Following the 50th anniversaries of the era-defining albums Tea for the Tillerman and Mona Bone Jakon in 2020, Yusuf/Cat Stevens celebrates the same anniversary for Teaser and the Firecat this year with a new music video for “Morning Has Broken.”
Teaser and the Firecat immortalized his status as a forerunner in the singer-songwriter movement. The 1971 multi-platinum selling landmark record is celebrated with a new 50th anniversary Super Deluxe Edition box set, available now via A&M/UMe.
Created under Yusuf’s direction, the video for “Morning Has Broken” brings together contemporaneous images of Cat Stevens in 1971, included in the new Super Deluxe Edition box set.
“Morning Has Broken” was adapted from a traditional hymn with words by British author Eleanor Farjeon. The song’s message beautifully reflected Cat’s growing spiritual awareness in the early 1970s; a sense of wonderment, awe and gratitude for the miracle of creation is expressed through praise for the coming of the new day. Cat arranged the song, giving it his own inimical sense of style and passion and invited Rick Wakeman of YES to record the now legendary piano part.
Cat Stevens achieved phenomenal success with his early work, but it was Teaser and the Firecat, his third LP with Island Records (A&M in the U.S.), that propelled Cat Stevens into superstardom, spawning some of his most unforgettable hits including “Moonshadow,” “Peace Train,” and “Morning Has Broken.”
These are songs written by a youthful spiritual seeker, wise beyond his years that would lay the pretext for a poignant new wave of soulful troubadours and poets. Later, “The Wind” would see Teaser and the Firecat celebrated anew, rising to prominence following the song’s use in Wes Anderson’s much celebrated film Rushmore, as well as the Oscar-winning Cameron Crowe film, Almost Famous. Through his spell-binding gift for songwriting and his introspective vision, Cat delivered a universal sense of hope and peace in Teaser and the Firecat that still resonates profoundly to this day.
Buy or stream the 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of Teaser and the Firecat.
