Cat Stevens to Yusef Islam

On June 5, 1971 I sat near the stage at Carnegie Hall. My focus was singer Cat Stevens although my focus was shaky. I was two weeks away from being honorably discharged from active duty in the U.S. Army. My impending freedom was all consuming. And Cat Stevens was a distraction until he said a few words about a new song, Peace Train, that would rise to #1 some four months later. I’ve never forgotten what he said, sort of under his breath, not that clear, but clear enough.

First, I didn’t like the song—it was hokey. And as an active duty solder, I did not see peace on the horizon. Well, Cat Stevens said the same just before his sidekick, Alun Davies, began his guitar work. He was contradicting the song’s hopeful message of “peace on the horizon,” at least that was my impression. I appreciated his candor.

Some 30–plus years later Yusef Islam, aka Cat Stevens, began receiving awards for his contributions to a more peaceful world. He’d given up his rock stardom in the late 1970’s and converted to Islam. Yusef has been on quite a journey . And now I understand that the peace he was talking about in 1971 was his own.

I mention all of this because I’d like to talk Yusef about his journey and the controversy that’s followed him. On the internet it is easy to find sites that claim he has terrorist ties and sites that say he is a good guy. If nothing else, his trip from Western culture rock star to Islam demonstrates that labels on the internet are hard to lose, or alter, even if the labels come from sources that seek to derail the Peace Train.