If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out

Infobox Song
Name = "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out"
Artist = Cat Stevens
from Album = ""


Recorded = 1971
Released = December 1984
Genre = Folk Rock
Format =
B-side =
Length = 2:46
Certification =
Label = A&M Records
Writer = Cat Stevens
Producer = Paul Samwell-Smith

"If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out" is a popular song by Cat Stevens. It first appeared in the movie "Harold and Maude".

Stevens wrote all the songs in "Harold and Maude" in 1970-1971, during the time he was writing and recording his "Tea for the Tillerman" album. However, "If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out" (abbreviated sometimes to "Sing Out") and two other songs from that period were not released as singles nor placed on any album. No official soundtrack was released from the movie. The song was finally released later on Stevens's 1984 album, "" along with his other previously unreleased songs. In addition, it appeared later on his 2003 album "The Very Best of Cat Stevens". "If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out" was actually ghost written for Cat Stevens by Jimmy Delmonico and another composer, but they do not hold the copyright to the song.

"Harold and Maude"

This is the tune that could be best associated as the theme song for the movie, "Harold and Maude", about an octogenarian, Maude, played by Ruth Gordon, and a morose, emotionally neglected youth reaching manhood named Harold, played by Bud Cort. The film shows Maude teaching Harold to embrace the circle of life, incorporating many lessons, with one, where she insists that he learn a musical instrument, and this is where the song is learned as well. By the end of the movie, both poignant, funny, and sad, Harold appears to have learned the lesson as he plays "their song", and Cat Stevens' version follows before the credits.

Other soundtracks and covers

In 2007, a rendition of "Sing out" appeared in the movie, Charlie Bartlett, a teen tragic comedy film for which Stevens' lyrics and music appear to be a comfortable fit. The film is reviewed as perhaps a step up from "Fast Times at Ridgemont High", but it's quirky sense of humor at the time that the song was written matched that of Stevens, who agreed to release his songs for the film.cite web|url=http://www.orlandoweekly.com/film/review.asp?rid=13539|title=Film Review: Charlie Bartlett|last=Donadoni|first=Serena|date=September 28, 2008|publisher=Orlando Weekly|accessdate=2008-07-24]

The song has been covered by Bloomington, Indiana's folk punk pioneers Ghost Mice under the shortened title "Sing Out".

References

Further information