David Bowie: Cat People (Putting Out Fire)

It’s Saturday and once again we feature a bubbling under song from the past – in fact David Bowie’s “Cat People (Putting out Fire)” may be one of the few songs to be released four times within an 12 month period. The highest chart position this dark theme to the movie “Cat People” ever reached was #67 in 1982.

Three’s Company

For the 1982 remake of the 1942 horror movie “Cat People,” Georgio Moroder was contracted for the film score and after writing the music for the theme song, he asked David Bowie to write lyrics and sing the theme which he did.

The soundtrack was released on MCA’s Backstreet Records label and the single was released three different times to support the film. It was first released as an “A” side with “Paul’s Theme” as the “B.” The single was released a second time with “Cat People” flipped to the “B” side. It’s third release saw “Cat People” again as the “A” side.

Fourth Time’s a Charm

With the release of Bowie’s monumental “Let’s Dance” album in 1983, he re-recorded “Cat People” and it appeared as the “B” side to the album’s title cut. Bowie’s intention was to use the original cut, but MCA would not license the recording to him – so he did it again.

I actually prefer the remake to the original. It has a killer solo guitar by Stevie Ray Vaughan.