This song is one of my first memories, and I’m talking two years old or younger. It’s not much, just this vague impression of the living room in my old, old house and the dynamic voice of Cat Stevens, now Yusuf Islam. If there were ever a song that is truly timeless, I think this is the one. It is absolutely simple, explicit in its message and intent, and widely relatable; so simple that even my two year-old self was able to grasp the story behind the song. The lows of the Father and the highs of the Son do as much for the storytelling as the lyrics, making it clear that it’s a conversation. Two completely different points of view having trouble seeing the other.

The back and forth is what makes the song so much fun to sing. Yusuf’s voice dives and soars, doing each with grace in the original recording. Among the things that have always impressed me about this song is the incredible range demonstrated by Yusuf. As a singer and as a listener, it lets you really engage with the different characters in the story. You feel the tired advice and experience of the Father resonate deep in your chest, and you feel the son’s anguish at being misunderstood and unheard as a lump in your throat.

As a listener, having grown and changed since the first time I heard the song, it’s fascinating to hear how the songwriter has changed as well, and the experience is made so much more perfect by the nature of the song itself. Yusuf recently re-released the song at the age of 70, singing a duet with a live recording of himself at age 22. The concept is so perfectly matched to the song, just as it was in the original. While the song stays the same, it continues to change each time you hear it, as if for the first time, every time. Listening to it is different at two, three, ten, 16, 25, 45, 70, and a hundred, because each time you listen to it, you bring different experience to the song.

My timing is accidentally perfect, as Yusuf’s re-release came less than a week ago, and I had completely independently been planning on publishing a cover of my own this week. Nonetheless, I consider Yusuf/Cat Stevens among my biggest influences and quite possibly my all-time favourite artist. I’m privileged to have carried this song with me through my life so far, and I look forward to listening to it again, and again, and again as long as I have ears to do so. I hope you’ll give my version a listen, and if you enjoy it, please let me know!