Music Monday: Al Stewart and “The Year Of The Cat” (1976)
Posted By RichC on July 17, 2023
It is summer, and a Monday, so why wouldn’t I post another great song from my youth, and the greatest music decade, the 1970s (IMHO). This week it is Al Stewart and “The Year Of The Cat.” If you enjoy Al Stewart, check out a previous Music Monday post from the summer of 2020: Time Passages -Al Stewart (1978).
| Al Stewart – “The Year Of The Cat” | 1976 |
What triggered mentioning this was a blip on Sirius XM regard how the song came to be … and the instrumental piano in the beginning. There are two version, one where Tim Renwick said, “No, this soundcheck riff is an instrumental” … and the second below from a concert at Royal Albert Hall on May 16, 2015.
“This one came about in a really strange way. Tim Renwick previously played in a band called The Sutherland Brothers, and they had a keyboard player called Peter Wood. I was touring in America in 1975 and Peter Wood continually, at every soundcheck I ever went to, he played this riff on the piano. After I heard it about 14 times I said, ‘You know, there’s something about that. It sounds kind of haunting and nice. Can I write some lyrics to it?” And he said: “Sure, go and write some lyrics.’
{Instrumental Lead In}
On a morning from a Bogart movie
In a country where they turn back time
You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre
Contemplating a crime
[Pre-Chorus]
She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running
Like a watercolor in the rain
Don’t bother asking for explanations!
She’ll just tell you that she came
[Chorus]
In the Year of the Cat
She doesn’t give you time for questions
As she locks up your arm in hers
And you follow ’till your sense of which direction
Completely disappears
[Pre-Chorus]
By the blue tiled walls near the market stalls, there’s a hidden door she leads you to
These days, she says: “I feel my life!”
Just like a river running through
[Chorus]
The Year of the Cat
Well, she looks at you so coolly
And her eyes shine
Like the moon in the sea, she comes in Incense
And Patchouli
So, you take her
To find what’s waiting inside
[Chorus]
The Year of the Cat
{Instrumental Bridge}
Well, morning comes and you’re still with her
And the bus and the tourists are gone
And you’ve thrown away your choice and lost your ticket
So, you have to stay on
[Pre-Chorus]
But, the drum-beat strains of the night remain
In the rhythm of the new-born day
You know sometime you’re bound to leave her
But, for now you’re going to stay
{Outro}
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