Yusuf, who you may also know as Cat Stevens, is a little more than a week from celebrating the 50th birthday of Tea for the Tillerman with Tea for the Tillerman², a rerecorded version of his iconic 1970 album. Today, the songwriter shared a new video for his new riff on “Father And Son,” a frankly genius recreation of one of the original’s best songs.
Yusuf duets with, well, himself on the song, singing the father’s parts as his younger self belts out the rebellious verses of the son, for whom it’s “always been the same, the same old story.” The latter audio was pulled from a 1970 performance of the track at L.A.’s Troubadour, and his passionate delivery cuts just as deep now as it did then. The weathered, earthy quality of Yusuf’s vocals, meanwhile, layer in a gravity that speaks to the half-century bridging the two voices.
Watch Chris Hopewell’s stop-motion video for the track below.
“‘Father and Son’ feels pretty appropriate for what’s going on right now, if you take the father figure as being the establishment,” Yusuf said in a statement. “However, I don’t think revolutions are that kind to the previous order, its main objective is to turn it around and to get rid of them. Whereas I don’t personally believe in that; I believe in a kind of a change that would not necessarily destroy everything.”
Tea for the Tillerman² arrives on September 18.