Tonight’s song is a conversation. One singer, two voices: a calm, low voice for the father, and a high, urgent voice for the son.
Learn from Songs · Unit 8: Modals · B1
Father and Son
A conversation between two generations: modals of advice and obligation (should, have to, don’t have to, must, mustn’t, had better) and imperatives (Take your time. Don’t rush.), with Philo, an invitation to Athens, and a father who wants him to stay.
SOPHIA
PHILO
What are they talking about?
SOPHIA
The son wants to leave home and change his life. The father wants him to wait. Every family has this conversation, sooner or later.
MARCOS
My mother and I have it every week.
Before you listen: the song
London, 1969–1970
Cat Stevens (now known as Yusuf) is an English singer-songwriter. He wrote “Father and Son” in 1969 for a musical about the Russian Revolution that was never made. In the musical, a young man wants to join the revolution, and his father begs him to stay at home.
The song appeared on his 1970 album Tea for the Tillerman. In 2020, fifty years later, he recorded it again: the 72-year-old Yusuf sings the father, and a recording of his own 22-year-old voice sings the son.
In the song, the father gives advice: there’s no hurry, he should settle down, find a wife, and be happy where he is. The son answers that his father has never understood him, that he has always had to keep quiet, and that now he has to go.
Two generations, one conversation.
Listen: two voices
PHILO
Listen once. Which voice is the father, which is the son? How does each one feel?
SOPHIA
Then listen for advice and for have to. Answer Section A.
🧭 Listen to the song: “Father and Son” (Cat Stevens, 1970).Watch the official video →
📜 Read the words while you listen: “Father and Son”, Cat Stevens.Read the lyrics →
Should, ought to, had better: advice
DEMETRIA
You should stay. You ought to think about it. You’d better tell him.
SOPHIA
should / ought to + verb for advice. had better (’d better) + verb for strong advice about a particular situation, often with a warning: You’d better hurry, or you’ll miss the boat.
Have to, must: obligation
MARCOS
I have to go. I must do this.
SOPHIA
have to = obligation, often from outside (rules, situations). must = obligation you feel yourself, or strong rules. Past: had to. Future: will have to.
Don’t have to or mustn’t?
PHILO
You don’t have to decide today. You mustn’t leave without saying goodbye.
SOPHIA
Very different! don’t have to = it isn’t necessary (you can if you want). mustn’t = it’s forbidden, don’t do it! And imperatives give direct advice: Take your time. Don’t rush.
Sophia’s comparison: Phaethon and the Prodigal
SOPHIA
Phaethon begged his father, the Sun, to let him drive the chariot of the sun for one day. His father warned him again and again. The boy insisted, lost control, and fell.
PHILO
And in our story of Jacob, he left his father’s house with nothing but a stone for a pillow, and came back twenty years later, rich, with a family.
DEMETRIA
So sometimes the son is right to go, and sometimes the father is right to warn him.
Sophia’s summary
| Words and forms | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| should / ought to + verb | advice | You should wait. |
| had better + verb | strong advice, with a warning | You’d better tell him. |
| have to / must | obligation | I have to go. |
| don’t have to / mustn’t | not necessary / forbidden | You don’t have to decide today. |
| Take…, Don’t… | imperatives for direct advice | Don’t rush. |
Practice
Listen to the song for Section A, then do the rest. Press “Check my answers” at the end. You can try again as many times as you like.
A · Listen: the song
Listen to the song and choose the best answer.
1. How many voices are in the song?
2. What does the father want?
3. What does the son want?
4. What was the song first written for?
5. What is special about the 2020 version?
6. How does the song sound?
B · Grammar and vocabulary
Write the missing word or words.
7. You wait. (advice)
8. I to go. It’s my decision. (obligation)
9. You have to decide today. (not necessary)
10. You leave without saying goodbye! (forbidden)
11. You’d hurry, or you’ll miss the boat.
12. Yesterday I to tell him. (past obligation)
C · Right or wrong?
Is the sentence correct English?
13. “You should to listen to your father.”
14. “You don’t have to come if you’re tired.”
15. “You mustn’t to touch that.”
16. “I had to work late last night.”
Talk and write
Discussion and writing
Advice role-play. One student is a parent, the other a teenager who wants to do something big (move abroad, leave school, start a band). Use should, have to, don’t have to, mustn’t, had better.
Discuss. 1. Who is right in the song, the father or the son? 2. What advice have your parents given you? 3. Is it possible for parents and children to really understand each other?
Write (100–120 words). A letter to my father (or mother). Explain a big decision you want to make, why you have to do it, and what they don’t have to worry about.
Now play the gamebook: Philo, his father, and an invitation to Athens.Play the gamebook →