Do I have to listen to this song?
Having trouble waking up from your catnap on this Monday morning? Well, The Nest always has the music that will get you purring again. This is the day we scoop through clay to find another great song that got buried in that giant litter box full of lost music we like to call the Dusty Vinyl Archive! DJ Scratchy has her headphones on with the silly looking cat ears, while the Sponkies check to see whether the stray they found is a boy or a girl. This song is guaranteed to sound better than an alley cat in heat…
As you’ve no doubt already heard a few times (including on this very blog), this weekend marked a new lunar new year… meaning out with the tiger and in with the rabbit. The critters that represent the 12 year cycle of the Chinese zodiac are reasonably well known here in America where it amounts to little more than interesting trivia for most people.
So if you’ve ever heard this song before, you might just be wondering……. when in the hell is the year of the cat anyway?
“Year of the Cat” is Scottish songwriter Al Stewart‘s best known hit, and least in the US where it went to #8 in 1976. It features a story told in the second person (!!!) set around series of music interludes featuring a LOT of different instruments. You’d need an entire symphony orchestra to replicate this song…
The Year of the Dinosaur…
But we still haven’t answered the question just when IS the year of the cat? And no, it’s not EVERY year, as most cats would tell you while demanding another handful of treats.
It turns out that the Vietnamese have their own zodiac, which is much like the Chinese zodiac…. in fact, nearly identical! Except for one small detail…….
Meow! What’s up doc?
Out with the rabbit and in with the kitty! Yes, while you were all busy celebrating the start of the year of the rabbit, elsewhere in the world, it was the beginning of the year of the cat! Thus, Al Stewart’s magnum opus is once again relevant until whenever the hell the next lunar new year starts… just as it was when he wrote the song in 1975. That, of course, happens to be the year I was born, thus giving me the rare perk of dual citizenship in the Asian zodiac zoo as both a rabbit AND a cat…
It’s the year of the Cabbit!
Oh, and since Evil Squirrel’s Nest launched in 2011, I’m a double cabbit!
Come back next Monday for another song that will totally own you…
Evil Squirrel's Nest 
I sure do remember that song – I liked it a lot and by that point in my life had a couple of cats. But inquiring minds what to know – Since you were born in 1975, shouldn’t that have been “The Year Of The Squirrel” ?
Pam
Nobody gave me a say in assigning zodiac animals…. or you’d have the year of the possum, the year of the capybara, and of course, the year of the man-eating otter!
I like it a lot… and it came out in a time where we had boney m and harpo and the bellamy brothers… so this sound was different and like a balm for the ears between the flowing love, beds in cornfields and daddy cool… ;O)
I like the mellowy hits of the 70’s!
Hadn’t thought of that song in years, but now that I have it’s inside my mind for the day.
You’re very welcome!
CAT? Fly or run for your life.
Maybe you should try some tummy rubs to make peace…
I love, love The Year of the Cat. I first heard it driving across country and couldn’t get enough of it!
Moon Pie, Bug, and Potato wish you all a phenomenonal “Year of the Cat”! *paw bump*
Woohoo!
I remember this song but the only part of it which stands out is when he actually sings “the year of the cat”. It’s one of those songs which drones away in the background. Now if he’d sung about “the year of the cabbit”, that would have been a different story…
You are correct that it’s one of those chorus-only songs. Proof you can mumble anything between some catchy lines and have a hit…
Cabbit…LOVE it! Happy Lunar New Year whether you go Chinese or Viet Namese. 🐰 🐈⬛
You never know what genetic technology is going to create next. Maybe a squog?