fan project Cat Stevens Guitar Tabs

[Leonard McCoy]

New guitar tab:

The First Cut Is the Deepest

One of his first attempts at R&B as an “Otis Reddis sort of thing,” penned by Cat Stevens at the tender age of just 17 years old, turned out to be a milestone composition so popular that it would become a hit single time and again not only for the composer himself but many different artists, most notably Rod Stewart (1977). The original 1967 studio recording had (Big) Jim Sullivan on lead guitar, John Paul Jones on bass, Dougie Smith on drums and quite possibly Mike Hurst, then Cat’s producer at Decca Studios, on rhythm guitar. In 2014 Yusuf / Cat Stevens would perform a more intimate sittee version for solo acoustic guitar, a Gibson J-200, and vocals at the NPR Music Tiny Desk concert, which we chose to transcribe here.

 

Edited August 22, 2021 by Leonard McCoy

[Leonard McCoy]

Much revised guitar tab:

Longer Boats

Recorded at Island Basing Street Studios, the basic track is just two guitars (Cat’s and Alun’s) with live vocal and Cat overdubbing the Hammond organ later. Cat, Alun, and Paul Samwell-Smith then tracked the additional voices (4 tracks w/ 3 vocals each), and drums and bass were added later. The actual meaning of the song was not clear to Cat until much later and at which point he also added a third verse (see below) for performing live. In 1972 at the Chicago Concert, when introducing the song to his audience of that night, making an effort to explain what the song means, he abrutly changes his mind saying “You know getting into explaining a song you take away half of its potential, so we ain’t going to do that.” As is so often the case with Cat’s songs, strong vocals make this one ring a bell in one’s heart.

Edited November 6, 2021 by Leonard McCoy

[Leonard McCoy]

And one more majorly revised guitar tab:

Lady D'Arbanville

Both lyrically and melodically “Lady D’Arbanville” stands out. A single guitar can already deliver the full sound here, since tapping rhythmically on the guitar body, as Cat does in live performances, manages to substitute for the drum arrangement on the album recording. Playing along the original album necessitates precise and quick strumming. The original unique intro sequence and riff on E minor in the verses are transcribed here for the very first time as played by Cat and Alun. We have also added a bit of Alun’s addition phrasing adapted here for solo guitar (see bottom). On the original recording in the intro Cat seems to play, instead of the natural harmonic at the 12th fret adapted later on, a very high E note that is fretted on the B string directly on top of the 17th fret (thereby half-dead or muted).

Edited November 6, 2021 by Leonard McCoy

[Leonard McCoy]

New guitar tab:

But I Might Die Tonight

This song was written and recorded for Jersy Skolimowski’s film Deep End. As is the case with most film music, it was a last minute rush, in this case resulting in a 26-hour non-stop marathon session at Morgan Studios, with the director waiting in the wings and the control room. There is also a movie version of the track released on the movie’s official soundtrack, a snippet of the song cued at the movie’s climactic conclusion. The Intro and Verse 1 is all Alun fingerpicking special chords up and down the neck. From Verse 2 on Cat’s rhythm guitar sets in.

Edited November 7, 2021 by Leonard McCoy

[Tim Tim]

Great thread.  Is anyone able to help tab out exactly how he plays Don’t Be Shy?  Thank you!

 

 

[Leonard McCoy]

9 hours ago, Tim Tim said:

Great thread.  Is anyone able to help tab out exactly how he plays Don’t Be Shy?  Thank you!

Here you go: https://catstevensguitar.wordpress.com/other-songs/dont-be-shy/.

[fortyearspickn]

Leonard,   these are both fantastic!  Thanks.   Will give both a shot, hopefully today.    FWIW - Sheryl Crow also covered "First Cut Is The Deepest".   Also did a music video of it.   First video I bought on the new  iTunes.     Keep up the good work !     Jim 

[Tim Tim]

On 11/7/2021 at 5:26 AM, Leonard McCoy said:

Here you go: https://catstevensguitar.wordpress.com/other-songs/dont-be-shy/.

Thank you!!

[Leonard McCoy]

New guitar tab:

Where Do the Children Play?

