1971 · Behind the Songs
The Cat Stevens concert that became a state of mind.
The recording in context
“Anticipation” was written in about fifteen minutes — or so the story goes — while Carly Simon waited for Cat Stevens to pick her up for a concert date. The waiting itself became the song. Released in late 1971 as the title track of her second album, it climbed into the top twenty and turned out to be one of the most durable songs of her career, later immortalised by a long-running series of ketchup commercials that made “anticipation” a household word in a whole new way.
Listen closely
What makes the record work is tension held just short of release. Listen to the way the guitar figure keeps restarting, like someone pacing a room — the verses never quite settle, and the chorus doesn’t resolve so much as glow. Simon sings it with a smile you can hear: this is excitement, not anxiety, and the distinction matters. The backing vocals hover like friends whispering in the hallway.
Then notice the production’s restraint. A lesser record would have built to a big payoff; this one understands that the feeling is the payoff. The song ends the way waiting ends — not with a bang but with arrival, and by then you’ve savoured every minute.
Fifty years on, “Anticipation” remains the definitive pop song about the pleasure of the almost — proof that sometimes the best part of the evening is the hour before it begins.