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Father and Son

Cat Stevens

Looking for more detail?  "Father and Son" is featured in The Complete Guitar Player Cat Stevens Songbook.  Chord charts with strum and picking patterns included.

Strum:  D       D   D U

        1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +

Intro (play 4x, tacet last measure):

     G            C/G                                    

E |--3--------3--3---------|----3-------5----------|

B |--0--------0--0-h1------|-1---------------------|

G |--0--------0--0---------|----------5------------|

D |--0--------0--0-h2------|-----------------------|

A |--x--------x--x---------|-----------------------|

E |--3--------3--3---------|-----------------------|

     D        U  D

     1  +  2  +  3  +  4  +  1  +  2  +  3  +  4  +

Verse 1:

It's not [G]time to make a [D]change, just re[C]lax, take it [Am7]easy

you're still [G]young, that's your [Em]fault,

there's so [Am]much you have to [D]know

Find a [G]girl, settle [D]down, if you [C]want, you can [Am7]marry

Look at [G]me, I am [Em]old, but I'm [Am]happy  [D]

Verse 2:

I was [G]once like you are [Bm7]now, and I [C]know that's it's not [Am7]easy

to be [G]calm when you've [Em]found something [Am]going on [D]

But take your [G]time, think a [Bm7]lot,

think of [C]everything you've [Am7]got

for you will [G]still be here to[Em]morrow,

but your [D]dreams may not

Intro x2, tacet last measure

Verse 3:

How can [G]I try to ex[Bm]plain,

when I [C]do he turns a[Am7]way again

It's [G]always been the [Em]same, same old [Am]story.  [D]

From the [G]moment I could [Bm]talk, I was [C]ordered to [Am7]listen

now there's a [G]way and I [Em]know that I [D]have to [G]go away.

I [D]know I [C]have to go

Intro x2

Instrumental Verse (follow Verse 3's structure)

Intro x2, tacit last measure

Verse 4:

It's not [G]time to make a [D]change, just re[C]lax, take it [Am7]slowly

you're still [G]young, that's your [Em]fault,

there's so [Am]much you have to [D]go through

Find a [G]girl, settle [D]down, if you [C]want, you can [Am7]marry

Look at [G]me, I am [Em]old, but I'm [Am]happy  [D]

Verse 5:

All the [G]times that I've [Bm]tried keeping

[C]all the things I [Am7]knew inside

It's [G]hard but it's [Em]harder to i[Am]gnore it  [D]

If they were [G]right, I'd a[Bm7]gree,

but it's [C]them they know not [Am7]me

now there's a [G]way and I [Em]know that I [D]have to [G]go away.

I [D]know I [C]have to [G hold]go