year of the cat

This Scottish Folk Rock Troubadour rewrote his songs, turned a suicidal comic into a mysterious woman, and whipped incense and patchouli and a Bogart movie into his masterwork. Al Stewart recorded 'Year of the Cat' in London at Abbey Road Studios during the Year of The Cat, which in Vietnamese astrology is also called the Year of the Rabbit. Stewart had moved from CBS Records to RCA Records, and with Alan Parsons producing, he was able to create the perfect lush backdrop for his sophisticated pop. 'Lord Granville' is about Elizabethan sailor and explorer Sir Richard Grenville. The title track was originally written about British comedian Tony Hancock, who Stewart had seen break down on stage during a particularly disastrous performance: "He came on stage and he said 'I don't want to be here. I'm just totally pissed off with my life. I'm a complete loser, this is stupid. I don't know why I don't just end it all right here.' And they all laughed, because is was the character he played... this sort of down-and-out character. And I looked at him and I thought, Oh my god, He means it. This is for real." Hancock killed himself in 1968 with a drug overdose. The song was originally titled 'Foot Of The Stage' with the refrain, "Your tears fall down like rain at the foot of the stage." Pianist Peter Wood was given a co-writing credit on the song for the piano riff. The song was a major hit worldwide, reaching fifteen in New Zealand, thirteen in Australia, seven in Belgium, six in the Netherlands, five in Italy, and three in Canada. In his native UK, the song was his only hit, reaching thirty-one. Stewart says, "When I finished 'Year of the Cat', I thought: ‘If this isn’t a hit, then I can’t make a hit.’ We finally got the formula exactly right." The album sold platinum in the US, peaking at number five; and gold in the UK, peaking at number thirty-eight. The follow-up single, 'On The Border' reached number forty two in the US.

http://www.alstewart.com/

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

She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running

Like a watercolour in the rain

Don't bother asking for explanations

She'll just tell you that she came

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

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

The year of the cat

She looks at you so cooly

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

The year of the cat.

Well morning comes and you're still with her

And the bus and the tourists are gone

And you've thrown away the choice and lost your ticket

So you have to stay on

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

In the year of the cat.










'Year of the Cat'
full album:

All tracks composed by Al Stewart, except where indicated.


Side 1

"Lord Grenville" – 5:00
"On the Border" – 3:22
"Midas Shadow" – 3:08
"Sand in Your Shoes" – 3:02
"If it Doesn't Come Naturally, Leave It" – 4:28

Side 2

"Flying Sorcery" – 4:20
"Broadway Hotel" – 3:55
"One Stage Before" – 4:39
"Year of the Cat" (Stewart, Peter Wood) – 6:40