THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

130-Al Stewart-Year of the Cat.

1976-Number 31 single.

Best Bit-At 5.34. From my interpretation of the song lyrics it should be ‘Year of the Fox-y Lady.’

Al Stewart was born Alastair Ian Stewart on September 5th, 1945, in Greenock, Scotland, although he was born in Glasgow he grew up in Wimborne, Dorset, England. Stewart is a singer/songwriter, and his music includes Folk/Rock, Psychedelic Rock, and Soft Rock. He has released 16 studio Albums between 1967-2008, and 22 singles between 1966-2005. Two of his studio Albums have reached the Billboard Hot 200 chart top 10 in America, while his only charting single on either side of the Atlantic is this one. Stewart was one of the artists who played at the first ever ‘Glastonbury Festival’ in 1970, playing to around 1000 ‘hippies’ who paid £1 entrance fee each.

‘Year of the Cat’ is also the title track of Al Stewart’s seventh studio Album from 1976, and was was co-written by Stewart and Peter Wood, (1950-1993) and produced by Alan Parsons, the Album has gone on to sell in excess of 1 million copies worldwide, with the song ‘Year of the Cat’ becoming a staple of ‘AOR’ radio stations. Peter Wood whose name was added to the songwriting credits by Stewart had been a member of the Scottish Rock group ‘Quiver’ (see also best songs 697.) Stewart recalled that he was opening for Linda Ronstadt during a 1975 tour of the United States when he heard Peter Wood using a catchy chord progression during soundchecks, Stewart incorporated the notes into the melodic line of ‘Year of the Cat.’

The ‘Year of the Cat’ was produced by Alan Parsons OBE who was born on December 20th, 1948, in Willesden, London, England, at the age of 18 in 1967 he earned his first credit as the assistant engineer on the Beatles Album ‘Abbey Road,’ he would then go onto engineer for ‘Wings,’ the ‘Hollies,’ and ‘Pink Floyd’s’ ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ Album. Parsons then went onto produce ‘January,’ the 1975 UK Number 1 single by the Scottish group ‘Pilot,’ as well as two Albums for Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, which included their 1975 UK Number 1 single ‘Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me’) Also in 1975 Parsons created ‘The Alan Parsons Project,’ releasing 11 Albums in it’s 15 year career.

Al Stewart has explained the songs meaning,’It’s about a business man who is extremely busy flying to a destination in the Far East when his plane has an unscheduled stop. He leaves the plane along with other passengers. He succumbs to this beautiful woman, he stays the night with her and by the time he wakes he realises the plane has gone and will not be back for some considerable time. His life has changed, it’s not a decision he would have planned but it’s a good turn in his life events, that time coinciding with the year of the cat.’ Incidentally the ‘Cat’ is one of the 12 signs of the Vietnamese Zodiac, it corresponds to that of the ‘Rabbit’ in the Chinese Zodiac.’ Al Stewart wrote the song in 1975, which was the year of the cat.

‘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.’