Songs About Cats (or are They?)

Perhaps the most famous Cat Song is Thewhich does seem to be about her real life
Siamese Cat Song recorded by Peggy Lee. Theexperience of strolling around town with her pet
song is from the Walt Disney 1955 classic "Thefeline.
Lady and The Tramp", an animated film about aMost songs though that include the word Cat in
classy Cocker Spaniel named Lady who falls forthe tile, are not truly about cats at all. A great
Tramp a scamp of a mongrel. The song howeverexample is the fine song, Cats in the Cradle by
is about two arrogant cats, Si and Am, who haveHarry Chapin. No cats make an appearance in this
given Siamese cats a bad name ever since.song; instead the lyrics contain a very chilling
The Siamese Cat Song was penned by Lee alongmessage that every dad should pay heed too.
with Sonny Burke and over the years has alsoBent Fabric, real name Bent Fabricius-Bjerre, had a
been recorded by Freddie and The Dreamers,hit in 1962 with Alley Cat, but this was an
Mitch Miller, Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin,instrumental recording so it's not a song about
Haylie Duff, and Bobby McFerrin. "We are Siamesecats. Instrumental too was Aaron Copeland's The
if you please, We are Siamese if you don'tCat and the Mouse.
please."Cat People (Putting Out Fire) by David Bowie was
Both The Turtles and Petula Clark stepped intorecorded for the 1982 remake of the film Cat
recording studios to make very different versionsPeople. Great dark and menacing feel to the song
of The Cat in the Window, a song that comparesbut the words have no relationship to cats.
a cat trying to get out of a window with theThe cat in The Cat Crept In, recorded by Mud
singer wanting to fly away. "There's a cat in thewas actually a girl, as was the cat featured in The
window, and he's watching all the birds go passingRolling Stones' Stray Cat Blues, this one with
by, he'd love to fly out the window, go where theexceedingly sharp claws.
wind goes, and so would I."They Call Her the Cat, by Elton John is about, well
Who can forget the Muppets recording of Theit's not about cats! Neither is Honky Cat, another
Cat Came Back, a song about a kitty that justElton tune, that one is about a country boy
kept finding its way back no matter how far itmoving to live life in the city.
was taken from home. "But the cat came back,Three Cool Cats, is a song that was first
she wouldn't stay away, she was sitting on therecorded by the Coasters in 1958 and covered
porch the very next day."by The Beatles in 1962 (but not released until
In 1950 folks were flooding into record stores and1995.) Of course this song is not about cats, but
asking for I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat. Mel Blancabout three teenage boys and three teenage girls.
recorded the song, written by Alan Livingston, BillyThe Beatles also recorded Little Willie John's Leave
May and Warren Foster, about the cartoon catMy Kitten Alone, no surprise to find that the song
and canary duo Sylvester and Tweety. "I tawt Iis not about a kitten.
taw a puddy tat a creeping up on me, I did I tawU2 recorded a song titled An Cat Dubh, which
a puddy tat as plain as he could be."apparently means The Black Cat in Gaelic, no cat
The Rooftop Singers followed up their 1963in the song though, black or otherwise.
number one hit Walk Right In, with Tom Cat aNo cats are in Year of the Cat by Al Stewart,
ditty about 'Ringtail Tom' who liked to go "struttingCat Scratch Fever by Ted Nugent, The Lovecats
round the town" "And when he steps out all theby The Cure or in Cool for Cats by Squeeze.
other cats in the neighborhood they begin toWho can say what The Cat's In the Well by Bob
shout." Fast forward to 1981 and the Stray CatsDylan is about?
record a musically different song but with a veryThere must be countless other songs that have
similar theme, the rockabilly Stray Cat Strut.the words Cat, or Cats, in the title but are not
"Stray cat strut, I'm a ladies' cat, a felineactually about our feline friends. No doubt there
Casanova, hey man, that's where it's at, get aare more songs that are about cats than those
shoe thrown at me from a mean old man, getlisted on this page, but those songs sadly seem
my dinner from a garbage can."few and far between.
Norma Tanega apparently owned a cat that sheBut wait . . . wasn't there a stage musical all about
named 'Dog' and liked to take thatcat for walks,cats.
hence her 1966 hit Walking My Cat Named Dog,