“But I Might Die Tonight” by Cat Stevens

### "But I Might Die Tonight

Article by: Catherine Basil, Zeynep Deliormanli, Taiyo Okamoto, Manon Buckner, Rohan Gupta

### **Artist Bio**

Cat Stevens, later known as Yusuf Islam was born in 1948, in London, United Kingdom. He developed an interest in music from a young age. His musical style consists of folk, pop, rock, Islamic, and secular music. His most famous album is *Tea for the Tillerman*.

### **Production and Release**

"But I Might Die Tonight," was produced in May 1970 at Island Studios in London, UK. The song was released in November 1970 as a part of the album, *Tea for the Tillerman*. In celebration of 50 years since the release of the album, Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam), released a new album titled *Tea for the Tillerman 2*, with the same songs "reimagined". The album was released on September 18, 2020.

### **Social Issues Discussed**

This song is not talking about religion but is talking about rejecting materialism. It is about a dad telling his son to be like him and the son responding by saying why not live in the moment. During this time in 1970 America had a very materialistic work ethic and the speaker was trying to bring attention to this issue.

### **Selected Lyrics**

#### “I could die tonight, and that would make it all nothing, so why not live in the moment?"

* This line expresses that people should not spend all their time working towards a goal without enjoying what they are doing.

#### “Cause I know for sure / Nobody should be that poor"

* This line has both a figurative and literal meaning. The figurative meaning is that no one should be so poor that they spend their entire lives working. The literal meaning is that poverty is wrong, and rather than wasting time on our petty jobs, we should dedicate ourselves to helping others.

#### “To say yes or sink low / Because you happen to say so, say so, you say so"

* This line expresses that rather than submitting to what society expects from you, you should think for yourself.

### **Significance**

The song was released in 1970 which was in the period of the sexual revolution and rejection of religion. The song is reflective of the 60s and 70s era in which people were released from the pressure of conforming to societal expectations that were upheld by older generations. They were relieved of the values of success and people were living life more freely, and lived for meaning and experience.

### **Message**

* Rejection of materialism, and the 20th century American "gotta get a slice of the pie" materialist work ethic
* Growing up SPIRITUALLY and realizing that life is so much more than just "doing time" at a hard job in order to be able to "get stuff"
* Clash in ideals between a Father who has the strict views on a 'good life' and the Son is young, rebellious and personifies rejection of the previous generation's doctrine.
* The song could be interpreted to be about the expectations that society and its affiliates (parents, teachers) impose on children, like to get a job and do like they do in order to get money to live a life like theirs, regardless of the thoughts and dreams that child may have.

### **Contemporary Connections**

In the song, the son’s desire to pursue what he is truly passionate about instead working away his entire life represents what many people are currently pursuing right now with the help of the age of social media. With the rise of social media people around the world were given the opportunity to create a path for them to pursue what they are truly passionate about while getting paid not having to worry about their financial situation. For example, with the rise of social media there was also a rise in social media influencers. These social media influencers provide the world with content including; cooking, gaming, stand up, financial advice, engineering, coding, etc. The world of social media content is endless and because of this people across the world are now more than ever able to truly pursue what they are passionate about without having to worry about working their life away for money.

### **Trivia**

* The song was written for the film *Deep End*
* Jerzy Skolimowski asked Cat Stevens to write the song
* Cat Stevens was inducted in to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014.
* He was born Steven Demetre Georgiou, his stage name was Cat Stevens, and once he converted to Islam it was changed to Yusuf Islam.

### **Why this Song**

We chose this song as a group because when we listened to it and tried to interpret its messages we were all deeply drawn to the topic it covered since it related strongly to each of us. Being a kid in this society has gotten many of us to think how society has wanted us to think at such a young age. You have to succeed by getting a job immediately, you must go to college, you must get this job, that job, you must work hard or else you won’t be able to retire, retiring is when you can finally live a nice life. These are all requirements society has forced upon us at such a young age that almost the entire world follows its very steps as if they are instructions meant to teach us how to live. While listening to this song as a group we all discussed whether or not we could connect to this song even if it was a small connection. We then found that each of us wanted to pursue what we wished to do in life regardless of the income which comes with the career similarly to the son in the song. However, we didn’t necessarily ignore the income that comes with the job because each of us understood that without money one will not be able to obtain financial freedom which is an important step towards living a comfortable life. Our connection to the son in the song drew our attention and got us to choose this song.

### **External Links**

https://youtu.be/0PA2m128tgI

https://ourworldindata.org/materialism-and-post-materialism