I’ll be honest, I’ve never known the specifics of Cat Stevens’ conversion to Islam and later controversies. I just did a quick read of his Wikipedia entry and, as I suspected, it’s not as extreme as I’d thought.

Back in high school, though, I remember hearing the most popular Cat Stevens story, that he supported the fatwa calling for the death of author Salman Rushdie, and being totally depressed by it. I had a couple Cat Stevens albums (Tea for the Tillerman and Teaser and the Firecat) and I just loved them. How could the ‘Peace Train’ guy support the death of another artist?

I had this mental image of him walking along the street in his extremist haze and hearing somebody play the song ‘Moonshadow’ and when they hit that great, growling bridge (“Did it take long to find me? I asked the faithful light. Did it take long to find me and are you gonna stay the night?”) he’d snap out of his craziness and join in for the final, uplifting chorus.

OK, I was a real geek. (This is where my family members chime in with a resounding “Was?!“)

Anyway, it’s interesting that a guy would turn his back on fame, fortune and adoration to live a simple, religious life. I guess I’d even admire that if I didn’t think it was batshit crazy.

This song was a minor hit once upon a time but I first heard it in Rushmore. There’s not a thing wrong with it… it’s pop music at its very best.