Teaser and the Firecat – Cat Stevens – What’s On The Table
“Welcome to the MonaSophia Club” just doesn’t have the same ring to it …
It’s thanks to Cat Stevens that Lisa is called Lisa, so you could say that he and his music have played a fairly important part in our lives :). We grew up on his music and loved his work ever since we can remember. From his music to his album covers there is something so playful and charming about it.
We chose his album “Teaser and the Firecat” for today’s “What’s On The Table” and hope you’ll be enjoying the next 15 minutes with us!
Do we have any Cat Stevens fans in the MLT Club? Do any of you remember his music from your youth? We’d love to know!
Everyone jump upon the Peace Train!
Mona & Lisa
Love the ending to this video – you girls make me smile so much!
I’ve been a big fan of Cat Stevens since I was in my teens, and I am pleased that you have done a WOTT for him. The Stevens family is so talented musically, what with Uncle Cat, cousin Shaky, niece Rachel and Aunties Nicky and Sandra from the Brotherhood of Man (just kidding!!).
My favourites from Teaser and the Firecat are Rubylove, Tuesday’s Dead, Moonshadow and Morning Has Broken. As far as the last song is concerned, I clearly remember one of my aunts singing it in a high-pitched voice and having to stick my fingers in my ears before she sang the last syllable of “broken” near the beginning!
As others have commented, Tea for the Tillerman is another great album from this talented gent and my three favourites on there are probably Father and Son, Wild World and Where Do The Children Play? Here is a recently (2000) produced animated video for this early song with the theme of saving the planet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBCJhNiKhFE
Another save the planet song that came out in the early 70s has a strong link to the Beatles and is another favourite song of mine. The song is called Don’t Let It Die and it was written and performed by Hurricane Smith (real name Norman Smith) who was the engineer on all of the Beatles’ EMI studio recordings until 1965. He originally wrote the song with a view to John Lennon recording it but was persuaded by another record producer, Mickie Most, to record it himself and the result can be seen below. It reached no. 2 in the UK charts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IKC2qmSyqg
Watching you two react so viscerally to each of the songs that you love so much is such a joy! This is why I support you, because it’s obvious that you are doing what you are meant to do, that you are lucky enough to have found what you’re good at, at a very young age, and even luckier that you get to make your living at it. I recognize this, and I live it myself as a ukulele teacher and performer. WELL DONE YOU! 👏🏼
When I was around 14-15, my older sister’s boyfriend gave her a guitar, and she dutifully ignored it, so I picked it up and taught myself to play it.
They loved Cat Stevens, as did I, and I used to play a lot of those songs. The ones he played on piano I did too, and the guitar ones on guitar.
Unbelievable albums. So many memories. Although I am familiar with almost everything in WOTT and your covers, this is at a different level. I’m really enjoying the WOTT, it’s like we’re having a conversation about the music. And it’s giving me some more insight as to why your music resonates so much with me. Thanks.
I like Cat Stevens, the first song I have heard was Wild World in 1971, I love this song and many many others like Sad Lisa, I have his Greatest Hits CD, I also have Teaser and the Firecat, Mona Bone Jakon. Tea for the Tillerman, I also have the new version of Tea for the Tillerman released in 2020, also Catch Bull At Four and the Laughting Apple with beautiful illustrations by himself. I think I will buy others CDs with him.
Another one of the albums my brother left me when he joined the army. I was only 14 but still remember Peace Train, Moonshadow and Morning Has Broken. I’m glad you like it and covered Morning Has Broken.
P.S. I really enjoy these What’s on the Table videos.
Another Saturday Night is the song that introduced me to and made me a fan of Cat Stevens. Love his music.
I am new to the MLT club and this is the first “What’s on the Table” I have checked out. One thing I have fallen in love with is your child-like joy of life. It makes me smile and laugh right along with you. On the subject of Cat Stevens, I listened to him first in my late teen years. I modeled my early guitar playing after his songs and used to play his songs at parties. I saw him in concert in St Petersburg, Florida in 1970 and was spellbound the whole time. Years later when I introduced my son to guitar and Cat Stevens, he also fell in love with his music and listens to it to this very day. Thank you for keeping this music alive.
