Two songs, 'Don't Be Shy' and 'If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out' were written specifically for the movie and were not released in any form until 1984 on Footsteps in the Dark/Greatest Hits Volume Two (which is now out of print). Both songs were later included on the Cat Stevens box set released in 2001 as well as the Remember Cat Stevens Import.

The list below is in the order that the songs appear in the film.
Harold and Maude Songs by Cat Stevens

Cat Stevens, Music Department: Harold and Maude. Cat Stevens was born on July 21, 1948 in London, England as Stephen Demetre Georgiou. He has been married to Fawzia Ali since September 9, 1979. They have five children. Harold’s proficiency at play-acting enables him to outwit Uncle Victor by pretending to be psychotic and killing Maude; Maude’s expertise at stealing cars amazes Harold, while he’s less impressed with her driving skills; she dazzles him with her adeptness at singing, dancing, playing music.

- Don't Be Shy
- On The Road To Find Out
- I Wish, I Wish
- Miles from Nowhere
- Tea for the Tillerman
- I Think I See the Light
- Where Do the Children Play?
- If You Want to Sing Out
- Trouble

LYRICS by Cat Stevens

Dont be shy
Don't be shy just let your feelings roll on by
Don't wear fear or nobody will know you're there
Just lift your head, and let your feelings out instead
And don't be shy, just let your feeling roll on by
On by
You know love is better than a song
Love is where all of us belong
So don't be shy just let your feelings roll on by
Don't wear fear or nobody will know you're there
You're there
Don't be shy just let your feelings roll on by
Don't wear fear or nobody will know you're there
Just lift your head, and let your feelings out instead
And don't be shy, just let your feeling roll on by
On by, on by, etc.
On the Road To Find Out
Well I left my happy home to see what I could find out
I left my folk and friends with the aim to clear my mind out
Well I hit the rowdy road and many kinds I met there
Many stories told me of the way to get there
So on and on I go, the seconds tick the time out
There's so much left to know, and I'm on the road to findout
Well in the end I'll know, but on the way I wonder
Through descending snow, and through the frost and thunder
I listen to the wind come howl, telling me I have to hurry
I listen to the robin's song saying not to worry
So on and on I go, the seconds tick the time out
There's so much left to know, and I'm on the road to findout
Then I found myself alone, hopin' someone would miss me
Thinking about my home, and the last woman to kiss me, kiss me
But sometimes you have to moan when nothing seems to suit ya
But nevertheless you know you're locked towards the future
So on and on you go, the seconds tick the time out
There's so much left to know, and I'm on the road to findout
Then I found my head one day when I wasn't even trying
And here I have to say, 'cause there is no use in lying, lying
Yes the answer lies within, so why not take a look now?
Kick out the devil's sin, pick up, pick up a good book now
I wish, I wish
I wish I knew, I wish I knew
what makes me, me, and what makes you, you.
It's just another point of view, ooo.
A state of mind I'm going through, yes.
So what I see is never true, ahhh.
I wish I could tell, I wish I could tell
what makes a heaven what makes a hell.
And do I get to ring my bell, ooo.
Or land up in some dusty cell, no.
While others reach the big hotel, yeah.
I wish I had, I wish I had
the secret of good, and the secret of bad.
Why does this question drive me mad? ahhh.
'Cause I was taught when but a lad, yes,
That bad was good and good was bad, ahhh.
I wish I knew the mystery of
that thing called hate, and that thing called love.
What makes the in-between so rough? ahhh.
Why is it always push and shove? ahhh
I guess I just don't know enough, yes.
Miles from nowhere
Miles from nowhere
I guess I'll take my time
Oh yeah, to reach there
Look up at the mountain
I have to climb
Oh yeah, to reach there.
Lord my body has been a good friend
But I won't need it when I reach the end
Miles from nowhere
Guess I'll take my time
Oh yeah, to reach there
I creep through the valleys
And I grope through the woods
'cause I know when I find it my honey
It's gonna make me feel good
I love everything
So don't it make you feel sad
'cause I'll drink to you, my baby
I'll think to that, I'll think to that.
Miles from nowhere
Not a soul in sight
Oh yeah, but it's alright
I have my freedom
I can make my own rules
Oh yeah, the ones that I choose
Lord my body has been a good friend
But I won't need it when I reach the end
Miles from nowhere
I Guess I'll take my time
Oh yeah, to reach there.
Tea for Tillerman
Bring tea for the Tillerman
Steak for the sun
Wine for the women who made the rain come
Seagulls sing your hearts away
'Cause while the sinners sin, the children play
Oh Lord how they play and play
For that happy day, for that happy day
I think I see the Light
I used to trust nobody, trusting even less their words,
until I found somebody, there was no one I preferred,
my heart was made of stone, my eyes saw only misty grey,
Until you came into my life girl, I saw everyone that way.
Until I found the one I needed at my side,
I think I would have been a sad man all my life.
I think I see the light coming to me,
coming through me giving me a second sight.
So shine, shine, shine,
shine, shine, shine,
shine, shine, shine.
I used to walk alone, every step seemed the same.
This world was not my home, so there was nothing much to gain.
Look up and see the clouds, look down and see the cold floor.
Until you came into my life girl, I saw nothing, nothing more.
Until I found the one I needed at my side,
I think I would have been a sad man all my life.
I think I see the light coming to me,
coming through me giving me a second sight.
So shine, shine, shine,
shine, shine, shine,
shine, shine, shine.
Where do the children play
Well I think it's fine, building jumbo planes.
Or taking a ride on a cosmic train.
Switch on summer from a slot machine.
Get what you want to if you want, 'cause you can get anything.
I know we've come a long way,
We're changing day to day,
But tell me, where do the children play?
Well you roll on roads over fresh green grass.
For your lorryloads pumping petrol gas.
And you make them long, and you make them tough.
But they just go on and on, and it seems you can't get off.
Oh, I know we've come a long way,
We're changing day to day,
But tell me, where do the children play?
When you crack the sky, scrapers fill the air.
Will you keep on building higher
'til there's no more room up there?
Will you make us laugh, will you make us cry?
Will you tell us when to live, will you tell us when to die?
I know we've come a long way,
We're changing day to day,
But tell me, where do the children play?
I f you want to sing out, sing out
Well, if you want to sing out, sing out
And if you want to be free, be free
'Cause there's a million things to be
You know that there are
And if you want to live high, live high
And if you want to live low, live low
'Cause there's a million ways to go
You know that there are
Chorus:
You can do what you want
The opportunity's on
And if you can find a new way
You can do it today
You can make it all true
And you can make it undo
you see ah ah ah
its easy ah ah ah
You only need to know
Well if you want to say yes, say yes
And if you want to say no, say no
'Cause there's a million ways to go
You know that there are
And if you want to be me, be me
And if you want to be you, be you
'Cause there's a million things to do
You know that there are
Chorus
Well, if you want to sing out, sing out
And if you want to be free, be free
'Cause there's a million things to be
You know that there are
You know that there are
You know that there are
You know that there are
You know that there are
Trouble
Trouble
Oh trouble set me free
I have seen your face
And it's too much too much for me
Trouble
Oh trouble can't you see
You're eating my heart away
And there's nothing much left of me
I've drunk your wine
You have made your world mine
So won't you be fair
So won't you be fair
I don't want no more of you
So won't you be kind to me
Just let me go where
I'll have to go there
Trouble
Oh trouble move away
I have seen your face
and it's too much for me today
Trouble
Oh trouble can't you see
You have made me a wreck
Now won't you leave me in my misery
I've seen your eyes
and I can see death's disguise
Hangin' on me
Hangin' on me
I'm beat, I'm torn
Shattered and tossed and worn
Too shocking to see
Too shocking to see
Trouble
Oh trouble move from me
I have paid my debt
Now won't you leave me in my misery
Trouble
Oh trouble please be kind
I don't want no fight
And I haven't got a lot of time

