Cats Lyrics

[Tantomile]

A NOTE ON THE TEXT
Most of the poems comprising 'Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (1939)' have been set to music complete and in their originally published form; a few have been subject to a minor revision of tense or pronoun, and eight lines have been added to 'The Song of the Jellicles'.
However, some of our lyrics, notably 'The Marching Song of the Pollicle Dogs' and the story of 'Grizabella' were discoverred among the unpublished writings of Eliot.
The prologue is based on ideas and incorporates lines from another unpublished poem, entitled 'Pollicle Dogs and Jellicle Cats'.
'Memory' includes lines from and is suggested by 'Rhapsody On A Windy Night' and other poems of the 'Prufrock' period. All other words in the show are taken from the Collected Poems.

[Tantomile]

Overature (Instrumental)

Jellicle Songs For Jellicle Cats

Are you blind when you're born? Can you see in the dark?
Dare you look at a king? Would you sit on his throne?
Can you say of your bite that it's worse than your bark?
Are you thingy of the Walk when you're walking alone?
Because Jellicles are and Jellicles Do
Jellicles do and Jellicles would
Jellicles would and Jellicles can
Jellicles can and Jellicles do

When you fall on your head do you land on your feet?
Are you tense when you sense there's a storm in the air?
Can you find your way blind when you're lost in the street?
Do you know how to go to the heaviside layer?

Because Jellicles can and Jellicles do
Jellicles do and Jellicles can
Jellicles can and Jellicles do
Jellicles do and Jellicles can
Jellicles can and Jellicles do

Can you ride on a broomstick to places far distant?
Familiar with candle, with book and with bell?
Where you Whittington's friend? The pied Piper's assistant?
Have you been an alumnus of heaven and hell?

Are you mean like a minx? Are you lean like a linx?
Are you keen to be seen when you're smelling a rat?
Were you there when the pharoahs commissioned the sphinx?
If you were, and you are, you're a Jellicle Cat!

Jellicle songs for Jellicle Cats
Jellicle songs for Jellicle Cats
Jellicle songs for Jellicle Cats
Jellicle songs for Jellicle Cats
Jellicle songs for Jellicle Cats

We can dive through the air like a flying trapeze
We can turn double somersaults, bounce on a tire
We can run up a wall, we can swing through the trees
We can balance on bars, we can walk on a wire

Jellicles can and Jellicles do
Jellicles can and Jellicles do
Jellicles can and Jellicles do
Jellicles can and Jellicles do
Jellicle songs for Jellicle Cats
Jellicle songs for Jellicle Cats
Jellicle songs for Jellicle Cats
Jellicle songs for Jellicle Cats

Can you sing at the same time in more than one key
Duets by Rossini and waltzes by Strauss
And can you (as cats do) begin with a 'C'
That always triumphantly brings down the house?

Jellicle cats are queen of the nights
Singing at astronomical heights
Handling pieces from the messiah,
Hallelujah, Angelical choir

The mystical devinity of unashamed felinity
Round the cathedral rang "Vivat"
Life to the everlasting cat!
Feline, fearless, faithful and true
To others who do - what

Jellicles do and Jellicles can
Jellicles can and Jellicles do
Jellicle cats sing Jellicle chants
Jellicles old and Jellicles new
Jellicle song and Jellicle dance
Jellicle songs for Jellicle cats
Jellicle songs for Jellicle cats
Jellicle songs for Jellicle cats
Jellicle songs for Jellicle cats

Practical cats, Dramatical cats
Pragmatical cats, Fanatical cats
Oratorical cats, Delphicoracal cats
Skeptical cats, Dispeptical cats
Romantical cats, Pedantical cats
Critical cats, Parasitical cats
Allegorical cats, Metaphorical cats
Statistical cats and Mystical cats
Political cats, Hypocritical cats
Clerical cats, Hysterical cats
Cynical cats, Rabbinical cats

Jellicle songs for Jellicle cats
Jellicle songs for Jellicle cats
Jellicle songs for Jellicle cats
Jellicle songs for Jellicle cats
Jellicle songs for Jellicle cats

There's a man over there with a look of surprise
As much as to say 'Well now, how about that?'
Do I actually see with my own very eyes
A man who's not heard of a Jellicle cat?
What's a Jellicle cat? What's a Jellicle cat?

