I never even thought about him for thirty years. But I’ve cried twice and I’m looking up the lyrics to Careless Whisper, (which IS one of the finest pop songs of our era).  Am I crying for him or for my lost youth?

I’m glad he achieved success and happiness, even if cut down before his time. It’s ironic that at the same time a new Jeep commercial with the unmistakeable voice of Cat Stevens,  the other Greek-turned-Brit superstar, is in heavy rotation on TV.

Cat Stevens just finished a major 50th anniversary tour and I’m glad to hear he’s still going strong.  For awhile there he was erroneously placed on the no-fly list by people who didn’t know the difference between Muslims and terrorists, but that’s all resolved unless Trump starts acting up again.

I go back a long way with Cat Stevens’ music  When my aunt in Palo Alto  was teaching special needs kindergartners, I helped with the class one day. They were learning “Moonshadow” and they picked it up quickly.  His songs are like folk songs, “simple” in the good sense. Does the Arcata Gospel Choir ever do “Peace Train”?   That would be, as we used to say in Hawaii,  chicken -skin. 

END