<P> Co-written by Peter Wood, "Year of the Cat" is a narrative song written in the second person whose protagonist, a tourist, is visiting an exotic market when a mysterious silk - clad woman appears and takes him away for a gauzy romantic adventure . On wakening the next day beside her, the tourist realizes, with equanimity, that his tour bus has left without him and he has lost his ticket . </P> <P> The Cat is one of the twelve signs of the Vietnamese zodiac . It corresponds to that of the Rabbit in the Chinese zodiac . At the time of the song's release, the most recent Year of the Rabbit had been 11 February 1975 to 30 January 1976; thus, the song was recorded in the Vietnamese Year of the Cat . </P> <P> The song "Year of the Cat" began as "Foot of the Stage", a song written by Stewart in 1966 after seeing a performance by comedian Tony Hancock whose patter about "being a complete loser" who might as well "end it all right here" drew laughs from the audience: Stewart's intuitive response that Hancock was in genuine despair led to the writing of "Foot of the Stage". It was the melody for this never - recorded song which Stewart set the lyrics of "Year of the Cat" to in 1975: pianist Peter Wood was given a co-writing credit on the song in recognition of his piano riff on the recorded track . </P> <P> Subsequent to the entry of the single on the US charts, the track afforded Stewart a major hit in Australia (#13), Belgium / Flemish Region (#7), Canada (#3), Italy (#5), the Netherlands (#6) and New Zealand (#15). In the UK, where the single had been overlooked on its original July 1976 release, it gained renewed interest which was evident in a Top 40 chart entry although interest levelled off outside the Top 30 with a #31 peak in January 1977 . "Year of the Cat" would remain Stewart's sole chart single in his native UK . </P>

Who played piano on year of the cat