[Tantomile]

The Naming Of CATS

The naming of cats is a difficult matter
It isn't just one of your holiday games
You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
When I tell you a cat must have three different names
First of all, there's the name that the family use daily
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo, or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey -
All of them sensible, every day names.

There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames,
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter -
But all of them sensible, everyday names.

But I tell you a cat needs a name that's particular
A name that's peculiar, and more dignified
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?

Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum
Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo or Coricopat
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum -
Names that never belong to more than one cat

But above and beyond there's still one name left over
And that is the name that you never will guess
The name that no human research can discover
But the cat himself knows and will never confess

When you notice a cat in profound meditation
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name
His ineffable, effable, effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular name
Name, name, name, name, name, name…

[Tantomile]

The Invitation To The Jellicle Ball

Jellicle cats come out tonight
Jellicle cats come one come all
The Jellicle moon is shining bright
Jellicles come to the Jellicle ball.
Jellicle cats come out tonight
Jellicles come to the Jellicle ball

Jellicle cats come out tonight
Jellicle cats come one come all
The Jellicle moon is shining bright
Jellicles come to the Jellicle ball.

Jellicle cats come out tonight
Jellicle cats come one come all
The Jellicle moon is shining bright
Jellicles come to the Jellicle ball.

Jellicle cats meet once a year
At the Jellicle ball where we all rejoice
And the Jellicle leader will soon appear
And make what is known as the Jellicle Choice
That's when Old Deuteronomy just before dawn
Through a silence you feel you could cut with a knife
Announces the cat who can now be reborn
And come back to a different Jellicle life.
Because waiting up there is the Heaviside Layer
With wonders one Jellicle only will see
Jellicles ask because Jellicles dare
Who will it be?

[Tantomile]

The Old Gumbie Cat

I have a gumbie cat in mind, her name is Jennyanydots.
Her coat is of the tabby kind with tiger stripes and leopard spots
All day she sits beneath the stairs or on the steps or on the mat
She sits and sits and sits and sits and that's what makes a gumbie cat
That's what makes a gumbie cat
But
When the day's hustle and bustle is done
Then the gumbie cat's work is but hardly begun
And when all the family's in bed and asleep
She tucks up her skirts to the basement to creep
She is deeply concerned with the ways of the mice
Their behavior's not good and their manner's not nice
So when she has got them lined up on the matting
She teaches them music, crocheting and tatting

I have a gumbie cat in mind, her name is jennyanydots
The curtain cord she likes to wind and tie it into sailor knots
She sits upon the windowsill. Or anything that's smooth and flat
She sits and sits and sits and sits and that's what makes a gumbie cat
That's what makes a gumbie cat

But When the day's hustle and bustle is done
Then the gumbie cat's work is but hardly begun
She thinks that thingyroaches need employment
To prevent them from idle and wanton destroyment

So she's formed from that lot of disorderly louts
A troop of well disciplined helpful boy scouts
With a purpose in life and a good deed to do
And she's even created a beetle's tattoo!

((tap break))

For she's a jolly good fellow!

Thank you my dears!

[Tantomile]

The Rum Tum Tugger

The Rum Tum Tugger is a curious cat
If you offer me pheasant, I'd rather have grouse
If you put me in a house I would much prefer a flat
If you put me in a flat then I'd rather have a house
If you set me on a mouse then I only want a rat
If you set me on a rat then I'd rather chase a mouse

The rum Tum Tugger is a curious cat
And there isn't any need for me to shout it
For he will do as he do do
And there's no doing anything about it

The Rum Tum Tugger is a terrible bore

When you let me in, then I want to go out
I'm always on the wrong side of every door
And as soon as I'm at home, then I'd like to get about
I like to lie in the bureau drawer
And I make such a fuss if I can't get out

The Rum Tum Tugger is a curious cat

And there isn't any need for you to doubt it
For he will do as he do do
And there's no doing anything about it

The Rum Tum Tugger is a curious beast

My disobliging ways are a matter of habit
If you offer me fish then I always want a feast
When there isn't any fish then I won't eat rabbit
If you offer me cream then I sniff and sneer
For I only like what I find for myself
So you'll catch me in it right up to my ears
If you put it away on the larder shelf

The Rum Tum Tugger is artful and knowing
The Rum Tum Tugger

Doesn't care for a cuddle
But I'll leap upon your lap in the middle of your sewing
For there's nothing I enjoy like a horrible muddle

The Rum Tum Tugger is a curious cat
The Rum Tum Tugger doesn't care for a cuddle
Thew Rum Tum Tugger is a curious cat
And there isn't any need for me to spout it

For he will do as he do do

And there's no doing anything abou - t it!

