Music of the Day, 29 September 2023

leapin' and hoppin'

I read yesterday that we’re having the last full supermoon of the year right now; that should have served as a warning for me. But it didn’t, and I awoke at quarter past four with enough light streaming through the blinds of my southwest window to make me think day was dawning.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been enchanted by moonlight. As a kid, I’d try to wrangle the placement of my bed (and myself in it) to soak up the moonlight as I slept without it waking me. I’d still be doing that if I weren’t of an age where sufficient light wakes me no matter where it lands in my bedroom.

Cat Stevens (now styled Yusuf/Cat Stevens) was a permanent fixture on the AM radio station my parents listened to; I can’t remember the first song of his I heard. I liked many of them; his clear, gentle voice and lithe guitar melodies were so different from most of what I heard. As with Robert Palmer the other day, I know that some people have issues with the content of some of his songs and/or his religious conversion. The latter is his business, not any of mine; and as for the former, they’re a product of a time and culture mostly gone now, and they’re easy to skip if I don’t feel like listening to them at the moment.

But I never skip “Moonshadow.” It isn’t always my favorite Cat Stevens song¹, but it’s always in the top three. My maternal grandparents had a fire pit up the road from their house, and one of my most favorite things to do after we’d had burgers and hot dogs grilled over a fire for dinner was playing in the road with my moon shadow. As I was 10 years old when the song was released, I very likely was inspired by it.

I have just two of his studio albums: Tea for the Tillerman (1970); and Teaser and the Firecat (1971); and the 1987 A&M compilation Classics, Volume 24. Between them, they’re enough to content me when I’m in the mood to steep in Yusuf/Cat Stevens’ beautiful music. It’s looking like today will be such a day.

For those who know of Yusuf/Cat Stevens’ children’s book drawn from Teaser and the Firecat’s cover art, you might also enjoy this animated tale that includes today’s featured song. Muy 1970s.

1. He contributed songs to one of my favorite movies of all time: Harold and Maude