My goodness, this really took me back to my childhood. I was 11 years old when this came out. I love it just as much today as I did then.
I have forgotten how much I loved the songs of my youth. Thanks for bringing them back to me.
Hearing this album brought back memories of 8-track tapes and the freedom of the open road. In the early 1970s when those click-clackety 8-track players were popular I played my several 8-track tapes, “The Best of Cat Stevens,” “The Best of Neil Young” and 2 Ry Cooder albums (“Into the Purple Valley” and another I can’t recall) while cruising. Sort of a “crash course” in accoustic guitar appreciation with the Stevens songs especially! Later a friend wired my player so that it would only work with the headlights on. Oh well.
Thank you for sharing this, I loved seeing how much you enjoy this album! I’d always been a fan of Cat Stevens’ Top 40 hits, but never really delved any deeper until last year — not long after the Covid pandemic started, I bought copies of Tea for the Tillerman and Teaser and the Firecat to add to our dinnertime music playlist, and absolutely fell in love with both of them. I don’t know how these albums slipped by me when they were first released. For anyone interested, there is a greatly expanded box set edition of Teaser coming out in November with lots of demos, outtakes, live performances, etc. There’s also a WONDERFUL children’s book of Peace Train illustrated by my friend and colleague, Peter H. Reynolds that just came out in May.
Mag euren österreichisch – englischen Slang – I like it!
Der gute Cat schöner Gitarrensound mit aussageträchtigen Texten von Peace Train über
Lisa-Lisa bis Morning has broken. Als damaliger DDR Bürger habe ich viele Stunden am
Radio verbracht um seine bekanntesten Songs in den 60er und 70er Jahren mit meinem
Tonbandgerät aufzunehmen. Am besten war es bei RIAS 2 am Sonnabend zwischen
16,00 und 18.00 – da konnte man sich Songs zum Mitschneiden wünschen – Cat Stevens
wurde oft gewünscht. Schön waren auch “Eine kleine Beatmusik” auf BBC London oder
“Friday Fanclub” jeweis auf UKW. So waren sie . – the good old days -!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Danke für die schönen Erinnerungen!
Still not working for me. The original was posted in 4K, but I stream 4K stuff all the time without a problem. All of your previous videos have streamed from YouTube and just been embedded in your code whereas this one is streaming directly from your AWS server. All parts of your site are always as slow as molasses for me, so it makes sense that this would be no different. Not sure why AWS of all platforms would have such an issue. I’ve tried it at all times of the day and night (literally) so it doesn’t seem to be peak traffic related. But I appreciate very much your attempting to fix it, which apparently worked for most people, so YAY. 😀
The video plays through smoothly without interruption now. Thanks!
Had trouble playing this too. I’ve been a big Stevens fan for a long time. Introduced to me by my brother. While this album was great, (love “Peace Train” & “Morning has Broken”, my favorite is Tea For the Tillerman, with songs like “Wild World”, “But I Might Die Tonight”, “Hardheaded Woman” & for me, the best of all is “Father and Son”). Such a lovely song. Thanks for this blast from the past. It looked like you had a great time putting this piece together. Once again, thank you for bringing light to my day each time I hear you sing for us.
“Father and Son” is also my favorite Cat Stevens song.
Yes…It’s finally working, but only on my computer, it doesn’t work on any of my android devices…I love tHe WOTT sessions. and the joy that of you two made this video about Cat Steven made it special.. knowing why Lisa is called Lisa was a nice discovery.. I watched it several times and your goodbye dance was the cherry ????on the cake.. I can’t stop watching. Stay groovy dear girls.. I loved it.
I could watch and listen to you 2 all day every day. So much fun! Love me some Cat!
“Lollipops and Girlfriends” – sounds like a song title!
Great album indeed ! But it´s predecessor “Tea For The Tillerman” is even better. All and all this “What´s On The Table” series is great. I have many albums in my mind that I would love to see on your table !
I think that this was a great pick for “What’s on the Table”. I had pretty much forgotten about Cat Stevens until you covered “Morning has Broken” (a great cover!). Later in one of your interviews, “Sad Lisa” was discussed. I bought & downloaded that song and a couple more I liked and added them to my song list. After listening to you tonight, I have a couple more to add.