[Tantomile]

Grizabella: The Glamour Cat

Remark the cat who hesitates towards you
In the light of the door which opens on her like a grin
You see the border of her coat is torn and stained with sand
And you see the corner of her eye twist like a crooked pin
She haunted many a low resort near the grimy road of Tottenham Court
She flitted about the No Man's Land
From "The Rising Sun" to "The Friend at Hand"
And the postman sighed and as he scratched his head
"You'd really had thought she ought to be dead"
And who would ever suppose that that was Grizabella the Glamour Cat

Grizabella the Glamour Cat, Grizabella the Glamour Cat
Who would ever suppose that that was Grizabella the Glamour Cat

[Tantomile]

Bustopher Jones: The Cat About Town

Bustopher Jones is not skin and bones
In fact, he's remarkably fat
He doesn't haunt pubs, he has eight or nine clubs
For he's the St. James's street cat!
He's the cat we all greet as he walks down the street
In his coat of fastidious black
No common-place mousers have such well cut trousers
Or such an impeccable back
In the whole of St. James's the smartest of names is
The name of this Brummel of cats
And we're all of us proud to be nodded or bowed to
By Bustopher Jones in white spats
My visits are occasional to the senior educational
And it is against the rules
For any one cat to belong both to that
And the joint superior schools

When I'm seen in a hurry, there's probably curry
At the Siamese or at the Glutton
When I look full of gloom then I've lunched at the Tomb
On cabbage, rice pudding and mutton

In the whole of St. James's the smartest of names is
The name of this Brummel of cats
And we're all of us proud to be nodded or bowed to
By Bustopher Jones in white, Bustopher Jones in white
Bustopher Jones in white spats
So much in this way passes Bustopher's day
At one club or another he's found
It can be no surprise that under our eyes
He has grown unmistakably round

He's a twenty-five pounder or I am a bounder

And he's putting on weight every day

But I'm so well preserved because I've observed
All my life a routine, And I'd say
I am still in my prime, I shall last out my time
That's the word from this stoutest of cats

It must and it shall be spring in Pall Mall
While Bustopher Jones wears white, Bustopher Jones wears white
Bustopher Jones wears white spats

[Tantomile]

Mungojerrie And Rumpleteazer

The greatest magicians have something to learn
From Mr. Mistoffelees conjuring turn

Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer were a notorious couple of cats
As knockabout clowns, quick-change comedians
Tight-rope walkers and acrobats
They had an extensive reputation, made their home in Victoria grove
That was merely their center of operation for they were incurably given to rove

If the area window was found ajar and the basement looked like field of war
If a tile or two came loose on the roof which presently ceased to be waterproof
If the drawers were pulled out from the bedroom chests
And you couldn't find one of your winter vests
Or after supper one of the girls suddenly missed her Woolworth pearls

Then the family would say "It's the horrible cat!
It was Mungojerrie or Rumpelteazer!"
And most of the time they left it at that

Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer had an unusual gift of the gab
They were highly efficient cat burglars as well and remarkably smart at a smash and grab
They made their home in Victoria Grove, they had no regular occupation
They were plausible fellows who liked to engage a friendly policeman in conversation

When the family assembled for Sunday dinner
Their minds made up that they wouldn't get thinner on
Argentine join, potatoes and greens
Then the cook would appear from behind the scenes
And say in a voice that was broken with sorrow
"I'm afraid you must wait and have dinner tomorrow
The joint has gone from the oven like that!"

