"Year of the Cat" is a single by singer-songwriter Al Stewart, released in July 1976. The song is the title track of his 1976 album Year of the Cat, and was recorded at Abbey Road Studios,London in January 1976 by engineer Alan Parsons. The song reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1977. Although technically Stewart's 1978 single "Time Passages" is his career record with a #7 peak, "Year of the Cat" has remained Stewart's signature recording receiving regular airplay on both classic rock and folk rock stations. The track is noted for its lengthy instrumental sections - in fact, from the 6:40 album version, over four minutes of the song is spent on instrumentals, including a long, melodic series of solos that encompasses cello, violin, piano, acoustic guitar, distorted electric guit