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Matthew and Son Cat Stevens – Matthew and Son

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The song, according to Stevens, took its name from the tailor, Henry Matthews, who made suits for Stevens, who thought up the story of the worker who is the main character in the song.

Stevens later commented:

I had a girlfriend, and she was working for this big firm, and I didn’t like the way that she had to spend so much of her time working.

The riff seemed to fit the words, “Matthew and Son.” There was a bit of social comment there about people being slaves to other people.

It was selected as the title song for his 1967 debut album. Stevens was a newly-signed teenage singer-songwriter, was performing to elaborate arrangements quite different from the skiffle which had, in part, inspired him to begin writing and performing.

–The above is copied more or less verbatim from Wikipedia

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I Love My Dog Cat Stevens – I Love My Dog

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It’s one thing to say “I love my dog,” and quite another to add “as much as I love you.” Would you be offended if someone said this to you? Or would you understand?

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44,114

8 years

idk

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30,626

8 years

Relieved

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19,269

8 years

lotta good points going around

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But take your time, think a lot
Why, think of everything you've got
For you will still be here tomorrow
But your dreams may not Cat Stevens – Father and Son

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The father is telling his son to count his blessings; prudence and careful planning is the path to happiness. He’s telling his son that all the ideas he has about making the world a better place are just dreams, and someday when you are older, like me, you’ll have long outlived those dreams.

There’s a striking similarity on this point between this song and Bruce Hornsby’s “The Way It Is”.

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27d

Remember the context of this song: “It was originally meant to portray a father trying to convince his son not to go off to join the Russian Revolution.”

The father is pleading with his son to not risk death or political imprisonment (likely leading to execution) via joining the revolution. He’s saying that he’d keep his life, while his dreams of being part of a revolution may not be there in the future (because he’ll be dead)

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34,457

6 months

@AxelCaro , that “Why” does not mean anything. It is just a filler word, perhaps adding emphasis.

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6 months

What does this “why” mean in the sentence “Why, think of everything you’ve got”?

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2 years

I think this song is very intimate and that’s what makes it so relatable, I don’t think he’s talking about world problems

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giorgia

3 years

in my opinion he might be telling his son to think about the material things he has, and these things will still be there in the future, whereas dreams may not be there (I don’t know if it’s clear and sorry for my english)

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7 years

I think he might also be telling his son to think long and hard about what his dreams are right now or he might never see those dreams come true in the future

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To be calm
When you've found something going on Cat Stevens – Father and Son

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Given the turbulence of the time this song was written at the beginning of the ‘70s, the “something going on” likely refers to the Vietnam War, anti-establishment movement or civil rights movement. Many young men were drawn up in those things. But having broader perspective, the father would know that violence, racism and injustice are part of the world and cautions against getting caught up in these fights.

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27d

The father is pleading with his son to keep a cool head, and not jump into a dangerous revolution.
Remember, the context of this song is, “ The song was first conceived of as part of a musical theater project that never materialized. It was originally meant to portray a father trying to convince his son not to go off to join the Russian Revolution.”
(From overall comments here, and elsewhere that covers the history of this song}

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Zane

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1 year

This song was first written as part of a musical about the Russian revolution, so it would follow that the son is actually deciding to join the red army in the civil war.

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150

2 years

this is also a reference to the russian revolution based on the background of this song being part of a musical about 1917 russia

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2 years

not everything that happened in that time has to do with the vietnam war. the son is probably a teen, so he probably isn’t as affected as adults.

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5 years

I always thought this line meant the young man had found something important in his life; perhaps a girlfriend or an exciting new job or school to attend. Some big life choice, and his father is warning him to remain calm, to think and not simply rely on youthful passions.

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You're still young, that's your fault Cat Stevens – Father and Son

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The phrase “that’s your fault” is somewhat confusing, because typically it means “you caused this (bad thing) to happen.” Here, he’s simply using “fault” as a synonym for “flaw.” That is, “you’re young, and that’s your flaw.”

The father is not trying to be critical. He’s saying the son essentially has no flaws—just youthful inexperience. But to the son this probably comes across as cruel.

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27d

The “…that’s your fault; there’s so much you have to know” comes across as a bit overly aggressive: borderline antagonistic. The listener should be able to hear the aggression but also the pain and worry of the father.

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807

2 years

yeah, fault as in “that is the fault that you have”

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... Solomon was the truest man who ever spoke, and yet that he a little managed the truth with a view to popular conservatism; or else there have been many corruptions and interpolations of the text. -- In reading some of Goethe's sayings, so worshipped by his votaries, I came across this, "Live in the all." That is to say, your separate identity is but a wretched one, -- good; but get out of yourself, spread and expand yourself, and bring to yourself the tinglings of life that are felt in the flowers and the woods, that are felt in the planets Saturn and Venus, and the Fixed Stars. What nonsense! Here is a fellow with a raging toothache. "My dear boy," Goethe says to him, "you are sorely afflicted with that tooth; but you must live in the all, and then you will be happy!" As with all great genius, there is an immense deal of flummery in Goethe, and in proportion to my own contact with him, a monstrous deal of it in me. H. Melville. P.S. "Amen!" saith Hawthorne. N.B. This "all" feeling, though, there is some truth in. You must often have... Herman Melville – Letter to Nathaniel Hawthorne | Genius

19,269

8 years

“an immense deal of flummery”!

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First Time Carly Rae Jepsen – First Time

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On “First Time,” a fun, synthy track released as a bonus on E•MO•TION, CRJ looks back on the good times in a relationship just as it’s coming to an end, in the hopes of starting over.

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...d Cameron, the British prime minister, had said, “Syria’s history is being written in the blood of her people, and it is happening on our watch.” Cameron’s statement, one of his advisers told me, was meant to encourage Obama toward more-decisive action. “The prime minister was certainly under the impression that the president would enforce the red line,” the adviser told me. The Saudi ambassador in Washington at the time, Adel al-Jubeir, told frien... President Obama’s Interview With Jeffrey Goldberg on Syria and Foreign Policy - The Atlantic

19,269

8 years

although the copy editor is technically right here in hyphenating the compound adjective, I can’t imagine a single writer writing this way – I’d bet 5:1 that this hyphen was introduced by the copy editor – and I can’t imagine a reader getting genuinely confused if the hyphen were omitted. (Is anyone really going to think that Cameron’s statement was meant to encourage Obama toward a larger quantity of decisive action?)

In fact I’d argue that adding the hyphen here just confuses the normal flow of the reader, who would have parsed it in the normal (correct) way. And the reason they would have parsed it in the correct way is that “more decisive action” is always parsed that way – i.e., there’s no ambiguity that needs resolving.

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