Then the family would say "It's that horrible cat!
It was Mungojerrie or Rumpelteazer!"
And most of the time they left it at that

Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer had a wonderful way of working together
And some of the time you would say it was luck and some of the time you would say it was weather
They'd go through the house like a hurricane and no sober person could take his oath
Was it Mungojerrie or Rumpelteazer? Or could you have sworn that it mightn't be both?
When you heard a dining room smash or up from the pantry there came a loud crash
Or down from the library came a loud ping
From a vase which was commonly said to be ming
Then the family would say: "Now Which was which cat?
It was Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer and there's nothing at all to be done about that!"

Macavity!

[Tantomile]

Old Deuteronomy

I believe it is Old Deuteronomy
Well of all things can it be really
No, yes, ho, hi, oh my eye!
My mind may be wandering but I confess
I believe it is Old Deuteronomy

Old Deuteronomy's lived a long time
He's a cat who has lived many lives in succession
He was famous in proverb and famous in rhyme
A long while before Queen Victoria's Accession
Old Deuteronomy's buried nine wives
And more I am tempted to say ninety-nine
And his numerous progeny prospers and thrives
And the village is proud of him in his decline
At the sight of that placid and bland physiognomy
When he sits in the sun on the vicarage wall
The oldest inhabitant croaks

Well of all things can it be really
No, yes, ho, hi, oh my eye!
My mind may be wandering but I confess
I believe it is Old Deuteronomy

Well of all things can it be really
No, yes, ho, hi, oh my eye!
My mind may be wandering but I confess
I believe it is Old Deuteronomy

Well of all things can it be really
No, yes, ho, hi, oh my eye!
My mind may be wandering but I confess
I believe it is Old Deuteronomy

Well of all things can it be really
No, yes, ho, hi, oh my eye!

My legs may be tottery I must go slow
And be careful of Old Deuteronomy

[Tantomile]

The Peakes And The Pollicles

*lyrics from the original Australian text*

Of the aweful battle of the pekes and the pollicles
Together with some account of the participation
Of the pugs and the poms
And the intervention of the Great Rumpus Cat

The Pekes and the Pollicles everyone knows
Are proud and implacable passionate foes:
It is always the same wherever one goes
And the Pugs and the Poms, although some people say
That they do not like fighting, yet once in a way
They will now and again join into the fray, and they -

Bark, bark, bark, bark
Bark, bark, bark, bark

Until you can hear them all over the park
And they -

Bark, bark, bark, bark
Bark, bark, bark, bark

Until you can hear them all over the park

Now on the occasion of which I shall speak
Almost nothing had happenned for nealy a week
(And that's a long time for a Pol or a Peke)
The big police dog was away from his beat-
I don't know the reason, but most people think
He'd slipped into the Wellington Arms for a drink.

And no one at all was about on the street
When a Peke and a Pollicle happenned to meet
They did not advance or exactly retreat
But they glared at eachother and scraped their hind feet
And started to-

Bark, bark, bark, bark
Bark, bark, bark, bark

Until you could hear them all over the park

Bark, bark, bark, bark
Bark, bark, bark, bark

Until you could hear them all over the park

Now the Peke, although people may say what they please,
Is no British dog but a heathen Chinese
And so all the Pekes when they heard the uproar,
Some came to the window, some came to the door;
There were surely a dozen, more likely a score
And together they started to grumble and wheeze
In their huffery-snuffery heathen Chinese
But a terrible din is what Pollicles like,
For your Pollicle dog is a dour Yorkshire tyke

There are dogs out of every nation
The Irish, the Welsh and the Dane'
The Russian , the Dutch, the dalmation,
And even from China and Spain.
The poodle, the Pom, the Alsation,
And the Mastiff who walks on a chain.

And to those who are frisky and frolical
Let my meaning be perfectly plain:

That my name it is Little Tom Pollicle
And you'd better not do it again

And his braw Scottish cousins are snappers and biters,
And every dog jack of them notable fighters;
And so they stepped out, with their pipers in order
Playing when the blue bonnets come over the border
Then the pugs and the poms held no longer aloof
But some from the balcony some from the roof
Joined into the din with a -

Bark, bark, bark, bark
Bark, bark, bark, bark

Until you could hear them all over the park

Huffery-Snuffery, Huffery-Snuffery
Bark, bark, bark, bark

Huffery-Snuffery, Huffery-Snuffery
Bark, bark, bark, bark

Until you could hear them all over the park

Now when these bold heroes together assembled,
The traffic all stopped and the underground trembled
And some of the neighbors were so much afraid
That they started to ring up the fire brigade.
When suddenly up from a small basement flat,
Why who should stalk out but:

The Great Rumpus Cat!

