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A recent review of Billboard Hot 100 lists from the last 50 years revealed that Al Stewart’s jazz-pop piano ballad, “Year of the Cat,” has somehow gone unnoticed at No. 8 on the list since its release in 1977.
Stewart, whose idiosyncratic songwriting is perhaps most characterized by his obsession with historical subject matter, first achieved success with “Year of the Cat” in 1977 when the single reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and continued to stay there for the next 36 consecutive years.
Since its release, Stewart’s “Year of the Cat” has been bookended at No. 8 by such diverse hits as 1979’s “Comfortably Numb” and “Brass in Pocket” to 2012’s “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)” and “Starships."
“We haven’t seen anything like it since Bob Seger’s ‘Hollywood Nights’ reached number 34 in 1978 and stayed there without anyone noticing until 2007,” remarked Billboard Magazine writer Paul Gendler. “Sometimes these old tunes just squeak by and continue to achieve a very specific level of commercial success for years on end, all the while making virtually no impact on popular culture whatsoever."
“What can I say?” said Gendler. “That’s show business. Although not usually. This is definitely an anomaly.”
“Something about the song just seems to quietly resonate with every generation,” Gendler continued, attempting to account for the song’s protracted relevance. “I guess it might have something to do with the fact that it’s a re-imagining of the romance from ‘Casablanca’ set in 1970s North Africa, in which Stewart makes multiple allusions to Vietnamese zodiac symbolism and utilizes the melody from a discarded composition he had previously written about a semi-obscure English comedian named Tony Hancock.”
He added, “Whether they know it or not, the people have spoken. And they clearly love ‘Year of the Cat.’ I guess.”
As of press time, “Year of the Cat” had grossed over 25 billion dollars in its tenure at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, and showed no signs of dropping to No. 9 any time soon.
