Cat People (Putting Out The Fire) (From Let’s Dance – 1983)
I have to admit, the first time I heard ‘Cat People’ it wasn’t instantly recognisable to me as one of Bowie’s, by any stretch of the imagination. Now whether that was due to it appearing during a rather intense scene of Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds, thus only occupying a limited portion of my attention, is debatable, though pretty likely. The presence of the song’s deep, creeping opening baritone vocals, almost completely devoid of any instrumentation is vital to the impact of what it accompanies on-screen. With that being the original of the two version of the song, and by far the more dramatic, it’s unsurprising that Bowie chose to re-record it for Let’s Dance, in a style far more befitting that of the rest of the record.
Despite the song’s unbracketed title not making an appearing throughout, the trademark lyrics: “I’ve been putting out fire / with gasoline“ essentially act as a proclamation of its arrival, duly accentuated by the brief pauses in both the backing track, and by Bowie himself, between the words “fire” and “with”. The chief contributor to what makes the Let’s Dance version of this song more of a buzz to listen to, as far as my ears are concerned, is the almost insatiable lead guitar. Constantly trying to out-do itself, right to the last second. Which is rather fitting, wouldn’t you say?
Words by Alex Graham
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpdHMaccjw4&w=740&h=422]