You two were really into this one, having fun, and it’s catching – loved this one!
(Note that I also had trouble playing this on the club site, but I followed Roger Penn’s approach and was able to listen to it tonight.)
Your cover of Morning has Broken is the first performance of yours I ever heard. I’ve been hooked on your music ever since!
It still isn’t playing. It took me almost 20 hours, but I was able to download it to my computer and watch it that way. So anyone having trouble might try that. Just promise, as I do, that you’ll “shred” it after you watch it and not distribute it.
Thanks for the heads up on the download. I had the same problem and was able to watch it tonight.
This album, Tea for the Tillerman, and S&G’s Bridge Over Troubled Water were the 3 albums I played the most when I was kid, and my go-tos when I was depressed, which was often. It may even have literally kept me sane. Tuesday’s Dead is one of my favorites. Not uncoincidentally, Yes is my favorite band, and Rick Wakeman my favorite keyboard player therein, and his having written the keyboard part for Morning Has Broken is just a marriage made in heaven (and there’s a hilarious YouTube video of Rick talking about it, too). I’m so stoked you chose this album to put on the table! You both remain two of my favorite people in the whole world!
Bridge over troubled water is an amazing album too, one of the best ever made in my opinion. So many amazing songs on that one.
These episodes are a very kool part of the club. Your connection with this album shows on your faces as each song begins. And then when you air-drum with each other it appears these songs are engrained in your psyche.
I am not familiar with all of Cat Steven’s work, but I want to check out more after this episode. Moonshadow always gets my attention when I hear it on the radio. I’ll definitely add this to my playlist.
Tonight it’s Cat in the Catskills
JP☕️????
That was actually the second vinyl album i ever bought, back in the day, and i still love it and play it often. The Wind is a song i really worked hard to learn, when i started playing guitar. In my opinion Cat Stevens is at least in the top 20 of greatest songwriters. Sadly one of the few of my old heroes i haven
t managed to see live yet. Im always on the lookout, to see if he gets in a 200M. radius from me.I owned the album (I was 20 in 1971) and loved the songs. I admit I liked side 2 better and played it more often. I had a friend who wore a beard and looked a lot like Cat Stevens. I admit I never enjoyed playing a record as much as you girls do. Oh the love you share! So groovy!
Hi Girls…well I thoroughly enjoyed this presentation of WOTT with Cat Stevens and I believe everyone could see that you girls were enjoying it as well…in fact I think of all the previous WOTT episodes and can’t remember watching the two of you having more fun than with this….Cat Stevens has always been one of my favorite “solo” artists and I have his albums in my record collection….I’m 71 so I’ve heard all the hits through the years and his songs somehow had a way of touching me and they were always a “sing along” song…joyful and fun….THANK YOU for this Cat Stevens review and as always I absolutely love what you girls do…you bring a joy to my heart and a smile to my face❤️????
I first learned of Cat Steven’s after hearing Morning Has Broken. Fantastic song.
Imagine many years later finding a cover of it by two outstanding Twins named Mona and Lisa doing a masterful recording of that very song.
So many memories. Thanks Ladies
I still love his music and I still have “Morning has broken” in my song repertoire like you do too. Greetings from Frank
How I love WOTT. So uplifting and fun. Perfect for this Friday! This took me back in time, where I remember all the details of my room in my teenage years (early 80’s) with the “gramophone” which I pretty much appropriated.
This was the only album I had of Cat Stevens. It was one of the few non-Beatle albums I would listen to. Moonshadow and Morning has Broken have always been my favorites.
I still have the LP with the song names in Spanish and a Union Jack with “Grabado en Inglaterra” notice.
Thank you!
Tomás
I’ve always been familiar with Cat Stevens growing up, mostly because my brothers vinyl record collection had some Cat Steven albums in there, so his name as a singer was always there. All his music is so beautiful and elegant! I notice that on many of the songs on this album I haven’t heard before. “Moon Shadow” is a big one I remember hearing back then. But I think I got to appreciate his music mostly through you, first from your cover of his “Morning Has Broken” which is incredible, and you converted the piano piece so wonderfully to your acoustic guitars. “Sad Lisa” is also so beautiful and wonderful and can see why you were named Lisa, Lisa, and I am so glad we have Mona instead of Tony! 🙂 On your 2007 Live album, I always loved your Cat Stevens cover of “Wild World”. The way you sang it, really touching. I didn’t know “First Cut Is The Deepest” was Cat Stevens song from 1967, as Sheryl Crow did a cover of it that became a big hit for her.