His eyes were like fireballs fearfully blazing
He gave a great yawn and his jaws were amazing
And when he looked out throughthe bars of the area
You never saw anything feircer or hairier

And what with the glare of his eyes and his yawning
The pekes and the pollicle quickly took warning
He looked to the sky and he gave a great leap -
And every last one of them scatterred like sheep
And whenthe police dog returned to his beat
There wasn't a single one left on the street

All hail and all power to the Great Rumpus Cat!

Jellicle cats and dogs all must
Pollicle dogs and cats all must
Like undertakers come to dust!

[Tantomile]

The Jellicle Ball

Jellicle cats come out tonight
Jellicle cats come one come all
The Jellicle moon is shining bright
Jellicles come to the Jellicle ball.
Jellicle cats are black and white
Jellicle cats are rather small
Jellicle cats are merry and bright
And pleasant to hear when we caterwaul

Jellicle cats have cheerful faces
Jellicle cats have bright black eyes
We like to practice our airs and graces
And wait for the Jellicle moon to rise

Jellicle cats develop slowly
Jellicle cats are not too big
Jellicle cats are roly poly
We know how to dance a gavotte and a jig
Until the Jellicle moon appears
We make our toilette and take our repose
Jellicles wash behind their ears
Jellicles dry between their toes

Jellicle cats are black and white
Jellicle cats are of moderate size
Jellicles jump like a jumping jack
Jellicle cats have moonlit eyes

We're quiet enough in the morning hours
We're quiet enough in the afternoon
Reserving our terpsichorean powers
To dance by the light of the Jellicle moon

Jellicle cats are black and white
Jellicle cats (as we said) are small
If it happens to be a stormy night
We will practice a caper or two in the hall

If it happens the sun is shining bright
You would say we had nothing to do at all
We are resting and saving ourselves to be right
For the Jellicle moon and the Jellicle ball

Jellicle cats come out tonight
Jellicle cats come one come all
The Jellicle moon is shining bright
Jellicles come to the Jellicle ball.

[Tantomile]

Grizabella

You see the border of her coat is torn and stained with sand
And you see the corner of her eye twist like a crooked pin
Silence - not a sound from the pavement
Has the moon lost her memory
She is smiling alone
In the lamplight the withered leaves collect at my feet
And the wind begins to moan

Every streetlamp seems to beat a fatalistic warning
Someone mutters and a streetlamp gutters
And soon it will be morning

Memory - all alone in the moonlight
I can smile at the old days
I was beautiful then
I remember the time I knew what happiness was
Let the memory live again...

[Tantomile]

The Moments Of Happiness

The Moments of Happiness
We had the experience but missed the meaning
And approach to the meaning restores the experience
In a different form beyond any meaning we can assign to happiness
The past experience revived in the meaning
Is not the experience of one life only
But of many generations
Not forgetting something that is probably quite ineffable

Moonlight
Turn your face to the moonlight
Let your memory lead you
Open up enter in
If you find there the meaning of what happiness is
Then a new life will begin..

[Tantomile]

Gus: The Theater Cat

Gus is the cat at the theatre door
His name as I ought to have told you before
Is really Asparagus, but that's such a fuss to pronounce
That we usually call him just Gus
His coat's very shabby, he's thin as a rake
And he suffers from palsy that makes his paw shake
Yet he was in his youth quite the smartest of cats
But no longer a terror to mice or to rats
For he isn't the cat that he was in his prime
Though his name was quite famous, he says, in his time
And whenever he joins his friends at their club
(Which takes place at the back of the neighboring pub)
He loves to regale them, if someone else pays
With anecdotes drawn from his palmiest days
For he once was a star of the highest degree
He has acted with Irving, he's acted with tree
And he likes to relate his success on the halls
Where the gallery once gave him seven cat calls
But his greatest creation as he loves to tell
Was Firefrorefiddle, The Fiend of the Fell

