Longer Boats

[thewind]

I always enjoy this song... On one of the ships I was stationed on in the Navy (1052 USS Gray) A few of us would sing Cat Stevens song after hours... I had the music book, couple of guys had guitars, one of us had a mouth harp...
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I'd love to see the longer version of this song make its way on to an album/Cd in the near future...
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Or... It would be great if The video tape of: Tea For The Tillerman Live The Best Of Cat Stevens would be made into a Cd for listening and a DVD for viewing and listening as well

[Ortega]

Isn't it a song about UFOs actually?

[m@kansascity]

i alwasy thought about this song as cat stevens answer to CSN&Y Wooden Ships :-)

[Vivian]

Cat did say that the song was about spaceships.

Peace,Vivian

[Golden Sands]

vivian said:

Cat did say that the song was about spaceships.

Peace,Vivian

That's true, here's Yusuf's answer from his "Mr. Ho Ho's FAQs:"

What is His Song Longer Boats About?

In the late 60’s, due to the successful landing of a man on the moon (which happened coincidently on my 21st birthday) there was a lot of talk and speculation about UFOs.

I wrote the song as a plea for human unity in face of external (possibly extra-terrestrial) threats. There was also a lyrical inference to say that we should look closer at the beautiful and mystical nature of the earth, and watch out for adopting inherited wisdoms from people who claimed to be masters of the high, moral ground.

I don’t want a ‘god’ (statue or false image) on my lawn
Just a flower, I can help long
For the soul of nobody knows,
How a flower grows – how does a flower grow?

True, I gave interviews sometimes and talked about UFOs with passion, but that was partly due to my wish in making the interview more interesting. My apologies.

But in another way, the image of ‘longer boats’ in my mind reminds you of the Vikings and the ships they conquered Britain with. A hint of how we perceive aliens who have different customs to us – thankfully, my mother was Scandinavian, so I never really shook listening to such stories.

Personally, I like the song a lot. The thing about UFO's kinda turned me off a little bit. I like to think of the song as a plea to 'hold on to the shore' whenever government or anyone tries to make up false hopes and idols to control the masses. Unfortunately, there are too many examples of this in the world today.. so in that sense I find this song, like many others from our beloved artist, very relavent today.

[krispypink]

Thanks for posting that, Golden Sands - I understand it a little better myself now.

Kristen

[thewind]

I think I founds it...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QF3Cjbk1zU

[Golden Sands]

thewind said:

I think I founds it...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QF3Cjbk1zU

thanks.. i like the extra verses:
Raise your mind up and look around
You may see them, yes they're lookin' down
On a lonely asteroid, in a vacant void
Dyin'.. but not destoyed

[valleycreeper]

I was always fine with it being left abstract. But the subject of aliens shouldn't be considered frivolous. Most of the early 70s songs were about different alien groups of people coming into contact and reacting against each other, often unhealthily. If unhealthily is a word, which it isn't I guess. Dealing with alien-ness is what most of the songs were about.

I always pictured some sort of Polynesian swarm of boats coming up onto a beach. This or "Rocky Raccoon" was the first song I ever learned on guitar.

[catstevenscrush23]

I always thought it was about the settlers and the Indians, or the settlers and the Africans or, well, you get what I mean.

[alaskaann]

I always thought of it as pretty vague too. I Like it that way, I guess

[georgeringo2]

What about the second verse?

Mary dropped her pants by the sand
And let a parson come and take her hand.
But the soul of nobody knows
Where the parson goes.
Where does the parson go?