Thanks for this, thoroughly enjoyed watching this WOTT. Both your grooving to the music and being so groovy was the best part. 🙂
Here is a Cat Steven song that reminds me of my best friend Max.
https://youtu.be/ET5drt_utUY
I,m familiar with this album & what a great choice girls an absolute classic, I admired Cat Stevens because he followed his own path & this was a standout album full of great songs & melody, I love the way u both are really excited listening to the tracks & why wouldn’t u be? Mum had great taste & naming Lisa after a track on the album, thank u for the video really enjoyed it. ✌️❤️
I was thirteen in 1971, and as I’ve mentioned previously, not able to buy a lot of records, but I had the radio on as much as I could get away with. “Moonshadow” and “Peace Train” were all over the airwaves, the kind of tunes that get stuck in your head. You have once again sparked some great memories of my “youngtime”, so thanks!
I’ve been trying to come up with another artist that might compare with Cat Stevens, and it’s not easy. James Taylor comes to mind, but as I ponder, their differences seem more striking than their similarities. Harry Chapin perhaps…
Hi Dear girl’s… It doesn’t work for me.
Hi Antonio, it still won’t work for me on my tablet but it did work on my phone….I have both Android phone/tablet, try your phone to see if it works or another device…hoping it does .
Thanks Jacki I’ll try it later…I’m not home. I wish you a great weekend.
What platform did they use? does anyone know… doesn’t work for me.
Hi Antonio, It’s working well for me. I’m on a Windows desktop on Chrome, and it also worked well on my Android phone. This time they are hosting in on their own servers instead of YouTube (probably YouTube is blocking it). It is an mp4 file, so it’s universally decoded. It is a 4K video, so you might need a good internet connection to watch it, or leave it on for a while to download/buffer.
Hoping this helps,
Tomás
Thanks Tomås F. Calvo… I’ll try it later on my computer, I’m not home yet. probably tomorrow I can watch the video… have a great weekend.
OMG! I was soooo excited to see you featuring this album on WOTT!!! My high school girlfriend’s brother was a talented musician and singer, and we would sit around and play Cat Stevens songs. During this time I come to love Moon Shadow(which would be awesome if you 2 would cover it) so I went out and bought a new 8 track tape, and an LP. I listen to both of them until they were worn out. Soon after I got my first acoustic guitar that I still play today almost 50 years later. Every time I pick up to play random songs, I never fail to play Moon Shadow. Thank you for a great selection for you show today girls, and making my day much better!!
SERIOUSLY Stay Groovy!!!
I don’t know if it’s just me but having difficulty streaming this video. Will try later.
Mee too.
Jung, likewise but got it to work on my phone.
Thanks Jacki. I had the same problem on my phone, but I tried watching it again later just after supper time, and it played better. Perhaps people in my area taking a break for dinner and finishing work and jumping off the internet helped.
I loved that album! This takes me back to my college days. Cat Stevens wrote so many great songs. “If I Laugh” was one of my favorites at the time. I think it was because I liked someone at the time who didn’t feel the same about me! But Life went on!!! Later on when I was a sailor in Hawaii, Cat Stevens came for a concert and a friend snapped his picture. Hope I can post this so you can see it.
Woohoo…works on my Android phone….I was able to tune in ….I’m sort of familiar somewhat with Cat’s music growing up as a kid in the 70s… I think he was the one who sang ” Cat’s In The Cradle “…. I know he goes by a different name now…. This was enjoyable to watch, not that I was finally able to see/gear, why it won’t work on my tablet, no idea… This was a great album to re-introduce me to Cat Stevens music with…????☮
Jacki, Just to let you know that Cat’s in the Cradle was a song by Harry Chapin.
Thankyou Paul 🤘🏻
I’m glad that she kept Lisa because Sophia just doesn’t have that melodic ring to it that Lisa does.