Entertainment | January 18, 2021

Harold And Maude, starring Ruth Gordon and Bud Cort, wasn't a box-office hit. When director Hal Ashby's story of a May-December romance between a young man named Harold (Cort) and the 79 year old Maude (Gordon) was released in 1971, the film's gallows humor and surreal tone turned off audiences in droves. People were sickened by the very idea of a young man making love to a woman who could be his grandmother, so much so that even the soothing sounds of Cat Stevens couldn't save the movie.

Time has been kind to Harold And Maude. The film remains a cult classic, and its influence can be seen in the work of some of the most beloved directors of the '90s and 2000s. As silly as the film can be, it's got quite a lot on its mind: life, death, love. Harold And Maude deals with it all and through the tears and the heartbreak it always has a wry smile on its face.

Harold and Maude is above all a love story

Harold And Maude lets the audience know exactly what they're in for in the opening tracking shot of the film. As Cat Stevens sings over the opening credits, Harold Chassen sets the stage for what we're meant to believe is his suicide. The audience even sees the young boy step onto an end table and step off before the scene cuts to a wide shot of him hanging by a noose.

With an absurd sense of humor and obsession with death, Harold attempts to shake up his upper class life by attending the funerals of people he doesn't know, faking suicide, and driving around in a hearse. It's only after he meets Maude, a 79 year old woman played by Ruth Gordon who sees life (and more importantly death) as a ridiculous experience full of both cruelty and beauty.

When Harold falls in love with Maude, a woman who could be his grandmother, he doesn't just find a reason to live, he realizes that life doesn't have to be bleak, and that growing old doesn't mean that he has to grow up.

Here today, gone tomorrow, don't get attached

The absurdity at the heart of Harold And Maude isn't something that wears off as the film grows along, but its first act isn't just incredibly weird, it's somewhat bleak. For instance, after meeting Maude at a funeral, Harold shoots himself with a gun filled with blanks while his mother tries to get him into a dating service. That's just one of many scenes that can absolutely put people off of this picture.

