In several interviews, Yusuf has mentioned that he was on a spiritual journey in the early seventies up to his conversion to Islam. The album "Mona Bone Jakon" is a striking example of personal meanings. Lady D'Arbanville metaphorically to Patty D'Arbanville, Mona Bone Jakon as a metaphor for a male erection, and Katmandu, one of my personal favorites with such a mystical presence.
Cat Stevens always has been an intellectual and a creative spirit – I doubt that it refers to Nepal's capital; he would certainly not have misspelled "Kathmandu".
If you take the syllables "Kat" "Man" "Du", however, Cat is strikingly similar to "Kat" as in Cat Stevens, and "mandu" could come from the Sanskrit word meaning "joyous", "pleased", and "cheerful".
In this sense, the meaning could be related to something like "joyous/cheerful Cat". If this is the case, the lyrics convey a path towards the culmination of happiness and a mystic interpretation of conquering the mountain peak of bliss and joy. This adds to the gravitas of the song itself (i) introspective/reflection in the first verse "(…) I sit beside the dark Beneath the mire", (ii) resolution to work for achievement "(…) chop me some broken wood" (iii) commitment to travel far in once a search of finding ones spiritual truth "(…) Until I go Be nice to know".
In several interviews, Yusuf has mentioned that he was on a spiritual journey in the early seventies up to his conversion to Islam. The album "Mona Bone Jakon" is a striking example of personal meanings. Lady D'Arbanville metaphorically to Patty D'Arbanville, Mona Bone Jakon as a metaphor for a male erection, and Katmandu, one of my personal favorites with such a mystical presence. Cat Stevens always has been an intellectual and a creative spirit – I doubt that it refers to Nepal's capital; he would certainly not have misspelled "Kathmandu".
If you take the syllables "Kat" "Man" "Du", however, Cat is strikingly similar to "Kat" as in Cat Stevens, and "mandu" could come from the Sanskrit word meaning "joyous", "pleased", and "cheerful".
In this sense, the meaning could be related to something like "joyous/cheerful Cat". If this is the case, the lyrics convey a path towards the culmination of happiness and a mystic interpretation of conquering the mountain peak of bliss and joy. This adds to the gravitas of the song itself (i) introspective/reflection in the first verse "(…) I sit beside the dark Beneath the mire", (ii) resolution to work for achievement "(…) chop me some broken wood" (iii) commitment to travel far in once a search of finding ones spiritual truth "(…) Until I go Be nice to know".