Talk:Mona Bone Jakon

What does Mona Bone Jakon mean?
Along with the ashcan dripping tears, this is (to say the least) incomprehensible. --Fantailfan 11:46, 31 July 2006 (UTC)
 * found it. --Fantailfan 13:44, 31 July 2006 (UTC)


 * shouldn't the meaning be on the main page for the album, even though some may find it inappropriate? --jdsully8 21:44, 21 March 2008

re. Peter Gabriel
I changed the text from 'only non-Genesis appearance' since PG also appeared on backing vocals (as did loads of people who happened to be in the studio at the time) on Colin Scot's 1971 record 'Colin Scot and Friends' (United Artists IMP 1009). --Ndaisley 21:55, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

Cleanup March 2009
Just did (another) cleanup of the page, which somehow seems to be a magnet for a whole slew of irrelevant and poorly written information. Patricia Meadows (talk) 21:35, 18 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Yes, it seems to be coming from a single user, ArnoldZippo. Please stop posting this information, as it is irrelevant. A dullard (talk) 00:46, 20 March 2009 (UTC)


 * ArnoldZippo keeps adding the irrelevant information back in. I keep removing it. Patricia Meadows (talk) 17:39, 27 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Ugh. ArnoldZippo has once again riddled this article with unreferenced, poorly written nonsense. I'm tired of cleaning up his messes. Would someone else please just revert it to the last sane version? Patricia Meadows (talk) 00:38, 2 April 2009 (UTC)

Cat's {}
I am sure there are a lot of us who, for 30 or 35 years, had wondered what the h*ll the title of this album meant, so we were relieved when Wikipedia informed us that it was Cat's private joke about his wiener. Now, singing songs about your ding-a-ling is a solid tradition in rock 'n' roll -- see Chuck Berry, or Aerosmith's "Big Ten Inch Record" -- a venerable tradition extending firmly back at least to Jelly Roll Morton, who, with his swollen head, even named himself after his love gun. Oh, and did I mention KISS?

So it was no surprise that this club included Cat as a member.

But now you have seen fit to delete this explanation, whilst giving us nothing in its stead. That explanation seemed as good as any. And all of this over a now-dead link which apparently raised no eyebrows for a year and a half.

Varlaam (talk) 23:48, 6 December 2009 (UTC)

Album title
I have added a working source with a 2003 quotation from the same c. 1972 Popmusique interview. That is older than the original 2008 sourcing which is now non-functional.

That suffices to establish the validity of the quotation coming from Popmusique.

So, anyone alleging a fabrication of some sort would need to question whether Popmusique is a legitimate music publication from the period.

Ideally, someone has a copy of this magazine in a closet somewhere, and can provide further details about the article: date, title, author, page number, and so on.

Varlaam (talk) 22:32, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

The Pop Musique interview
This Majicat page with the Pop Musique interview has often gone down in the past.

And when that happens, and the link goes dead, some fucking imbecile comes along, and declares, "This link is dead. So this fact is no longer a fact." And this is of course one of the chief failings of Wikipedia, that 1) facts are not facts unless they are cited, and 2) lies are facts as long as they are properly cited. Fact and lie are independent of anyone's ability or inability to find a convenient web source as endorsement.

So I am putting the relevant sections of the page here for posterity.

Varlaam (talk) 02:19, 25 February 2012 (UTC) (Master Editor III, with 65,000+ edits)

Majicat: Cat Stevens Scrapbook

Majicat website:

These wonderful photographs are from a French magazine in the early 70's entitled Pop Musique. These and the article written in French ( of course ) come courtesy of Jennifer Perez. As I can not read French, a big thank you is in order to Michael Valenzuela for translating this article for Majicat readers.

[Varlaam: So we have a translation from French to English of an interview presumably conducted in English. The original French language Pop Musique text is still outstanding.]

Pop Musique writer:

It was scarcely 3 years ago that Cat Stevens had a nervous depression. He was 19 years old  [Varlaam: Source omits period.]

This interview took place in Los Angeles. Cat had just finished one triumphant week at the Troubador, the most famous pop club of Los Angeles, and he was preparing to return for two more weeks, under the pressure of popular demand.

Pop Music - First allow us to ask some stupid questions. Can you explain the meanings of the titles of your two last albums, "Mona Bone Jakon" and "Tea for the Tillerman".

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. "Tea for the Tillerman" ... "tillerman" is guy who tills the land, a sort of peasant. This has a direct connection with the drawing on the cover. I loved that drawing so much, it brings back many elements of the song, that I thought that the title was perfect to go along with the album.

[Varlaam: This has been copied verbatim from the Majicat site. It is a piece of the full interview.]

Now, can someone else please confirm then notarize this? That will indicate that I have correctly copied the relevant portions of the Majicat page in case of any future disputes. Cheers, Varlaam (talk) 02:19, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

Endorse the validity of the above
We, the undersigned, agree that the above text is a faithful transcription of (portions of) the Majicat page with its Pop Musique interview:

4 citations
So we now have 4 citations for the bloody title.

Can we call it a day now?

Varlaam (talk) 23:03, 2 May 2010 (UTC)


 * I hope you are joking unless you are asking if this is enough for a ranking for a Stub class article. --Leahtwosaints (talk) 10:20, 10 December 2010 (UTC)


 * No, I was deadly serious.
 * People, presumably prudes, were constantly deleting that section when it had merely a couple of citations.
 * So were these people finally deterred? Apparently, yes.
 * Varlaam (talk) 01:41, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

Lilly White / Lilywhite
The name of the song is given variably as "Lilly White" or "Lilywhite". On my early CD (ca. 1990 pressing) it is called "Lilly White", but that could of course be a mistake. Could someone with a vinyl LP take a look? --109.193.211.159 (talk) 09:51, 6 March 2011 (UTC)
 * There are some photos of vinyls at this site http://wax.fm/vinyl-lp-releases/cat_stevens_mona_bone_jakon.html which show either "Lillywhite" or "Lilywhite", but none with a space. --109.193.211.159 (talk) 09:56, 6 March 2011 (UTC)

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