Cat Stevens ~ Was Dog a Doughnut 1977 Disco Purrfection Version

Описание: This one just jumped out at me last week, a lighting bolt from my past. It came out in the November of 1977 and was played on the radio on my school mornings from DJ Dick Purtan on WXYZ radio Detroit. This tune is especially startling for the artist who recorded it, 60's singer songwriter Cat Stevens. I can't forget "Peace Train", "Moon Shadow", "Wild World" and the sterling "Morning Has Broken", (like the first morning..oh god there I go singing it again. Such positive music that made you proud to be who you were, and his message was his music. My all time favorite tune of his is "Oh Very Young", followed closely by "Father & Son" on his Tea For The Tillerman album. His popularity was on the wane when he put out "Izitso" in 1977, and it turned out be his foray into electronic music, with a moderately successful single of "(Remember The Days Of The) Old Schoolyard" that peaked at #33, and this prescient and jazz funky take on the electronic pop experiments of Kraftwerk and Donna Summer called "Was Dog A Doughnut". The title alone is an intriguing play on words that I have yet to comprehend. Maybe the choice of alliterative and non sequitarian words makes this tune whimsical, I mean who isn't envisioning a dog wearing the doughnut like a halo, eyes looking up to see if its OK if they can swallow it whole...I should probably collect clips and put the best of them together and put it out there, someday I suppose. Steven Demetre Georgiou was born on July 21, 1948 of Cypriot and Greek heraldry in London, England. His parents were running a restaurant when Steven became enraptured with The Beatles in his mid teens and began writing songs and learning guitar. A little renegade throughout his elementary school years he tried his hand at being a cartoonist, and ended up using his work on his LP covers. His next big step was getting a UK record deal and scored with UK #2 pop hit "Matthew And Son". I'll bet you did not know Cat wrote "The First Cut Is The Deepest" for his 1967 UK LP "New Masters" that saw major chart action with Rod Stewart's cover. Spirituality fascinated Cat after a bout with tuberculosis in 1969 and he had a burst of creativity writing almost 50 songs during his convalescence. He adopted a folk rock sound that served him well, a singer songwriter in the first degree when he put out "Tillerman". In 1976 Stevens nearly drowned in the ocean off Malibu, the brush with death led him further down the path to his spiritual awakening. He mentions that he yelled out to God to save him and that he would work for him and at that moment a wave carried him back to shore. He obtained a copy of the Qur'an and began his transition to the Muslim religion, changing his name to Yusuf Islam in 1978 and abandoning his pop career. It's too bad he stopped, he had an amazing way with a word and an appealing emotional voice that lent his music poignancy and positive energy. The sprightly funk of "Was Dog A Doughnut" gets you involved with its syncopation, I dare you to sit still..I either tap/snap my fingers or do the office chair boogie every time I hear this. I've played this one at least 200 times in the last week and I never got tired of it.