As Alun Davies put it, “[the song is] hypnotically slow, pulling everyone towards its meaning.” The song harks back to Cat’s time in Shaftesbury Avenue, where there was no playground nearby, and where even in his school the kids mostly played in the basement—all of which is contrasted with the overtechnologization of society and its looming ecological consequences. The basic track is recorded with just two guitars (Cat and Alun) and voice, with everything else (including Cat’s electric piano and vibraphone) individually overdubbed later, which is why the drums lurch a little behind. Del Newman’s did the string arrangement again. The D-G major change is Cat’s main spiel on rhythm guitar here, and transcribed as such.

[Leonard McCoy]

New guitar tab majorly revised (and in effort to have the entire album Mona Bone Jakon transcribed in the near future):

Fill My Eyes

Even for Cat himself as well as his producer Paul Samwell-Smith, this piece is a rare hidden gem. In fact, it conclusively sealed Cat’s audition with his producer. Thematically, being about a troubadour’s lost love, its haunting lyrics and madrigal melody fit the album and its breakout hit “My Lady D’Arbanville” perfectly. Originally, the album’s timeless piece “Time” was too short, hence “Fill My Eyes” had to come about for a harmonious link. It is actually one of the more difficult pieces to play on guitar. One has to get a feel for Cat’s riff spiel on D major. In Chorus 2 the spiel is somewhat analogously repeated just in E and A major.

Edited November 21, 2021 by Leonard McCoy

[Leonard McCoy]

New guitar tab:

Miles from Nowhere

A reflection of Cat’s spiritual, self-seeking journey at the time and especially after his convalescence from tuberculosis and thematically in a similar vein as “On the Road to Find Out.” Cat plays a stellar piano part here, with intricate riffs and a Floyd Cramer-like solo in Chorus 2. For the guitar part itself is purposefully very basic even in live performances, where Alun reaches for the 12-string guitar to play the guitar part, we opted to adapt the piano part and chords to the guitar wherever such an arrangement was feasible.

Edited November 27, 2021 by Leonard McCoy

[fortyearspickn]

Bones,   This is awe-inspiring!   You are to be commended.    Thanks. 

[Leonard McCoy]

6 hours ago, fortyearspickn said:

Bones,   This is awe-inspiring!   You are to be commended.    Thanks. 

That is really too kind. The website is little more than a detailed sign-post for myself (because one tends to forget the very intricasies of a song after a certain period of not playing it) and that one lost soul out there looking for that kind of stuff (today might have been you).

[Leonard McCoy]

New guitar tab:

Maybe You're Right

Together with “Father and Son” and the “The Day They Make Me Tsar,” this song belongs to a handful of musical pieces Cat had written for a proposed musical about the Romanovs called “Revolussia,” a project which ultimately never came to be. Cat plays a terrific piano on the record, and in almost all live performances he chose to play the piano part instead of guitar. But there is also rare video footage of him playing this song on guitar, such as the 1970 Belgian Jazz Bilzen pop festival or his performance on French TV that same year. On the studio demo Cat solely plays guitar, so it stands to reason that the song originated there first and that the fleshed-out piano part came later. The most exciting stuff happens on piano, though, so we decided to adapt some of the piano magic from his live 1971 BBC performance (see video down below) to guitar, while adhering as much as possible to the studio demo for solo guitar and voice.

Edited December 11, 2021 by Leonard McCoy

[Leonard McCoy]

New guitar tab:

Pop Star

“Pop Star” is not only a reflection on Cat’s prior fame and status but it also serves as a sign-post for the next guy in line trying to get into the music business for all the wrong reasons (“to have bread and fame and get chicks”). Alun provided the baseline riff on which the E7 and A7 spiel is based on. The bits of the intro where Alun drifts off into freeforming for a great many bars, with the manic bits charging in, proved too challenging for our transcription skills (any help is appreciated). Just playing the song for a bit gives you good feel for it, though.

[Leonard McCoy]

New guitar tab:

I’ve Got a Thing About Seeing My Grandson Grow Old

The song was written during Cat’s transitional phase from big band arrangements to a softer, more reflective type that came closer in sound to his own demos. Ultimately the song ended up on the cutting floor for Mona Bone Jakon (1969), and remained in the archives of Olympic Studios, London for almost thirty years until in the early 2000s, when it got released as various mixes on two different compilation albums without ever being recorded properly. It features Cat’s prominent guitar licks as well as his own spiel on power chords. In the chorus Cat does a rare Buddy Holly impression growling “Grow old, oh, oh.” The song eventually received a major reimagining and got released as “Grandsons” on Yusuf’s album The Laughing Apple (2017). The version transcribed here is the compilation release. We discarded the capoed-up version initially posted here, because with the hammer-ons it could not have been played that way, and cleaned up the tab as a whole.

