- Annie's Scrapbook
 Bring Back the Cat
No, I don't mean the
cat o' nine tails that the old Victorian teachers used to punish their pupils with! I mean
Cat Stevens - you know, " I Love My Dog," " Mathew and Son' and all that.
I was just wondering why we
hadn't heard from Cat in a while when the phone rang and, lo and behold. It was the man
himself! I asked him to solve the mystery of his sudden disappearance for me.
"I've been in the
hospital in London and then two months in the country. I didn't want everyone to know
about it till was better again. One of two folk in the business knew though. Barry Ryan
came to see me quite a bit and so did Jonathan King."
I asked him if he had the
chance to write any more of his super songs while he had been recovering.
 "Yeh, I did, and I learned to write a musical score, too. Till then,
I'd always just sung my tunes and got someone else to write them down for me. I did lots
of things I hadn't has time for before - I read books and played cards with the other
patients. We had quite a good time."
Cat also pointed out that
while he'd been away all the pop scene seemed to have changed round. I asked him what he
thought was the best addition to the pop scene.
"Mary Hopkins -
definitely!" he said without hesitation, and confirmed what I'd been thinking. He may
have been in hospital for a long time, but it certainly hasn't dulled his taste in pretty
girls!
 Anyone
who thinks teenagers haven't the power of deep thinking should meet Cat Stevens. Cat,
who's nineteen now, has just taken two months off to do just that.
"You've got to have
enough time to sit back and think," Cat explained. "When you're working all the
time, you're just getting ready for the next show. That’s all you think of, nothing
else. Even song writing becomes difficult.
" If there's one thing
I've discovered after a year in this business, it's that heath is the most important
thing. Long stretches of travelling really get you down. Mind you, I like singing night
after night. You get warmer and warmer all the time, learn how to treat your audience.
It's great - but still you need time off.
" I'm part way through
a two month break, which I'll stretch to three if I feel the need to. Actually it's only a
semi holiday. I've got a new single to cut also a new LP, which will be all my own
material, of course. Then there's talk of a film and also I'm writing a book - simply
because I like writing.
" I've been recording
a couple of people, too - Peter James and Sasha Caro. Peter's my best friend and writes
some fantastic songs; Sasha is a friend of someone my brother works with, which is how I
heard of him."
I asked Cat what it was
like being on the other side of the recording studio.
" Cooler," he
said simply, "And a lot less frantic!" |
