Out on the edge of darkness
there rides a peace train,
'O Peace Train take this country, come take me home again...'

March 2003

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With the drums of War echoing across the globe, it seems the vibrations have shaken everybody. Yusuf Islam has also been moved to align himself with millions of people across the planet calling for peace. Yusuf has just finished recording two songs, Peace Train and Angel of War. The two tracks are being made available to Radio Stations around the world and Peace Train will also be available for download here on this site.

"It's certainly not a return to Cat Stevens, but an underline of the message needed right now", said Yusuf during his recent journey to Johannesburg, South Africa where he recorded the tracks. Like many, his wish is to contribute whatever possible to help avert a forthcoming humanitarian crisis, the likes of which we have seen too many times before. "The words of the songs", as he says, "speak for themselves".



As a singer who sprang from a generation of highly idealistic free spirits between the 60's and 70's, I like to think the songs I wrote somehow held up an altruistic mirror to our planet's time and era. Though times have changed, it's a nice surprise to see that youthful feeling of anti-war sentiment returning once more to the cobbled main streets of Europe.

Peace Train is a song I wrote, the message of which continues to breeze thunderously through the hearts of millions of human beings and there is a powerful need for people to feel that gust of hope rise up again.

Thirty years later, as Yusuf Islam, I have more right and more reason to reclaim this anthem of my evolutionary Cat Stevens period, that's why I rerecorded it. As a member of humanity and as a Muslim, this is my contribution to the call for a peaceful solution to the dangerous path some world leaders today seem to be taking.



The present battle we see for global dominance, I believe, is nothing more than a clash of egos. So with Angel of War, I decided to revisit my legacy of music again and remould another old track, to reflect my thoughts and concerns about the questions to be asked of war today.

What many people don't understand is that there will always be an enemy: the egotistical soul within. The nature of Man is already prone to earthly lusts such as 'greed' and 'envy'. Together with 'pride', the three primal vices have plagued the human being since his first appearance on the bloodstained pages of Time.

Another Bosnia is not what the world needs; the devastation and suffering seen of recent history is ample evidence to support the view of every conscientious objector - of which I am one.

Let the words of the songs speak for themselves.

Peace be with you

Yusuf Islam