Thank you for re-introducing us to Cat Stevens. He’s probably the main influence behind me picking up a guitar for the first time. My first roommate in college played guitar and would practice Cat Stevens songs all the time. It was a time when millions of 18 year-olds thought they could pick up a guitar and be the next Stevens/Young/McCartney/Taylor/Croce type of singer-songwriter 🙂
Yusef/Cat Stevens is still awesome!
If you haven’t checked out his youtube channel do yourself a favor and take a look.
I especially liked the animated “where do the children play” video.
He also just released (along with a bunch of artists) Peace Train on the “playing for a change channel”
Thanks again for sharing this album with us my friends.
As always, hugs all around
2 other quick thoughts – I loved it when Mona blessed herself during the video AND I think “lollipops and girlfriends “ sounds like the title of a future MLT hit.
I just listened to Tea for the Tillerman, which I have fond memories of from when I was young and all my girlfriends loved it/him. I thought it was upbeat and sweet. Oops! Actually that album is very dark with lots of songs about death and separation. Father and Son still blows me away. Back then I used to “root” for the son, but now I am much more on the fence between the two. .I will will check out his channel. Thank you for this episode.
Jacki,
I can’t get it to work either
Hi Diana, sorry to hear you can’t get it to work either, hopefully it will work for us eventually so we can enjoy it ????
And speaking of his conversion to Islam, when it was announced I was living in Dallas, Texas. One of the rock and roll radio stations there played a parody of Moon Shadow, I’m not sure who made it, maybe one of the DJs, and the main lyric went “I’m Being Followed By The Ayatolla, Ayatolla Khamenei.” At the time I thought it was pretty stupid, because I really liked Moon Shadow, and since I had been struggling with my own spiritual beliefs since the age of 13, I thought it waas really cruel the way many Americans treated him because of his spiritual beliefs. It seems that, in America, if you are not a devout “Christian”, you don’t deserve to be equal to everyone else. Just look at how John was treated to see it. It sometimes makes me ashamed to be an American, something I take tremendous pride in!
I’ve been a fan of Cat Stevens since I first heard his music in 1970, when I was 15. Even when the radio stations here in the U.S. stopped playing his music when it was announced that he had converted to Islam, I still loved his music regardless of his spirittual preferences. In my mind, great music is great music, regardless of where it comes from! Thanks for sharing!
I hope I can eventually get to watch and hear this, it’s not working for me… at the moment not sure if it’s my tablet or what… bummer….
It took around a minute for me before it started playing..
It also paused a bunch
I usually hit the “watch on youtube” link but they have evidently done something new here.
Interestingly, you can right click (on a pc) and “save video” which I am trying at the moment to see if I can watch without the pauses.
The video is almost 2 gigabytes in size, so it may take a while..
Hi Craig, neither Diana nor I can get it to work, I don’t have a computer, only Android tablet/phone and I don’t see the ” Watch on Youtube” , option which I normally would do , it’s just strange that it not working for me or Adriana but seems to work fine for others….lol
Well saving the video worked fine for me– I’m not sure if that’s an option on the tablet tho, hopefully they will share it on youtube as well
I’m not that Tech Smart, and don’t think I can save video , or don’t think tablet supports that feature, if there was the ” Watch on YouTube “link, appearing here, that’s normally what I do when it doesn’t work by clicking on MLT’s post link to play the video… I’m just not sure what has occyred and why it won’t work….lol… Eventually , somehow, I will be able to watch hear this….I have hope… just have to be patient until then…. hard as it is….lol
This may be my favorite “What’s on the Table”. I love how you girls react and are so animated! I bought this album brand new back in 71, it was one of the first albums I ever bought with my saved up lunch money from school. I still have it and it is in excellent shape. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, stories and reactions to this classic album. Peace and love…
Thank you for sharing, Lot of good stories. WOTT is one of my favorite segments from the MLT Clubhouse, right next to Duo sessions. I’ll have to give this album a listen to this weekend. you 2 are always an inspiration. Thank you.
Love hanging with my favorites!
Cat had some great songs!
Btw , you both look especially beautiful today!
Agreed. They look very lovely ????