[Leonard McCoy]

New guitar tab:

The Day They Make Me Tsar (Demo)

In a recent interview from 2021 Cat said he simply loves songs like “Tsar.” The Russian lilt that is sung and played on guitar throughout makes this song so unique sounding apart from the fleshed-out riff sequences. As the lyrics show, “Tsar” is about Alexi the last Tsar, child of Nicholas. It was written around 1969 alongside other gems like “Father and Son” for a proposed musical about the Romanovs entitled “Revolussia” that never came to be. It was then, two years later, intended as a studio demo for the album Teaser and the Firecat but eventually ended up on the cutting there as well, probably due to its short length. The song never received a proper recording and, mixed only decades later, is still only available on select compilations like In Search of the Centre of the Universe and the Teaser and the Firecat Super Deluxe album.

[Leonard McCoy]

A new guitar tab for a happy new year:

Morning Has Broken

Cat bought a small hymn book called Hymns Ancient and Modern in Foyles and, having penciled its guitar chords in, had taken an interest in hymn no. 42 due to it being non-denominational and which he had never heard of before. He worked out the piano bits together with Rick Wakeman for an hour or two in the afternoon. Acoustic guitar and piano were laid down as basic track before everything else, and the whole piece was mixed and finished by nine that night. Wakeman was left off the album credits at the time out of contractual concerns with Wakeman’s record label, which was later rectified.

Edited January 1, 2022 by Leonard McCoy

[Leonard McCoy]

A new guitar tab:

Time

An exceptional song, not least for its deep lyrics, and one that was always meant to be played together with “Fill My Eyes.” It is just Cat on two guitars here and vocals. Credits go to DJ Illingworth of Majicat.com fame for first trying to really transcribe this song for guitar (as he did for so many other Cat Stevens song). It is an especially difficult song due, in part, to the “timeless” time signature changing freeform in the first half. We tried to capture the song in 4/4 and 3/4 time having to alternate constantly. Not even the verse lines are played like for like. That the song is not some random improvisation either becomes clear when we consider that a second guitar (with partly more intricate fingerpicking) was added later, and that Cat played the song in live performances much like on the original recording.

Edited January 5, 2022 by Leonard McCoy

[Leonard McCoy]

Re-transcribed:

Rubylove

In order to introduce some Greek influences into his music, Cat invited some friends of his father, who ran a Greek restaurant in Shaftesbury Avenue, to the studio to play on the record with their bouzouki. Linda Lewis sang backing vocals here together with Alun and Paul Samwell-Smith. The song was originally called “Who’ll Be My Love?” and did not contain the Greek verse until later, but Alun’s daughter Rebecca always asked Cat to sing “the Rubylove song” and so the name stayed. Together with “If I Laugh” and “Fisherman Song,” this song is a tour de force through all kinds of Open E voicings. Much more difficult to overcome, however, is probably the odd time signature in 7/8 used throughout the song (or 7/4 depending on how you write it down). The energic rhythm of the song with its accentuated strumming pattern probably ranks among the best-sounding you can play on guitar, though. Until now the song has never been transcribed properly due in part to the rather prominent bouzouki on the track taking center-stage.

[Leonard McCoy]

New:

I Want Some Sun (Studio Demo)

A previously unreleased studio demo, “I Want Some Sun” has a jolly up-beat vibe befitting its optimistic theme. It was probably recorded in the studio for Cat’s album Mona Bone Jakon but did not really fit the album in the end, thus ending up on the cutting floor. This is just Cat on rhythm guitar and vocals, and Alun on high guitar. We transcribed Alun’s melodic fills, riffs and licks as well.

Edited March 20, 2022 by Leonard McCoy

[Leonard McCoy]

New:

Don't Blame Them

Broadly speaking, a song as much about one’s own prejudice as that of others. Cat’s love of melody is especially apparent in this song and his style of playing it on guitar ever so unique, considering that he adheres to include the vocal notes in most of his chords. Speaking of chords, this is quite a tour de force in terms of chord progression complexity for a pop-folk song. And neat little surprises pop up along the way, like sliding up towards a high D7/A or the various minor chords crawling up the neck (or “cane” as Cat would say) in the bridge. The outro verse is a complete tempo and feel change, and reminds us a bit of his style-changing outro to “I Want to Live in a Wigwam“, which could be a separate song entirely in itself.