donnica59

<ul><li>Cat Stevens wrote this about finding hope in any situation. </li><li>Be present and joyful. </li><li>See life as it is, right now, and don't compare it to others' lives, or other times in your life. </li><li>Every moment in life is rich and unique; whether we are aware of it or not, we are always leaping and hopping on a moonshadow - the inescapable present moment. </li><li>If we are wrapped up in our whirlpools of worry and concern about what could be, or what has been, we are missing the richness of life as it is.</li><li>In the bridge of the song, Stevens seems to be speaking of faith, indicating clearly that, although he is experiencing this ecstasy in the present, despite all the losses and suffering of existence, </li><li>it is the light that has found him, and not the other way around. He is surrendering to a power greater than himself - the "faithful light."&nbsp;</li><li>Stevens was gaining a foothold in America when he released "Moonshadow" as the first single from his fifth album,&nbsp;</li><li><strong>Teaser And The Firecat</strong>. He was already well established in his native UK, but America didn't discover him until "<a href="https://www.songfacts.com/facts/cat-stevens/wild-world" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">Wild World</a>," from his fourth album,&nbsp;</li><li><strong>Tea For The Tillerman</strong>, landed in the spring of 1971. "Moonshadow" reached #30 that summer, but the next single, "<a href="https://www.songfacts.com/facts/cat-stevens/peace-train" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">Peace Train</a>," rose to #7.</li><li><br></li><li>Over the next few years, Stevens joined the ranks of thoughtful, somewhat mysterious singer-songwriters like Carly Simon and George Harrison to become one of the top players in the genre. </li><li>His songs reflected his quest for understanding; around this time he was exploring Buddhism, but in 1977 he devoted himself to Islam, changing his name to Yusuf Islam. He stopped making pop music two years later.</li><li>When he appeared on&nbsp;<em>The Chris Isaak Hour</em>&nbsp;in 2009, Yusuf talked about writing this song. "I was on a holiday in Spain," he said. "I was a kid from the West End (of London) - bright lights, ect. - I never got to see the moon on its own in the dark, there were always streetlamps. </li><li>So there I was on the edge of the water on a beautiful night with the moon glowing, and suddenly I looked down and saw my shadow.</li><li> I thought that was so cool, I'd never seen it before."</li><li>When he became a Muslim, Yusuf distanced himself from his work as Cat Stevens, but in the '90s he began to revisit those songs through performances and re-issues. </li><li>"Moonshadow" he cites as his favorite Cat Stevens song, and says it's one that convinced him to embrace much of his previous work. </li><li>The uplifting message in the song meshes with his religious beliefs and with his humanitarian efforts, as many have found hope and encouragement in "Moonshadow." He called the song the "optimist's anthem."</li></ul><p class="ql-align-center"><br></p><p class="ql-align-center"><br></p><ul><li>Stevens commissioned a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0awe6OJB0o" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">short animated film</a>&nbsp;to accompany this song that's based on the&nbsp;<strong>Teaser And The Firecat</strong>&nbsp;album cover illustration, which he drew. </li><li>In the film, Teaser and The Firecat come to life as the boy and cat ride on the moon while "Moonshadow" plays. Narrated by the British radio personality Spike Milligan, it was shown in movie theaters before feature films and in 2004 appeared on the&nbsp;<em>Cat Stevens - Majikat</em>&nbsp;DVD. </li><li>The whimsical phantasmagoria owes a debt to the Beatles'&nbsp;<em>Yellow Submarine</em>&nbsp;film.</li><li>Director John Landis wanted to use this song in his 1981 horror comedy&nbsp;<em>An American Werewolf in London</em>, which features a number of songs with "moon" in the title ("Moon Dance," "Blue Moon," etc.). </li><li>But Stevens, who had recently converted to Islam, refused permission because he did not like the subject matter of the film.&nbsp;</li><li>Artists to record this song include LaBelle, Roger Whittaker and Mandy Moore.</li><li>"Moonshadow" was used in two 2018 episodes of the TV series&nbsp;<em>This Is Us</em>: "Nine Bucks" and "The Wedding."</li></ul><p><br></p>