Sunday, February 14, 2010

It's the...year of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight...

Or somesuch.

Anyhoo, I was a kid when this came out and didn't appreciate it so much, but through the years, Al Stewart's The Year of the Cat has ultimately enthralled me with its lovely bones and virtuouso piano line, and an appreciation for another song about a mysterious dame in the film noir tradition. Here's a video from the period of its release,



and then one from 1991 Al recorded live with just his guitar and Tori Amos noodling on the pi-anny. The sound is not impeccable here, but I love the performance, nonetheless.




Chinese calendar peels a leaf to the year of the Tiger today. Have a nice one. Sharpen your talons. Preen your whiskers. Paw litter all over the place.

4 comments:

Home on the Range said...

In Dog years I'm Chinese. Of maybe it's in Chinese years I'm the Dog. In any case, always loved that song.

I so hope you have a lovely holiday. This year, for you should be only the best.

JohnMXL said...

I was listening to Top 40 radio when this song came out and at the time got thoroughly sick of it, but in recent years have added it to my rotation of favorite songs primarily for the string and sax solos.

Understanding the lyrics now only makes it better.

Old NFO said...

Nice song, in all the iterations!

Anonymous said...

I've got Al Stewart bookmarked as a favorite in my sat radio.