I have played in my time every possible part
And I used to know seventy speeches by heart
I'd extemporize backchat, I knew how to gag
And I knew how to let the cat out of the bag
I knew how to act with my back and my tail
With an hour of rehearsal, I never could fail
I'd a voice that would soften the hardest of hearts
Whether I took the lead, or in character parts
I have sat by the bedside of poor little Nell
When the curfew was rung then I swung on the bell
In the pantomime season I never fell flat
And I once understudied thingy Whittington's cat
But my grandest creation, as history will tell
Was Firefrorefiddle, the Fiend of the Fell

Then, if someone will give him a toothful of gin
He will tell how he once played a part in East Lynne
At a Shakespeare performance he once walked on pat
When some actor suggested the need for a cat

And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained
As we did in the days when Victoria reigned
They never get drilled in a regular troupe
And they think they are smart just to jump through a hoop

And he says as he scratches himself with his claws
Well the theatre is certainly not what it was
These modern productions are all very well
But there's nothing to equal from what I hear tell
That moment of mystery when I made history
As Firefrorefiddle, the Fiend of the Fell

I once crossed the stage on a telegraph wire
To rescue a child when a house was on fire
And I think that I still can much better than most
Produce bloodcurdling noises to bring on the ghost
And I once played Growltiger
Could do it again, could do it again
Could do it again...

[Tantomile]

"Groweltiger's Last Stand"

Growltiger was a bravo cat who traveled on a barge
In fact he was the roughest cat that ever roamed at large
From Gravesend up to Oxford he pursued his evil aims
Rejoicing in his title of The Terror of the Thames
His manners and appearance did not calculate to please
His coat was torn and seedy, it was baggy at the knees
One ear was somewhat missing, no need to tell you why
And he scowled upon a hostile world from one forbidding eye

The cottagers of Rotherhithe knew something of his fame
At Hammersmith and Putney people shuddered at his name
They would fortify the hen house, lock up the silly goose
When the rumor ran along the shore: Growltiger's on the loose!

Woe to the weak canary that fluttered from its cage
Woe to the pampered Pekinese that faced Growltiger's rage
Woe to the bristly bandicoot that lurks on foreign ships
And woe to any cat with whom Growltiger came to grips

But most to cats of foreign race his hatred had been vowed
To cats of foreign name and race no quarter was allowed
The Persian and the Siamese regarded him with fear
Because it was a Siamese that mauled his missing ear

Now on a peaceful summer night all nature seemed at play
The tender moon was shining bright, the barge at Molsey lay
All in the balmy moonlight it lay rocking on the tide
And Growltiger was disposed to show his sentimental side

In the firepeak of the vessel Growltiger stood alone
Concentrating my attention on the lady Griddlebone
And my raffish crew were sleeping in their barrels and their bunks
As the Siamese came creeping in their sampans and their bunks

Growltiger had no eye nor ear for ought but Griddlebone
And the lady seemed enraptured by my manly baritone
Disposed to relaxation and awaiting no surprise
But the moonlight shone reflected in a thousand bright blue eyes

And closer still and closer the sampans circled 'round
And yet from all the enemy there was not heard a sound
The foe was armed with toasting forks and cruel carving knives
And the lovers sang their last duet in danger of their lives

(depending on the production there is at this point either * The Ballad of Billy M'Caw or a ** farce Italian Operetta)

*Oh, how well I remember The Old Bull and Bush,
Where we used to go down of a Sattaday night-
Where, when anythink happened, it come with a rush,
For the boss, Mr. Clark, he was very polite:
A very nice house, ah, but it was the parrot-
The parrot, the parrot named Billy M'Caw,
That brought all those folks to the bar.
Ah! He was the life of the bar.
Of a Sattaday night, we was all feeling bright,
And Lily La Rose- the barmaid that was-
She'd say: "Billy! Billy M'Caw!

