Stewart was obsessed with Bob Dylan’s 'of' songs - ' Masters of War', ' Chimes of Freedom', and presumably in 1975, ' Simple Twist of Fate' - believing that the preposition made them sound 'portentous'. Per the Financial Times, Stewart's 'girlfriend left a book of Vietnamese astrology open at the page for the Year of the Cat, then just beginning, the words fitted the same four notes - and also contained the word 'of'. On waking the next day beside her, the tourist notes that his tour bus has left without him, and decides to stay where he is for the time being. Although Stewart's highest placed single on that chart was 1978's ' Time Passages', 'Year of the Cat' has remained Stewart's signature recording, receiving regular airplay on both classic rock and folk rock stations.Ĭo-written by Peter Wood, 'Year of the Cat' is a narrative song written in the second person whose protagonist, a tourist, is visiting an exotic market when a mysterious silk-clad woman appears and takes him away for a gauzy romantic adventure. The song reached number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1977.
The song is the title track of his 1976 album Year of the Cat, and was recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, in January 1976 by engineer Alan Parsons.
' Year of the Cat' is a song by Scottish singer-songwriter Al Stewart, released as a single in July 1976 in the UK (October 1976 in the U.S.).
