(Remember The Days Of The) Old Schoolyard by Cat Stevens

Album: Izitso (1977)

Charted: 44 33

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Where Do the Children Play? on the old schoolyard, of course. The song was inspired by the playground at St. Joseph's in London, where Stevens went to school. It finds him recalling those simple days filled with childhood fun.
Stevens wrote this for Linda Lewis, who was the first to record the song. Lewis sang on Stevens' 1972 album Catch Bull At Four and accompanied him on his 1974 Bamboozle tour. Clive Davis of Arista Records signed Lewis on the strength of her performance of this song, which she released on her 1975 album Not A Little Girl Anymore. Lewis had a UK hit with a cover of "It's In His Kiss (Shoop Shoop Song)." >>
Suggestion credit:
Richard - Toronto, Canada
Elkie Brooks sang on this with Stevens. She became a very successful singer with a string of UK hits in the '70s and '80s.
This song and others on the Izitso album have synthesizers, which was a departure for Stevens.
This was the last Cat Stevens song to hit the Top 40 in America or make the singles chart in the UK. Later in 1977 he changed his name to Yusuf Islam and became a Muslim. He did release one more album of secular music in 1978, but that was it. When he started performing his old hits again in the '00s, "(Remember The Days Of The) Old Schoolyard" was one he sometimes performed, as nothing about it conflicted with his faith.

Comments: 10

Naseem from Manchester That’s not Linda Lewis in the video!
Jeff from Halifax, UkThere are two different issues getting mixed together in the comments. The female singer on Cat Stevens' version is indeed Elkie Brooks. However, although Cat Stevens composed the song, his version was not the first to come out. Linda Lewis first recorded the song a couple of years earlier.

To add to the confusion, Linda Lewis appears in the video for Cat Stevens' version, miming to Elkie Brooks' vocals!
Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn July 28, 1977, a video of Cat Stevens' "(Remember the Days of) The Old Schoolyard" was shown on the NBC-TV late night musical variety program 'The Midnight Special'......
At the time the song was at #34 on Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart, the following week it would peak at #33 {for 1 week} and it spent 10 weeks on the Top 100... .
It reached #28 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary Tracks chart...
Between 1971 and 1979 he had fourteen records on the Hot Top 100 chart; three* made the Top 10, "Peace Train" {#7 in 1971}, "Morning Has Broken" {#6 in 1971}, and "Another Saturday Night" {#6 in 1974}...
Cat Stevens, born Steven Demetre Georgiou & aka Yusuf Islam, celebrated his 69th birthday one week ago on July 21st, 2017...
*He just missed having a fourth Top 10 record when "Wild World" peaked at #11 in 1917.
Jerry from Newtownards, United Kingdom..@ Dave, Dublin, it was written for Linda Lewis, and released as a single in the UK.
Dave from Dublin, IrelandThe female singer IS ELKIE BROOKS !!! Elkie Brooks is the U.K.s, most charted female album artist, in the history of the U.K. charts.
Dave from Dublin, IrelandWritten for Linda Lewis??? It IS Elkie Brooks singing here.
Dave from Dublin, IrelandThe female sing is the awesome Elkie Brooks !!
Brian from Meriden, CtA great example of Cat's strengh. This lay in his ability to write and perform very touching songs, tenderly singing and playing acoustic guitar without a hint of actual sap. There is a distinctive difference and the line between sap and legitimately good stuff does not depend on how "hard" the song is played or sung or how "hard" the lyrics are.
AgustÃ?n from Santiago, ChileI am not according with you, dear Nessie. It's a great song, full of meaning and musically powerful.
Nessie from Sapporo, JapanIf I'd written tripe like this, I'd have changed my name, too. Not one of his bright spots.

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