Come give us come give us a dance on the bar!
And Billy would dance on the bar.
And Billy would dance on the bar.
And then we'd feel balmy, in each eye a tear,
And emotion would make us all order more beer-

Lily, she was a girl what had brains in her head;
She wouldn't have nothink, no not that much said.
If it come to an argument, or a dispute,
She'd settle it offhand with the toe of her boot
Or as likely as not put her fist through your eye.
But when we was thirsty, and just a bit sad,
Or when we was happy, and just a bit dry,
She would rap on the bar with that corkscrew she had
And say: "Billy!
Billy M'Caw!
Come give us a tune on your pastoral flute!"
And Billy'd strike up on his pastoral flute.

And Billy'd strike up on his pastoral flute,
And then we'd feel balmy, in each eye a tear
And emotion would make us all order more beer

Billy, Billy M'Caw!
Come give us a tune on your moley guitar!"
And Billy'd strike up on his moley guitar.
And Billy'd strike up on his moley guitar.

And then we'd all feel balmy, in each eye a tear
And emotion would make us all order more beer
Billy, Billy M'Caw
Come give us a tune on your moley guitar ah
He was the life of the bar.

**In una tepida notte d'estate, allorche la natura
Era nel pieno fulgore, e la resca rugiada
Splendeva al chiar di luna sopra la verzura
Si poteva vedere il galeone ancorato
Oscillare in silenzio nel vento profumato
Dalla marea del naviglio serenamente cullato
In quella tepida notte che c'e dunque di male
Se in tnata poesia anche il pirata divento sentimentale?
Oscillare in silenzio nel vento profumato
Dalla marea do naviglio serenamente cullato In quella tepida notte
In quella tepida notte
In quella tepida notte


For the english translation of this, visit Ozabub's Jellicle Haven
Then Ghengis gave the signal to his fierce Mongolian hordes
Abandoning their sampans, the chinks they swarmed aboard
Abandoning their sampans, their pullaways, their junks
They battened down the hatches on the crew within their bunks

Then Griddlebone she gave a screech for she was badly skeered
I'm sorry to admit it, but she quickly disappeared
She probably escaped with ease, I'm sure she was not drowned
But a serried ring of flashing steel Growltiger did surround

The ruthless foe pressed forward in stubborn rank on rank
Growltiger to his vast surprise was forced to walk the plank
He who a thousand victims had driven to that drop
At the end of all his crimes was forced to go ker-plip-ker-plop

Oh there was joy in Wapping when the news flew through the land
At Maidenhead and Henley there was dancing on the strand
Rats were roasted whole in Brentford and Victoria Dock
And a day of celebration was commanded in Bangkok!

[Tantomile]

Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat

Skimbleshanks the railway cat the cat of the railway train
There's a whisper down the line at eleven thirty-nine
When the night mail's ready to depart
Saying, "Skimble, where is Skimble? Had he gone to hunt the thimble?
We must find him or the train can't start""
All the guards and all the porters and the stationmaster's daughters
Would be searching high and low
Saying, "Skimble, where is Skimble? For unless he's very nimble
Then the night mail just can't go"
At eleven forty-two with the signal overdue
And the passengers all frantic to a man
That's when I would appear and I'd saunter to the rear
I'd been busy in the luggage van!
Then he gave one flash of his glass-green eyes
And the signal went "All clear!"
They'd be off at last for the northern part of the northern hemisphere!
Skimbleshanks the railway cat the cat of the railway train
You might say that by and large it was me who was in charge
Of the sleeping car express
From the driver and the guards to the bagmen playing cards
I would supervise them all more or less
Down the corridor he paces and examines all the faces
Of the travelers in the first and the third
He establishes control by a regular patrol
And he'd know at once if anything occurred
He would watch you without winking and he saw what you were thinking
And it's certain that he didn't approve
Of hilarity and riot so that folk were very quiet
When Skimble was about and on the move
You could play no pranks with Skimbleshanks
He's a cat that couldn't be ignored
So nothing went wrong on the northern mail
When Skimbleshanks was aboard

It was very pleasant when they found their little den
With their name written up on the door
And the berth was very neat with a newly folded sheet
And not a speck of dust upon the floor
There was every sort of light you could make it dark or bright
And a button you could turn to make a breeze
And a funny little basin you're supposed to wash your face in
And a crank to shut the window should you sneeze
When the guard looked in politely and would ask you very brightly
Do you like your morning tea weak or strong
But I was just behind him and was ready to remind him
For Skimble won't let anything go wrong
When they crept into their cozy berth and pulled up the counterpane
They ought to reflect that it was very nice
To know that they wouldn't be bothered by mice
They can leave all that to the railway cat
The cat of the railway train

