A 1977 B-boy Classic

Cat Stevens : Was Dog a Doughnut

[Purchase]

In April of 1977, Cat Stevens released his Top 10 album Izitso. While the US Top 40 single "(Remember the Days of the) Old Schoolyard" is the best known song from the album, the far more interesting track is the bizarre instrumental "Was Dog a Doughnut", one of the first electro, or techno-pop, songs ever recorded. Ask a musical friend to name the famous 70's singer songwriter who recorded this track and chances are you'll stump them.

That is, unless your pal is Questlove. He got a chance to talk to Stevens when he performed on the Jimmy Fallon Show in 2009.

“We talked about an obscure album cut from 1977 called ‘Was Dog a Doughnut?’It was really just him creating a filler cut, experimenting with some electronic instruments – he fucked around, man, and created a B-boy classic. What was just him messing around for four minutes in the studio wound up being a staple in the hip hop world, which he was very shocked to discover.”