Cat Stevens, now known as Yusuf, has spoken about the unexpected inspiration behind a new melody used in his reworking of "Father and Son" for the 50th-anniversary re-recording of his 1970 album Tea for the Tillerman. While revisiting the record with several of the original musicians in France, he discovered a fresh melodic idea within the song's existing chord sequence and felt compelled to incorporate it, later using it on tour before embedding it permanently into the track. The anecdote underlines how, even decades on, Stevens continues to find new depth in songs that remain central to his creative and spiritual journey.

For the reworked version, titled Tea for the Tillerman², Stevens combined his current vocals for the father's lines with a recording of his own voice from 1970, taken from a performance at The Troubadour in Los Angeles when he was 22, for the son's part. Using digital editing, the two eras of his voice appear together on the same track, creating a dialogue between his younger and older selves that mirrors the song's original theme of generational tension. The song remains widely regarded as the standout track from Tillerman and one of the most significant of his career.