Hal Ashby didn't just make a 'quirky' movie, with Harold and Maude he made a meditation on death -- one that seeks to remind the audience that death isn't something to fear, it's simply a part of life. Sadly, people only understand the absurdity of life when they reach its end. The film posits that the faster we learn this fact of life, the faster we can really begin living.

Do you often get the feeling that life isn't worth living?

Bud Cort looks back on the making Harold And Maude as a special time in his life. He won the part of Harold by telling Ashby that he was going to be the film's star, and once on set the cast felt comfortable experimenting with one another - that's how the film got its fourth wall breaking moment where Harold grins directly at the camera.

While the cast and crew grew close, studio interference nearly torpedoed the whole show. Ashby nearly quit the film because of changes that they constantly requested, one involved cutting a kiss between the title characters, but this interference just bonded the cast and crew even more. Vivian Pickles, who plays Harold's overprotective and (rightfully) worried mother, wrote that Harold And Maude is the only film where she's felt like it came out just as it should be, fully formed like Diana out of Zeus' skull:

Harold And Maude is the only job I’ve done where I haven’t wanted to change something after I’ve seen it. Hal was so inspiring, with a most wonderful, genuine, appreciative smile of warm approval that spurred you on. He really loved my ideas—particularly for my favorite scene, where Mrs. Chasen fills out the application form for her son’s dating service... Bud, like so many young American actors of the day, was very influenced by the Method, all that warming up and getting into the role, which is not my way at all—I find it very alienating—but it was right for him and it was right for the character and right for the scene. The difference in the styles works beautifully.

I haven't lived, but I've died a few times

In 1971, critics and your average audience hated this movie. Producer Charles Mulvehill explained:

The idea of a 20-year-old boy with an 80-year-old woman just made people want to vomit. If you asked people what it was about, ultimately it became a boy who was f***ing his grandmother. People actually picketed theaters that were playing the film because they found it so distasteful.

Harold And Maude was too dark, too bleak, and too weird for most audiences at the time. The overall tone and concept of the film proved to be box office poison. The New York Times reports that the film didn't make a profit until 1983. Producer Colin Higgins says that he was shocked that the film took so long to make money because it cost a hair over a million dollars. He explained:

Harold And Maude Soundtrack List

Strange the way the game is played. Harold And Maude only cost $1.3 million. That's not even the salary of a major star today. Around 1977, Hal and Ruth and I did an audit of the movie because it cost so little we were sure it must be in profit. It wasn't.

The poor reviews pretty much doomed Cort's career for a few years. The parts that he were offered were just like Harold. Hollywood wanted him to play weirdoes and freaks, but he wanted more. Even though the film essentially encased him in amber, Cort looks on the film fondly. In 2014, he told The Guardian:

I'm so proud of it. I'm so lucky that I had the break I'd been dreaming of. The material matched my life so deeply, it was like giving birth to an elephant.

L-I-V live, otherwise you've got nothing to talk about in the locker room

By the late '70s the surreal, tragicomic tone of Harold And Maude was all over cinema. Taxi Driver, Network, Badlands, all of these films have a similar mix of comedy and darkness as that of Ashby's film that was so maligned upon its release. By 1977, college students were flocking to the movie whenever it played on campuses. Ruth Gordon said that she never spoke to someone who saw the film just once. She told The New York Times:

I got a marvelous letter from a young fellow who said, 'I've seen Harold And Maude 12 times and I wasn't sure why. I finally realized the lesson of the film is that everybody in the world has to have someone to tell it to.' Harold with all his fears could tell anything to Maude. I've had love affairs, romances, other marriages, but my husband Garson Kanin is the one person I can tell it to.

Harold And Maude Soundtrack Youtube

Today, it's easy to see how Harold And Maude fits into the tapestry of film history. Filmmakers like Wes Anderson and Richard Ayoade clearly love Ashby's rumination on life and death (Rushmore and Submarine are basically alternate versions of the film), but the film has influenced more than the directors who pull directly from the movie. Ashby's use of music in Harold And Maude, not just as a soundtrack but as a way to further communicate the themes of the film with the audience has become commonplace whether you're watching Garden State or Shaun of the Dead. Hal Ashby's ageless cult classic may be a film about embracing death, but it can still teach how to sing out and be ourselves.

From the Web

Rarely Seen Photos From The 70s for Mature Audiences Only

History Daily

Harold And Maude Soundtrack Youtube

67 Colorized Photos Captured Way More Than Expected

History Daily

Tags: Bud Cort | Cult Films | Hal Ashby | Harold And Maude | Movies In The 1970s | Ruth Gordon

Like it? Share with your friends!

Harold And Maude Soundtrack Songs

Jacob Shelton

Writer

Harold And Maude Soundtrack Cat Stevens