“Cat People (Putting Out Fire)” is the title song of the 1982 film Cat People. Recorded in July 1981, the song was written by Bowie with producer Giorgio Moroder. A re-recorded version of the song appears on the album Let’s Dance.
History
The director Paul Schrader engaged Bowie for a theme song in 1981, with Moroder having already recorded most of the music. Bowie was to put lyrics to the main theme. The B-side is a Moroder-only instrumental which featured no input from Bowie.
The song itself, in keeping with the dark tone of the film, has some slight goth rock influences, with Bowie singing in a deep baritone croon while being backed up by a female chorus, a combination that The Sisters of Mercy would commonly employ years later.
Because of Moroder’s contract, the single was issued by MCA. The full-length 6:45 version appeared on the soundtrack album, and the 12″ single, while a 4:08 edited version was made for the 7″ release. The single reached No. 26 in the UK, No. 13 in Canada[1] and No. 67 in the US – Bowie’s biggest hit there since “Golden Years”. It peaked at No. 1 in New Zealand, remaining there for three weeks, as well as in Sweden for four weeks. It was also No. 1 in Norway for seven consecutive weeks, and then returned to the top for a further week.
The single was released three separate times by MCA, first in March 1982 with “Cat People” as the A-side, then again two months later with “Paul’s Theme” as the A-side, and finally in November 1982 with “Cat People” back on the A-side. Hungarian-born composer Sylvester Levay contributed to the orchestration.
In December 1982, Bowie re-recorded the song for his album Let’s Dance, released the following year. This version was also released as the B-side to the title track’s single release, and performed on Bowie’s Serious Moonlight Tour. He had originally planned on using the original version of the song, but Moroder’s label MCA Records refused to license it to EMI America.
In 2009, the track was used in another film, Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds.
Sharleen Spiteri recorded a new version of the song in 2010 which was included on her album The Movie Songbook.
Track listing
7″: MCA / MCA 770 (UK)
“Cat People (Putting Out Fire)” (Bowie, Moroder) – 4:08
“Paul’s Theme (Jogging Chase)” (Moroder) – 3:51
12″: MCA / MCAT 770 (UK)
“Cat People (Putting Out Fire)” (Bowie, Moroder) – 6:41
“Paul’s Theme (Jogging Chase)” (Moroder) – 3:51
12″: MCA / DS 12087 (Australia)
“Cat People (Putting Out Fire)” (Bowie, Moroder) – 4:08
“Cat People (Putting Out Fire)” (Bowie, Moroder) – 9:20
label states running time of 6:41, but is actually 9:20
Producers (1982 soundtrack version):
Giorgio Morder
Musicians (1982 soundtrack version):
David Bowie: lead vocals
Giorgio Moroder: keyboards, guitar, bass
Michael Landau, Tim May: guitars
Leland Sklar: bass
Keith Forsey: drums
Musicians (Let’s Dance album version):
David Bowie – lead vocals
Carmine Rojas – bass guitar
Omar Hakim, Tony Thompson – drums
Nile Rodgers – guitar
Stevie Ray Vaughan – lead guitar
Rob Sabino – keyboards
Sammy Figueroa – percussion
Frank Simms, George Simms, David Spinner – backing vocals
Other releases
The Let’s Dance version recorded in 1982 was released as the B-side of the single “Let’s Dance” in March 1983.
The full-length version of the original 1981 recording appeared on the compilation Bowie: The Singles 1969-1993 in 1993 and on the 2003 edition of Bowie’s Sound + Vision collection.
The shorter version of the original 1981 recording appeared on the compilations Best of Bowie (US/Canada, Germany/Switzerland/Austria, Denmark 2002) and The Best of 1980/1987 (2007).
The Let’s Dance version contains lead guitar work by a then little-known Stevie Ray Vaughan.
A live performance filmed on 12 September 1983 was included on Serious Moonlight (1983 film).
