When Steven Demetre Georgiou was a child, he found a Dachshund tied to a post. Though he searched for the dog’s owner, no one claimed the dog, and Steven suddenly became a dog owner. Steven remembered the dog years later as an adult, and wrote a song in tribute to him going as far as making the point that while relationships can come and go, a dog will stay true and loyal  forever.

Ordinarily, this would be a touching story, but not all that noteworthy had Steven not become known, in part, for his journey from being a sensitive-superstar-singer-songwriter to being a recluse in Brazil, and finally converting to Islam and adopting the name, Yusuf Islam. You probably know the singer better as Cat Stevens, and the song about that Dachshund, “I Love My Dog,” was his first single, and the song that launched his career. It was this song that producer, Mike Hurst, heard Stevens play and later recorded. Within three months, “I Love My Dog,” became a hit in the United Kingdom. Check it out below:

Image of Cat Stevens with his Dachshund found on Pinterest and happily credited upon receipt of information