# Cat Steven's Father and Son "You are young, that's your fault" uh... what? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 30, 2003, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-stevens-father-and-son-you-are-young-thats-your-fault-uh-what/172072 "2003-04-30T03:27:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_of\_the\_CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Earl\_of\_the\_CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_of_the_CC)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-stevens-father-and-son-you-are-young-thats-your-fault-uh-what/172072/1 "2003-04-30T03:27:01Z")
Could someone please explain this lyric to me? How is it one’s fault that they are young? Seems to me that’s one thing you have no control of no matter how young you are. ---
**Author:** ![Payton\_s\_Servant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3da27b/32.png) [@Payton\_s\_Servant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Payton_s_Servant)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-stevens-father-and-son-you-are-young-thats-your-fault-uh-what/172072/2 "2003-04-30T04:05:38Z")
The song is a conversation between a father and a son, and the father speaks the line in the OP. The son is hellbent on going off and doing something, while the father is counseling his son to wait and think things over carefully, and that he needn’t rush off, as he has so much time and life ahead of him. The son has heard this talk from his father over and over and thinks he knows better, while the father, being older and actually having seen a bit of what the world actually offers gives out the "You are young, that’s your fault, " line. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_of\_the\_CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Earl\_of\_the\_CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_of_the_CC)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-stevens-father-and-son-you-are-young-thats-your-fault-uh-what/172072/3 "2003-04-30T04:15:01Z")
Got all that. It’s still not his fault that he’s young as far as I can see. ---
**Author:** ![available\_light](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@available\_light](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/available_light)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-stevens-father-and-son-you-are-young-thats-your-fault-uh-what/172072/4 "2003-04-30T04:17:14Z")
Hmmm…I think maybe he means “fault” in the sense of “flaw” not in the sense of “responsibility.” At least that’s the only way it makes sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-stevens-father-and-son-you-are-young-thats-your-fault-uh-what/172072/5 "2003-04-30T04:17:27Z")
Perhaps “fault” should be interpreted as “shortcoming” or “[character weakness](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=fault),” rather than a matter of blame. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-stevens-father-and-son-you-are-young-thats-your-fault-uh-what/172072/6 "2003-04-30T04:18:01Z")
“That’s your fault” as in “that’s your deficiency” – that’s why you can’t see the wisdom in what I say. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-stevens-father-and-son-you-are-young-thats-your-fault-uh-what/172072/7 "2003-04-30T04:19:07Z")
And I’m slow to respond; that’s my fault. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_of\_the\_CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Earl\_of\_the\_CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_of_the_CC)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-stevens-father-and-son-you-are-young-thats-your-fault-uh-what/172072/8 "2003-04-30T04:21:49Z")
Ah… That makes sense. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-stevens-father-and-son-you-are-young-thats-your-fault-uh-what/172072/9 "2003-04-30T07:02:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by VarlosZ \* > \*\*And I’m slow to respond; that’s my fault. \*\* There’s so much you have to go through, **VarlosZ**. ---
**Author:** ![dr\_hermes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dfb087/32.png) [@dr\_hermes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dr_hermes)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-stevens-father-and-son-you-are-young-thats-your-fault-uh-what/172072/10 "2003-04-30T14:42:29Z")
Yes, it`s a wild world. ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-stevens-father-and-son-you-are-young-thats-your-fault-uh-what/172072/11 "2003-05-01T04:17:34Z")
…be wise, look ahead. Use your eyes… ---
**Author:** ![yola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/48db29/32.png) [@yola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yola)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-stevens-father-and-son-you-are-young-thats-your-fault-uh-what/172072/12 "2003-05-01T06:47:02Z")
and look for a hard-headed woman… ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-stevens-father-and-son-you-are-young-thats-your-fault-uh-what/172072/13 "2003-05-01T06:59:19Z")
who made the rain come… ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-stevens-father-and-son-you-are-young-thats-your-fault-uh-what/172072/14 "2003-05-01T09:53:33Z")
This song was by Cat Stevens?!? You see, when I lived in Hawaii I spent a lot of time sitting under a banyan tree at the Sheraton Moana Surfrider listening to a Hawaiian guy named Moe Keale sing this song, along with a bunch of others, and I still regret not getting a tape of it before I moved. I thought the song was original to him. Getting back to the OP, I alwayst took “it’s your fault” to mean that the reason the father disagreed with the son wasn’t because of something inherent to him or that he was an awful person, but simply that he was young and would grow out of making foolish decisions. This song reminds me of my own complex relationship with my father. I hear a lot of both of us in it, which is one reason I have to get a tape of it some day, even though I may never get the chance to listen to it sitting under a banyan tree again. CJ