The Perfect Song Was Blocked Being Used In Lucifer Season 5 Musical Episode

Joe Henderson and Ildy Modrovich, the showrunners of Lucifer, have disclosed that the one song they couldn’t gain permission to use for the show’s musical episode was Cat Stevens’ “Father and Son.” Tom Ellis plays Lucifer Morningstar, a fallen angel who is tired of his duties as the Devil in the fantasy series. He escapes to Los Angeles, where he uses his supernatural abilities to assist the LAPD in solving crimes.

Lucifer premiered on Fox for three seasons before being cancelled owing to low ratings, but Netflix picked up the show a month later after a strong online response. The second half of Lucifer season 5 was published earlier this week, and the series has been renewed for a sixth and final season by the streaming service.

Father And Son

Lucifer joins a long tradition of series making their heroes sing about their troubles for an episode with the tenth episode of season 5, “Bloody Celestial Karaoke Jam.” The musical spectacular is jam-packed with karaoke classics from a wide range of decades and genres. The music is employed to accompany the characters’ emotional journeys throughout the episode, with the exception of one scene where the murder victim joins in on a performance of Queen’s “Another One Bites The Dust.”

The Wrap reported that showrunners Modrovich and Henderson had planned to employ “Father and Son” for a duet between Lucifer and his father God, played by Dennis Haysbert. Cat Stevens, also known as Yusuf Islam, the singer-songwriter, rejected permission for the song to be used in the scene. According to The Wrap, Modrovich speculated on Stevens’ refusal.

Stevens frequently licences his music for film and television productions, probably most notably in 1971 when he composed the majority of the soundtrack for the cult classic Harold and Maude. He has previously licenced this song, such as when “Father and Son” was utilised in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 for Peter Quill to listen to during the funeral of his father figure, Yondu, in 2017.

But, for the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, the picture of God and his famously wayward son singing a song titled “Father and Son” was perhaps a little too literal. Although the relationship isn’t stated clearly in the lyrics, the discussion between the song’s actors is so strong and emotional that adding the baggage of Lucifer’s characters could detract from the song’s impact. Fortunately, the showrunners were really pleased with the outcome of the episode, and there is no hatred between them and Stevens.