he backpedalled.   But who among us has never said something ridiculously stupid (in jest or not) and regretted it?

My only complaint with the man is that he sings like a supremely talented goat. 

 With all that covering..she still emits beauty.. no way to squelch it..try as they may..johnjconn wrote: 

 eswiley2 wrote: 
Yes.

 johnjconn wrote: 
and the Quote is:

Do I have Sexy eBalls or am i a chick?

De Rigeur back in H.S.

Though personally I don't need any more hard headed wimmins...

What an amazing talent.  Got to see him live back in the 70's.  Wish he was still writing/performing music.

One of the best albums ever recorded.  Timeless..

 Decoy wrote: 
Buddhist LOSES IT; grows hair, eats Big Mac.

Everybody in my office loves this song!

What can I say, It's beautiful Music!

I found one... took me 18 bloody years to get rid of her! Don't do it Cat!!!

Eleven

sonic pleasure 

Does not fit in this rotation!

 ecyfoto wrote: 
Yep, sonic-ly great
Nice deep base sound 

You don't have to look far Cat!  They're all over. 

Sorry, just went through a breakup.  Catharsis.

Can't get enough Cat Stevens. Equally impressive as the man's music was the effort by A&M to produce really well recorded and engineered product. Head and shoulders above other record companies of the time. Cat's vinyl blows me away to this day.

 Stingray wrote: 
you typically don't see radical Buddhists do you? 

 

 aelfheld wrote: 
Wrong, wrong, hateful, and incorrect.  He did not.

Please read this from Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_Stevens#Salman_Rushdie_controversy

"The singer attracted controversy in 1989, during an address to students at London's Kingston University, where he was asked about the fatwa calling for the death of author Salman Rushdie. The media interpreted his response as support for the fatwa. Yusuf released a statement the following day denying that he supported vigilantism, and claiming that he had merely recounted thelegal Islamic punishment for blasphemy. In a BBC interview, he displayed a newspaper clipping from that period, which quotes from his statement. Subsequent comments made by him in 1989 on a British television programme were also seen as being in support of the fatwa. In a statement in the FAQ section of one of his Web sites, Yusuf asserted that while he regretted the comments, he was joking and that the show was improperly edited.^<57> In the years since these comments, he has repeatedly denied ever calling for the death of Rushdie or supporting the fatwa."

 

When he wrote and recorded this one he was Cat Stevens,and as that ,he was a very cool cat.Yes I have met him,,,can't see why this song has changed,just because he has.
Saw him on a TV show some weeks ago,,,from what he said,,still a cool cat.
I don't like any religions or believe in gods or reincarnation,etc..

Just can't see what that has to do with this very cool song.

actually I think he's looking for a woman with  bad eyesight, poor taste in men, daddy issues, and a tiny vagina.  NO? oops!   awwwwkward  (sorry,that's me)

 Randomax wrote: 

But not when Freddie Mercury sang about fat bottomed women, I hope.

Dear Cat Stevens:

Call me.  I can put you in touch with several hard-headed women.

Love,
Uncle Hud

never been a fan

Cat's music is great, too bad he lost his common sense.

 coy wrote: 
Yup, sure did.  Joined the call for Rushdie to be killed.

 fingerpin wrote: 
I'm pretty sure he did the artwork for this album; I don't know about the others.

cat stevens
didn't he go sharia ?
not being islamophobic
i saw something on the book channel interview with salmon rushdie seemed to have some issues with him
but i don't know the whole story

Still works.
 I don't remember the violin work before,
  was this reworked or was my music system then just that shitty
  or was I that stoned I don't remember the violins

I was always jumping up and down screaming 'here I am, here I am"...

 dogpound wrote: 
good one dog pound

Did he do the art work for his album covers?

 Giselle62 wrote: 

That's a pretty good selection!

Never tire of hearing Cat Stevens.

 johnyqd wrote: 
Yea, I'm wit dat!

 drews wrote: 
NO...!!

"OPIUM FROM THE TALIBAN" sounds better to me!

 johnyqd wrote: 
PLEASE NOT!

MORE BUDDHISTS INSTEAD!

I can hear my mom singing this.
I think she was looking for a guy who was looking for a hard headed woman. 

 brander wrote: 
Did you read that book "Queen of the Oddballs?" by Hilary Carlip?
It's about a girl that won on the Gong Show for her juggling act and she has a cute chapter about that Troubador gig. (I found the clip of her on the Gong Show on youtube, too!)

i was..pre-pubescent—- a sweet little girl visiting her dad up in Santa Cruz—-he had no work—-all we had were apples from an apple tree, Ramen and two cassettes to listen to. This was the first artist (because I had no radio) where i really listened to the whole album and loved it—-(that and"Harvest" by Neil Young, which was the other album he had.)

from the 2nd cassette i ever owned...the 1st was Teaser & The Firecat

Yes. Yes. Yeeeees.

Sublime.

Bonnie Raitt was the opener in Boston, 1971. He liked the ladies, I guess.

Incidentally, I believe this is a "10"

 brander wrote: 

Great song...Ageless.

Goose bumps!

Saw Cat at the Troubadour in Hollywood, early 70s. The opening act was some "guy" we'd never heard of.



Carly Simon.

Cat Stevens by ~JSaurer
©2009-2010 ~JSaurer

the great songwriter from the early 70s

More Cat Stevens.  That would be great.

what a neat voice. i love this tune.

A hard headed valley woman (Shenandoah, that is!) Cool!!

Looking for a man who\'s looking for a hard-headed woman! ;)

Try giving this and some of Cat's other songs that are devoid of some of the catchy hooks and changes (which by the way were great). You may find that some of the more subtle pieces may grow on you. Cat could always write songs that caught your attention on the first pass, but he also wrote a lot of good music that is worthy of airplay such as this tune. I think there is some "axiom" in the music business or at least ther used to be one that was something like "You have to catch their attention in 'x' bars or else" I do believe that Cat wrote from the heart and soul and thus a lot of his stuff is not formula driven.

wonderfull

I like a lot of Cat Stevens' music, but this is not one of my favorite songs of his. It's good to hear him added to the playlist, but there are many songs I would rather hear.

Hard Headed Woman present.

An excellent song by a great song writer. Its just too bad that his beliefs and actions caused him to lost just about all radio play and recognition. More Cat Stevens would be great to hear.