Happy New YEAR Top Ten: Year of the Cat (#6)

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As this is the first day of the new year I decided I'd count down my ten favorite songs that have the word "year" in the title. It's too bad I didn't think of that idea one day sooner, so that the countdown would have been evenly split with five songs in 2017 and five in 2018. Oh, well. Here's the first "year" song for the new year....another one of those obvious selections. #6: Year of the Cat - Al Stewart Well, in the Chinese calendar, this will be the year of the dog, so he'd better redo this! (Actually, the year he did this song, 1976, was the "year of the cat" in the Vietnamese calendar.) Man, is this a great song. From the opening reference to Casablanca ("on a morning from a Bogart movie...you go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre contemplating a crime") to the great sax solo, this is a fabulous, terrific, and incredible song. And, if you listen to the full version, then listen to the "edited-for-time" radio version, you'll understand just why JJ hates the "radio edit" versions so much. About half of the song was cut from the single release. Criminal. This is a song where every wonderful second should be played and savored. Year of the Cat Written by Al Stewart and Peter Wood Recorded by Al Stewart From Year of the Cat, 1976 She comes in incense and patchouli: