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Cat Stevens’ ‘Tea for the Tillerman’ Replaces Normal ‘Simpsons’ Couch Gag

Homer, Cat Stevens, Simpsons, Tea For the Tillerman

It appears that after a good quarter century of having to conjure up weekly ideas for episode-opening couch gags, The Simpsons is really starting to venture outside the box. Two weeks ago, the show delighted the internet (and likely perplexed a large percentage of their viewership) by having experimental animator Don Hertzfeldt design the opening “gag” — simply put, two of the strangest minutes of television ever to air on a major network during prime time. Last night, the gig was blown out to a 30-second montage of Springfield photo stills set to legendary singer/songwriter Cat Stevens‘ 1970 title track “Tea for the Tillerman.”

Admitedly, compared to Hertzfeldt’s mind-melting short of fourth-dimension freakout, it’s a pretty genteel and downright pastoral slice of life. Still, we’re not sure exactly what inspired the extended Yusuf Islam tribute — hopefully it wasn’t that the show’s creators were particularly excited about seeing him live in New York this December, anyway.