Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CDXCV--Cat Stevens: If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out

 Not too shabby...only a day late.

A few years back I finally got around to seeing the much recommended and critically acclaimed movie Harold and Maude (here's a surprise--I highly recommend it).  As an added bonus to thoroughly enjoying the movie, it featured a song that I had adored for many years.  And in a (not at all) surprising turn, that viewing, and the ensuing listening, led to said song being included on my list o' tunes to be featured here on Friday Night Jukebox....

I wrote about Cat Stevens (stage name of Yusuf Islam) in Vol. CLXXIII, and as he is a) still with us (thankfully), and b) hasn't done anything of note in the past six years, I'll put a pin in that bio and hang it up right here.

"If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out" was originally written for Harold and Maude in 1971, but a soundtrack for the movie was not released at the time.  It first appeared on his rather furtively titled 1982 compilation Footsteps in the Dark:  Greatest Hits, Vol. 2.  The song was not released as a single, while the album would reach #165 on the Billboard 200.

Fun Fact:  The soundtrack to Harold and Maude was eventually released in 2007...2500 copies on a small label, vinyl only.  My guess is if you ever see it in a used record shop, buy it.  It's got to be worth a pretty penny.

There's not a lot to this one--it's just Stevens' vocals and his acoustic guitar.  Therein, though, may very well lie the beauty of the song.  There's a joy in not only the simplicity of the lyrics, but also in the simplicity of the tune.  While the song ties in very well with the life view of the character Maude in the movie, it's free to be whoever and whatever you want to be spirit applies to us all, and Stevens expresses it as straightforwardly as high or low, yes or no.  I would be remiss if I didn't note Stevens acoustic guitar playing--it fits so well with the song, with some nice inflections and well-timed picking that keep the song from becoming just so much childlike fodder.  In the end, "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out" is all about you being you, and embracing all the millions of things that this crazy old world has to offer...and you know that there are....

Lyric Sheet:  "And if you want to be me, be me/And if you want to be you, be you/'Cause there's a million things to do/You know that there are..."

Enjoy:

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee