Year of the Cat (song)

Last updated

Chart performance

"Year of the Cat"
Year of the Cat - Al Stewart.jpg
Single by Al Stewart
from the album Year of the Cat
B-side "Broadway Hotel"
ReleasedJuly 1976 (1976-07) (UK)
October 1976 (US)
RecordedJanuary 1976
Studio Abbey Road Studios, London, England
Genre
Length
  • 6:40 (Album Version)
  • 4:38 (Single Version)
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s) Alan Parsons
Al Stewart singles chronology
"Carol"
(1975)
"Year of the Cat"
(1976)
"On the Border"
(1977)
Official audio
"Year of the Cat" on YouTube

Cover versions

Hector recorded the song with his own Finnish lyrics as "Kissojen Yö" on his 1978 album Kadonneet Lapset. The Spanish rendering "El año del gato" was recorded by Érica García for her 2001 album release El cerebro.

A cover version by F. R. David appeared on the 1999 album Words – '99 Version.

The experimental band Psapp recorded a version for the compilation Take It Easy: 15 Soft Rock Anthems in 2006, which contained cat sound effects.

The song was sampled in Purple Disco Machine's "In My Arms", a non-album single released in 2020. [24]

Appearances in media

Another version of the song, also performed by Stewart, appears on Volume 1 of the Cities 97 Sampler .

The song appears in the film version of Running with Scissors (2006) and in the film Radiofreccia (1998), the directorial debut of Italian rock star Luciano Ligabue.

In 2013, the song was used during the end credits of "The Dinner" episode of HBO show Hello Ladies .

In 2008, the song was used during the open credits of Freeform show Year of the Cat .

The song is used frequently as bumper music on the late-night radio talk show Coast to Coast AM .

The song also appears in the German film Die Katze. [25]

In the 70s, the song contributed to the surge in the global awareness of the mint plant, patchouli, used as an essential oil with a reference to it in the third line of the verse in the bridge, "She comes in incense and patchouli".

References

  1. "Year Of The Cat – Record Collector Magazine". recordcollectormag.com.
  2. Breithaupt, Don; Breithaupt, Jeff (2000). Night Moves: Pop Music in the Late '70s. St. Martin's Press. p. 67. ISBN   978-0-312-19821-3.
  3. Al Stewart, Billboard Hot 100 Billboard.com. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
  4. Billboard Hot 100, Week of March 12, 1977 Billboard.com. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
  5. Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 8th Edition (Billboard Publications), page 603.
  6. Donigmann, David (10 May 2021). "Year of the Cat — the long, slow evolution of Al Stewart's best-known song". Financial Times .
  7. "Year of the Cat by Al Stewart". Songfacts. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
  8. Dave Thompson, 1000 Songs that Rock Your World, p. 142, Krause Publications, Iola, WI (2011). ISBN   978-1-4402-1422-6.
  9. Hernandez, Katherine, "CONCERT REVIEW: AL STEWART BRINGS HIS ‘YEAR OF THE CAT’ TOUR TO EDMONDS," The Hudsucker, retrieved 5 May 2019.
  10. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 294. ISBN   0-646-11917-6.
  11. "Al Stewart – Year of the Cat" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  12. "Al Stewart – Year of the Cat" (in French). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  13. "Top RPM Singles: Issue 5176a." RPM . Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved November 2, 2020.
  14. "Image : RPM Weekly – Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. 5 March 1977. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  15. "Al Stewart – Year of the Cat" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  16. "Al Stewart – Year of the Cat". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  17. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  18. "Al Stewart Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  19. "Cashbox Top 100: March 12, 1977". cashboxmagazine.com. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  20. "Al Stewart Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  21. "Kent Music Report No 183 – 26 December 1977 > National Top 100 Singles for 1977". Kent Music Report . Retrieved 8 January 2022 via Imgur.com.
  22. "Image : RPM Weekly – Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. 17 July 2013. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
  23. "Top 100 Hits of 1977/Top 100 Songs of 1977". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
  24. "Purple Disco Machine Shares Funky New Single, "In My Arms" | DJ Times". The Nexus of All Things DJ. 10 February 2020. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
  25. "The Cat". 21 January 1988 via www.imdb.com.