So, I’m listening to some Cat Stevens, and realize that I have no idea what this song is about.
The 4th grader in me knows what it means simply by the sound of it, but that meaning isn’t exactly borne out by the lyrics. Also, Cat Stevens tends to lean toward the slightly more poetic.
I only did a quick search. Google came up with irrelevant links on page one and Jeeves didn’t know jack.
Anybody?
Gatsby, the prepubescent inside informs you well. From an article I found on the web:
Cat Stevens - “Mona Bone Jakon” is another name for my “penis”. It’s the name I give it. It’s not some sort of secret vocabulary, it’s just something I made up.
So there you go.
Thanks, Teach. Another point for gut instinct.
Did you dig deeper, or use a better search engine?
I also used Google, but I had way too much time on my hands. (Actually, it only took about 30 minutes of searching.) In addition, I came up with this little tidbit from an article on catstevens.com:
The first album by the new Cat Stevens was to be titled “The Dustbin Cried The Day The Dustman Died,” but Stevens changed it to the even-more-cryptic “Mona Bone Jakon” (the original title explains the singer’s self-painted cover, which shows a weeping garbage can).
Great album. I always wondered what the hell it was too.