Saturday, 1 January 2011
Al Stewart: "The Year of The Cat" (1976)
"Year of the Cat" is a song by Scottish singer-songwriter Al Stewart. It is the title track of his album Year of the Cat, which was recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London in January 1976 by engineer Alan Parsons and released in July 1976. It was Stewart's first Top 10 US single, peaking at #8 on the US singles chart. It remains one of Stewart's most popular songs and receives regular airplay on both classic rock and folk rock stations. It is noted for its lengthy instrumental sections, including a long solo that encompasses cello, piano, acoustic guitar, distorted electric guitar, and saxophone. The transition from acoustic guitar to electric to saxophone was initiated by Tim Renwick. Parsons had Phil Kenzie add the saxophone part of the song — and by doing so transformed the original folk concept into the jazz-influenced ballad that put Al Stewart onto the charts.
According to wikipedia, shorter versions of the track can be found on some European 7" single formats. Though both of the discs carry the same label and catalogue number (RCA PB 5007), the French single features the A side track clocking at 4'30", the Italian one features an even shorter mix of just 3'30" so that the lengthy instrumental intro is completely missing.
The song was co-written by Peter Wood. The lyrics tell a story about a tourist who meets a hippie girl in an exotic Moroccan market, stays the night with her, and thus misses his tour bus.
- Lyrics:
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
Well, 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 sometimes you're bound to leave her
But for now you're going to stay
In the year of the cat
Libellés :
Unforgettable Songs XXV
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