REPRINTED FROM MARCH 2020, WITH AN EDIT FROM TODAY (IN BOLD, BLUE FONT AT THE END).
It was early 1972. I had just become a serious, sincere Roman Catholic and a hippie friend of mine brought me a new album, "Teaser and the Firecat," by a guy named CAT STEVENS. "You'll love this" said George..."HE'S a Catholic, ALSO."
Well, the first song on that album, "The Wind," definitely caught my attention but it was the song "MORNING HAS BROKEN," the hit single from "Teaser," which really grabbed me. It was very spiritual and gave praise to "The Word" (in Scripture, that's the Lord Jesus Christ) in the most beautiful way possible. Amazingly, the song had NO drumming in it, yet was a huge hit on AM radio.
If you've never heard the song, here it is....
Soon after this, a Catholic friend of mine, Frank, told me that the song came from a Catholic hymnal (it also appears in some PROTESTANT ones), so I knew early on that Cat Stevens didn't WRITE that song, but most of the world thinks he DID, even till this day. (I even called him "Catholic Stevens" as kind of an inside joke and began to follow his career in earnest.) However I soon learned, via his NEXT album (Fall 1972), that Cat (who wrote ALL of his lyrics, other than "Morning Has Broken") was exploring SEVERAL "dark" religions. By 1974, his latest album had BUDDHA on the cover and his record sales began to drop in the United States, which still had a heavy Christian influence at that time (America was in our PRE-"Post Christian era, "you might say.) And a year later, 1975, I got saved and didn't listen to Cat Stevens' music again AT ALL, until 9-10 years later, after I'd "detoxed."
Cat's performance of "Morning Has Broken" in the video linked above, which I saw for the first time only RECENTLY, was recorded in 1976 and he was VERY half-hearted in it. I've seen many of his "live" videos and THAT one was clearly lip-synced, very uncharacteristic of him.
The video was recorded two years after the "Buddha" album and you may note, if you watch it, that Stevens was wearing a gold CRUCIFIX which flopped around conspicuously as he sang. Trust me, I was SO into him in the early '70s that my teenage friends called me "CHET Stevens".....the crucifix was ALSO out of character for him!! It was almost like he was trying to win back his dwindling fan base from the days when that very song he was lip-syncing to was his biggest hit. (See, though the "Buddha" album had a song "Jesus" on it, Cat's lyrics also mentioned BUDDHA as if Jesus and Buddha were only both great teachers....Jesus was no longer GOD to him. Jesus Himself said He's THE Way, THE Truth, THE Life....no one comes to the Father but through HIM!! Jesus does not share his glory with ANYONE.)
It was two years after this, that Cat Stevens embraced ISLAM and changed his name to "Yusuf Islam." He left the Music scene for about 25 years (which many give him credit for, but the truth of the matter is THE MUSIC SCENE WAS LEAVING HIM, at least here in AMERICA. Cat Stevens merely "quit" before he was "fired.") In 1972, he seemed to be a man at least OPEN to Christian teachings with "Morning Has Broken," when he first hit it big here. Then he "flipped." His career here gradually wound down, as most of his fan base gradually "flipped" on HIM.
For about 25 years after becoming a Muslim, it seemed like Islam was keeping Cat from making POPULAR music again. Then, in 2006, he began again, first as "Yusuf Islam," then just "Yusuf," and now as "Yusuf / Cat Stevens" so he appears to be "making his way back" as it were. I still listen to him, even his NEW stuff, but only in self-imposed moderation. And when he gives concerts (NOT in big venues like he USED to), he sings a FEW of his old tunes but NOT "Morning Has Broken." Perhaps his Islamist pals won't LET him sing THAT one because it acknowledges JESUS as the Creator of all?? Hmmmmm.
For Cat Stevens, "Morning" SEEMED to be breaking when he was exposed to TRUE spiritual light almost 50 years ago. At the moment, he is immersed in DARKNESS but as I said in my blog about him last year, (linked below) I pray for him....I pray that morning has not broken....YET....that he WILL yet see the true Light of the World for who He is.
http://chetitorial.blogspot.com/2019/07/cat-stevens.html
EDIT FROM TODAY: Yesterday was Yusuf / Cat's birthday and I looked up a video, with lyrics, of "Morning Has Broken." Whoever put the lyric video together changed the line about "springing fresh from THE WORD" (a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ) to "THE WORLD."
When this song first appeared on Cat Stevens's album "Teaser and the Firecat" 50 years ago, it was conveyed as "THE WORD" which is what the original author penned!!
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