"If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out" is a popular song by

Cat Stevens Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou; ), commonly known by his stage names Cat Stevens, Yusuf, and Yusuf / Cat Stevens, is a British singer-songwriter and musician. He has sold more than 100 million records and has more than two billion st ...

. It first appeared in the 1971 film ''

Harold and Maude ''Harold and Maude'' is a 1971 American romantic black comedy-drama film directed by Hal Ashby and released by Paramount Pictures. It incorporates elements of dark humor and existentialist drama. The plot follows the exploits of Harold Chasen ...

''. Stevens wrote all the songs in ''Harold and Maude'' in 1970–1971, during the time he was writing and recording his ''

Tea for the Tillerman ''Tea for the Tillerman'' is the fourth studio album by singer-songwriter Cat Stevens, released in November 1970. Overview Stevens' fourth album released during the year 1970, ''Tea for the Tillerman'' includes many of his best-known songs such ...

'' album. However, "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out" and two other songs from that period were not released as singles nor placed on any album at that time. No official soundtrack was released from the film at that time. The song was finally released later on Stevens' 1984 album, '' Footsteps in the Dark: Greatest Hits, Vol. 2'' along with his other previously unreleased songs. In addition, it appeared on the UK edition of his 2003 album '' The Very Best of Cat Stevens''.

Official soundtrack (2007)

The first official

soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ( ...

to the film was released in December 2007, by Vinyl Films Records, as a vinyl-only limited edition release of 2500 copies. It contained a 30-page oral history of the making of the film, the most extensive series of interviews yet conducted on ''Harold and Maude''.

Other appearances in other media

In 2007, a rendition of "Sing Out" appeared in the film ''

Charlie Bartlett ''Charlie Bartlett'' is a 2007 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Jon Poll. The screenplay by Gustin Nash focuses on a teenager who begins to dispense therapeutic advice and prescription drugs to the student body at his new ...

''. The song is featured in the TV shows ''

My Name Is Earl ''My Name Is Earl'' is an American television sitcom created by Greg Garcia (producer), Greg Garcia for NBC. It aired for four seasons from September 20, 2005, to May 14, 2009, with a total of List of My Name Is Earl episodes, 96 episodes. It wa ...

'' and ''

Ray Donovan ''Ray Donovan'' is an American crime drama television series created by Ann Biderman for Showtime. The drama, starring Liev Schreiber in the title role, is set primarily in Los Angeles (during seasons 1–5) and in New York City (during seaso ...

''. It was featured as the 2nd song of

Rodney Mullen John Rodney Mullen (born August 17, 1966) is an American professional skateboarder who practices freestyle skateboarding and street skateboarding. He is considered the most influential skateboarder of all time. Mullen is credited for inventing ...

's skateboarding part in the Plan B video, ''Questionable''. The song is also the theme to the BBC Radio sitcom '' North by Northamptonshire''. As of fall 2016, the song appears in a commercial for the 2017

Jeep Grand Cherokee The Jeep Grand Cherokee is a range of mid-sized sport utility vehicles produced by American manufacturer Jeep. At its introduction, while most SUVs were still manufactured with body-on-frame construction, the Grand Cherokee has used a unibody ...

Cover versions

* The song has been covered by

Bloomington, Indiana Bloomington is a city in Monroe County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. The population was 79,168 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the List of municipalities in Indiana, seventh-most populous city in Indiana and ...

folk punk Folk punk (known in its early days as rogue folk) is a fusion of folk music and punk rock. It was popularized in the early 1980s by the Pogues in England, and by Violent Femmes in the United States. Folk punk achieved some mainstream success in t ...

pioneers Ghost Mice under the shortened title "Sing Out". * The song has been covered by Death By Chocolate in 2001, on their first, self-titled album * In August 2009,

Yusuf Islam Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou; ), commonly known by his stage names Cat Stevens, Yusuf, and Yusuf / Cat Stevens, is a British singer-songwriter and musician. He has sold more than 100 million records and has more than two billion st ...

approved his original recording of the song for use in a

T Mobile T-Mobile is the brand of telecommunications by Deutsche Telekom. T-Mobile may also refer to: Deutsche Telekom's current and former subsidiaries * T-Mobile US, an American wireless network operator known simply as "T-Mobile" * T-Mobile Polska, a Po ...

television commercial.

Wyclef Jean Nel Ust Wyclef Jean ( ; born October 17, 1969) is a Haitian rapper, singer, and record producer. Born in Haiti, Jean emigrated to the Northeastern United States, United States as a child. He gained fame as a founding member of the Fugees, a Ne ...

also made an upbeat remix of the song for a later T Mobile commercial that aired in December 2009. *

Folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

/ bluegrass band Rani Arbo and Daisy Mayhem covered the song for their 2010 album ''Ranky Tanky''. * The song has also been covered by

Amanda Palmer Amanda MacKinnon Palmer (born April 30, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and performance artist who is the lead vocalist, pianist, and lyricist of the duo the Dresden Dolls. She performs as a solo artist and was also a memb ...

. * The song has been covered by Jim Gill on his 1995 children's album ''Jim Gill Makes It Noisy In Boise, Idaho''. * German

bitpop Bitpop is a type of electronic music and subgenre of chiptune music, where at least part of the music is made using the sound chips of 8-bit (or 16-bit) computers and video game consoles. Characteristics Among systems used include the Atari ...

band Welle: Erdball covered the song on their album ''Der Kalte Krieg'' (2011). * The song was covered by

James Marsden James Paul Marsden (born September 18, 1973) is an American actor. He began his acting career guest starring in the television shows '' Saved by the Bell: The New Class'' (1993), '' Touched by an Angel'' (1995), and '' Party of Five'' (1995). Ma ...

, Ariana Greenblatt and

Jacob Collier Jacob Collier (born 2 August 1994) is a British singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and educator. His music incorporates a combination of jazz and elements from other musical genres, and often features extensive use of reharmo ...

in the 2021 animated feature '' The Boss Baby: Family Business''.

References

{{authority control Cat Stevens songs 1971 songs Songs written for films Songs written by Cat Stevens Song recordings produced by Paul Samwell-Smith