Al Stewart-Year of the Cat

  《Year of the Cat》是Al Stewart1976年發行的第七張專輯，製作和錄音工程由Alan Parsons協助，這張專輯因暢銷曲曲"Year of the Cat"而受到歌迷們的喜愛，詞曲分別由Al  Stewart / John Wood完成，樂評人認為此曲為mysterious woman' songs「神祕女子之歌」，《Year of the Cat》專輯在美國曾進入排行榜前5名，專輯其它幾首單曲"On the Border"及Stewart 寫的"Lord Grenville"是講伊莉莎白時代與探險家Sir Richard Grenville (1542–1591)的故事。

  Stewart寫所有的歌及配樂並完成錄音，當時的那些歌甚而只有歌名而已，在一次加拿大的電台訪問時，他表示:在前六張專輯都是如此，他常寫四種不同的版本給一首歌。專輯標題原來是他1966年的作品"Foot of the Stage" ，此曲對Tony Hancock有先見之明，此一英國著名的諧星二年後自殺身亡。Stewart發現Hancock在美國不是很有名，他回頭用"Year of the Cat"當標題歌。

  Al Stewart 1945年出生於蘇格蘭Glasgow，"Year of the Cat"在Billboard Hot 100單曲排行榜最高獲得過第8名，僅次於獲得第7名的Time Passages。

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqZc7ZQURMs

 

Year of the Cat

Lyrics：Alistair Ian Stewart / Peter John Wood

 

On a morning from a Bogart movie
In a country where they turn back time
You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre
Contemplating a crime
She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running
Like a watercolor in the rain
Don't bother asking for explanations
She'll just tell you that she came
In the year of the cat

She doesn't give you time for questions
As she locks up your arm in hers
And you follow 'till your sense of which direction
Completely disappears
By the blue tiled walls near the market stalls
There's a hidden door she leads you to
These days, she says, I feel my life
Just like a river running through
The year of the cat

While she looks at you so cooly
And her eyes shine like the moon in the sea
She comes in incense and patchouli
So you take her, to find what's waiting inside
The year of the cat

Well morning comes and you're still with her
And the bus and the tourists are gone
And you've thrown away your choice you've lost your ticket
So you have to stay on
But the drum-beat strains of the night remain
In the rhythm of the newborn day
You know sometime you're bound to leave her
But for now you're going to stay
In the year of the cat

Year of the cat