Al Stewart is a British singer-songwriter and folk rock musician.

He is best known for his 1976 single “Year of the Cat” and its 1978 follow-up “Time Passages” (both of which were produced by Alan Parsons), although albums such as Past, Present and Future [1973] and Modern Times [1975] are seen as more representative of Stewart’s talent as a historical wordsmith and lyrical balladeer.

On The Border

http://djallyn.org/media/Al_Stewart-On_the_Border.flv

The fishing boats go out across the evening water,
Smuggling guns and arms across the Spanish border.
The wind whips up the waves so loud,
The ghost moon sails among the clouds,
And turns the rifles into silver,
On the border.

On my wall, the colors of the maps are running.
From Africa, the winds, they talk of changes coming.
The torches flare up in the night,
The hand that sets the farms alight,
Has spread the word to those who’re waiting
On the border.

In the village where I grew up
Nothing seems the same.
Still you never see the change
From day to day.
No one notices the customs slip away.

Late last night the rain was knocking on my window,
I moved across the darkened room, and in the lamp-glow,
I thought I saw down in the street,
The spirit of the century
Telling us that we’re all standing
On the border.

In the islands where I grew up,
Nothing seems the same.
It’s just the patterns that remain,
An empty shell.
But there’s a strangeness in the air you feel too well.

The fishing boats go out across the evening water,
Smuggling guns and arms across the Spanish border.
The wind whips up the waves so loud,
The ghost moon sails among the clouds,
And turns the rifles into silver,
On the border,
On the border,
On the border,
On the border.

• Audio from 1976 Year of the Cat album:

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Al Stewart is a British singer-songwriter and folk rock musician.

He is best known for his 1976 single “Year of the Cat” and its 1978 follow-up “Time Passages” (both of which were produced by Alan Parsons), although albums such as Past, Present and Future [1973] and Modern Times [1975] are seen as more representative of Stewart’s talent as a historical wordsmith and lyrical balladeer.

Year of the Cat

Year of the Cat is a song by British singer-songwriter Al Stewart. It is the title track of the album Year of the Cat, which was recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London in January 1976 by engineer Alan Parsons, and released in July of that year. It remains one of Stewart’s most popular songs and receives regular airplay on both classic rock and folk rock stations. It is noted for its lengthy, beautiful instrumental sections, including a long solo that encompasses violin, piano, acoustic guitar, distorted electric guitar, and saxophone. The song was co-written by Peter Wood.

http://djallyn.org/media/Al_Stewart-Year_of_the_cat.flv

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 watercolour 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

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 the choice and lost your ticket
So you have to stay on
But the drum-beat strains of the night remain
In the rhythm of the new-born day
You know sometime you’re bound to leave her
BUt for now you’re going to stay
In the year of the cat.

• Audio from the 1976 Year of the Cat album:

(84)