Song Lyric Sunday – Boy with a Moon and Star on His Head

The prompt from Jim:

This week the theme is Heavenly Bodies, Planets, Moon, Sun, Stars suggested by King Ben’s Grandma.

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When I read the prompt for this week, I knew exactly what song I would choose. I was immediately thrust back to 1974 when I listened to Cat Stevens daily. I had every one of his albums and I think it was his music that made me fall in love with the sound of a solitary acoustic guitar.

“Boy with a Moon and Star on His Head” is one of my favorite Cat Stevens songs. I am always all about the story a song tells and this is a perfect example of a great story. But first, a little about the man behind the music.

In London in 1948, Cat Stevens was born Steven Demetre Georgiou to a Greek Father and Swedish mother. He released his debut album in 1967 and recorded music until he converted to Islam in 1977. He changed his name to Yusuf Islam and sold all his guitars for charity, married, and began a family. He returned to secular music when his son Yoriyos handed him a guitar he had been hiding (Yoriyos happens to be a spitting image of a young Cat Stevens) in 2006.

Many of his songs reflected strong uplifting meanings, but not all. Some people love to try to assign a hidden meaning to a song that just wasn’t there. Taken from an Entertainment Weekly interview with Chris Willman, he says it himself:

“He pauses and scratches his salt-and-pepper head. “I’m not saying all my songs are like that. There’s a song called ‘Boy With the Moon & Star on His Head’, about a guy who’s just about to get married, has an affair on the way, and then finds a baby left on his doorstep.” A rueful laugh. “I can’t whitewash them all!”

Of course, after his conversion to Islam, he was embroiled in many controversies related to Salman Rushdie, and also about him being banned from entry in the US. You can find all that information if you want to look for it, but for me, this post is about the music and just the music.

“Boy with a Moon and Star on His Head” appeared on the album “Catch Bull at Four” released in 1972. The album reached #1 in the US and #2 in the UK.

”Boy with a Moon and Star on His Head”
Lyrics from Genius.com

[Verse 1]
A gardener’s daughter stopped me on my way
On the day I was to wed
It is you who I wish to share
My body with she said

[Verse 2]
We’ll find a dry place under the sky
With a flower for a bed
And for my joy I will give you a boy
With a moon and star on his head.

[Verse 3]
Her silver hair flowed in the air
Laying waves across the sun
Her hands were like the white sands
And her eyes had diamonds on

[Verse 4]
We left the road and headed up
To the top of the whisper wood
And we walked till we came to where
The holy magnolia stood

[Verse 5]
And there we laid cool in the shade
Singing songs and making love
With the naked earth beneath us
And the universe above

[Verse 6]
The time was late my wedding wouldn’t wait
I was sad but I had to go
So while she was asleep
I kissed her cheek for cheerio

[Verse 7]
The wedding took place and people came
From many miles around
There was plenty merriment
Cider and wine abound

[Verse 8]
But out of all that I recall
I remembered the girl I met
‘Cause she had given me something
That my heart could not forget

[Bridge]
La la la la la la
La-la-la la la la
La-la-la-la-laa la-laa
La-laa la-laaa

[Verse 9]
A year had passed and everything was just
As it was a year before, as if was a year before
Until the gift that someone left
A basket by my door

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Song Lyric Sunday is hosted every Sunday by Jim Adams. If you would like to join in the fun, check out his blog for the rules and to take in all the other music posted by other blogger

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MLMM Saturday Mix -Lucky Dip Lanturne

Welcome to Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie “Saturday Mix” hosted by weejars. The Lucky Dip today is to write a Lanturne.

“The Lanturne is a five-line verse shaped like a Japanese lantern with a syllabic pattern of one, two, three, four, one.”

Here is my attempt  based on what I see outside my window:

 

One
tiny
hummingbird,
waiting to fly
south

 

 

SoCS – Put a Lid on It

Linda is home from her visit to the bar and has a new challenge for us. Pop over to Linda’s place to join in: Life in Progress – check out the rules and the contribution of other bloggers.

This week, the prompt is:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “lid.” Use it in the literal sense, use it in the metaphorical sense, use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

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My parents had four children and we could be rambunctious at times. When we had pushed the envelope a bit too far and the noise approached an intolerable level, we would always hear “Put a lid on it!” I guess that was nicer than hearing our parents tell us to shut up but that may have been what they were thinking.

My grandmother seemed to have a lot of lids that no longer had a matching pan to go with it. But the lids were never thrown away. They were perfect for turning upside down in your lap and use as a pan for stringing beans. When my grandmother make popcorn, she used a huge cast iron skillet with piping hot oil and a huge mismatched lid to keep it contained as it popped. I can still see her sliding the skillet back and forth with that dented aluminum lid on top. Her left arm was responsible for holding the skillet handle and the right keeping the lid on tight. That’s a lot of coordination and a lot of strength to keep that huge heavy skillet going like that. Of course, it was the best tasting popcorn, too, or at least my memory tells me so!