WHERE DO THE CHILDREN PLAY
CAT STEVENS
SONGWRITER: CAT STEVENS
COUNTRY: U. K.
ALBUM: MONA BONE JAKON
LABEL: ISLAND RECORDS
GENRE: FOLK ROCK
YEAR: 1970
Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou; 21
July 1948), commonly known by his stage name Cat Stevens and later Yusuf Islam, Yusuf, and Yusuf/Cat Stevens, is
a British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His musical style
consists of folk,
pop, rock, and, in his later career, Islamic
music, before returning to secular music in 2006. He
was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014.
His 1967 debut
album and its title song "Matthew and Son"
both reached top ten in the UK charts. Stevens' albums Tea
for the Tillerman (1970) and Teaser
and the Firecat (1971) were certified triple
platinum in the US. His 1972 album Catch
Bull at Four spent weeks at the top of several
major charts. He earned ASCAP songwriting
awards in 2005 and 2006 for "The First Cut Is the Deepest",
and the song has been a hit for four artists. His other hit songs include
"Father
and Son", "Wild World",
"Moonshadow",
"Peace Train",
and "Morning
Has Broken".
In December 1977, Stevens converted to Islam and
adopted the name Yusuf Islam the following year. In 1979, he auctioned all of
his guitars for charity. He has since bought back at least one of these guitars
as a result of the efforts of his son Yoriyos, and left his musical career to
devote himself to educational and philanthropic causes in the Muslim community.
He was embroiled in a long-running controversy regarding comments he made in 1989 about the death fatwa on author Salman
Rushdie. His current stance is that he never supported the fatwa:
“I was cleverly framed by certain questions. I never
supported the fatwa." He has received two honorary doctorates and awards
for promoting peace as well as other humanitarian awards.
In 2006, he returned to pop music – releasing
his first new studio album of new pop songs in 28 years, entitled An Other Cup.
With that release and subsequent ones, he dropped the surname "Islam"
from the album cover art – using the stage name Yusuf as a mononym.
In 2009, he released the album Roadsinger and, in 2014, he released the album Tell
'Em I'm Gone and began his first US tour since
1978. His second North American tour since his resurgence, featuring 12 shows
in intimate venues, ran from 12 September to 7 October 2016. In 2017, he
released the album The
Laughing Apple, now using the stage name
Yusuf/Cat Stevens, using the Cat Stevens name for the first time in 39 years. In
September 2020, he released Tea
for the Tillerman 2, a reimagining of his classic
album Tea for the Tillerman to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
"Where Do the Children Play?" is a
song by British folk rock musician Cat
Stevens, released as the opening track on his
November 1970 album Tea
for the Tillerman.
In 2017, Garbage recorded a cover of the song for United Nations charity album, Music To Inspire: Artists UNited Against Human
Trafficking.
Well, I think it's
fine
Buildin' jumbo planes
Or takin' a ride
On a cosmic train.
Switch on Summer
From a slot machine.
Yes, get what you want to, if you want,
'Cause you can get anything.
I know we've come a
long way.
We're changin' day to day,
But tell me, where do the children play?
Well, you roll on
roads
Over fresh green grass
For your lorry loads
Pumpin' petrol gas
And you make them long
And you make them tough,
But they just go on and on, and it seems
That you can't get off.
Oh, I know we've come
a long way.
We're changin' day to day,
But tell me, where do the children play?
Well, you've cracked
the sky.
'Scrapers fill the air,
But will you keep on buildin' higher
'Til there's no more room up there?
Will you make us laugh?
Will you make us cry?
Will you tell us when to live?
Will you tell us when to die?
I know we've come a
long way.
We're changin' day to day,
But tell me, where do the children play?
Do, do, do, do, do.
Do, do, do, do, do.
Do, do, do, do, do.
Do, do, do, do, do.
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