Skimbleshanks the railway cat the cat of the railway train
In the watches of the night I was always fresh and bright
Every now and then I'd have a cup of tea
With perhaps a drop of scotch while I was busy keeping on the watch
Only stopping here and there to catch a flea
They were fast asleep at crewe
And so they never knew that I was walking up and down the station
They were sleeping all the while I was busy at Carlisle
Where I met the stationmaster with elation

They might see me at Dumfries if I summoned the police
If there was anything they ought to know about
When they got to Gallowgate there they did not have to wait
For skimbleshanks would help them to get out
And he gives you a wave of his long brown tail
Which says, "I'll see you again"
You'll meet without fail on the midnight mail
The cat of the railway train

You'll meet without fail on the midnight mail
The cat of the railway train!

[Tantomile]

Macavity

Macavity!
Macavity's a mystery cat: he's called the Hidden Paw
For he's a master criminal who can defy the law
He's the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad's despair
For when they reach the scene of crime Macavity's not there!

Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity
He's broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity
His powers of levitation would make a fakir stare
And when you reach the scene of crime Macavity's not there
You may seek him in the basement, you may look up in the air
But I tell you once and once again, Macavity's not there!

Macavity's a ginger cat, he's very tall and thin
You would know him if you saw him for his eyes are sunken in
His brow is deeply lined in thought, his head is highly domed
His coat is dusty from neglect, his whiskers are uncombed
He sways his head from side to side, with movements like a snake
And when you think he's half asleep he's always wide awake

Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity
He's a fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity
You may meet him in a by-street, you may see him in the square
But when a crime's discovered then Macavity's not there!

He's outwardly respectable, I know he cheats at cards
And his footprints are not found in any files of Scotland Yard's
And when the larder's looted or the jewel case if rifled
Or when the milk is missing or another peke's been stifled
Or the greenhouse glass is broken and the trellis past repair
There's the wonder of the thing Macavity's not there!

Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity
There never was a cat of such deceitfulness and suavity
He always has an alibi, and one or two to spare
Whatever time the deed took place Macavity wasn't there!

And they say that all the cats whose wicked deeds are widely known
I might mention Mungojerrie, I might mention Griddlebone
Are nothing more than agents for the cat who all the time
Just controls the operations: The Napoleon of Crime!

Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity
He's a fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity
You may meet him in a by-street, you may see him in the square
But when a crime's discovered then Macavity, Macavity
Macavity, Macavity
When a Crime's discovered then Macavity's not there

Macavity's not there!

We have to find Old Deuteronomy

[Tantomile]

Mr. Mistoffelees

You ought to ask Mr. Mistoffelees!
The original Conjuring cat
The greatest magicians have something to learn
From Mr.Mistoffelees' conjuring turn
And you'll all say Oh! Well I never was there ever
A cat so clever as magical Mr. Mistoffelees

He is quiet, he is small, he is black
From the ears to the tip of his tail
He can creep through the tiniest crack
He can walk on the narrowest rail
He can pick any card from a pack
He is equally cunning with dice
He is always deceiving you into believing
That he's only hunting for mice

He can play any trick with a cork
Or a sthingy and a bit of fish paste
If you look for a knife or a fork
And you think it is merely misplaced
You have seen it one moment and then it is gone!
But you find it next week lying out on the lawn

And we all say
Oh! Well I never was there ever
A cat so clever as magical Mr. Mistoffelees

And we all say
Oh! Well I never was there ever
A cat so clever as magical Mr. Mistoffelees

And we all say
Oh! Well I never was there ever
A cat so clever as magical Mr. Mistoffelees

And we all say
Oh! Well I never was there ever
A cat so clever as magical Mr. Mistoffelees

Well! My manner is vague and aloof
You would think there was nobody shyer
But my voice has been heard on the roof
When I was curled up by the fire
And I've sometimes been heard by the fire
When I was about on the roof
At least they all heard that somebody purred
Which is incontestable proof of my singular magical powers
And I've known the family to call me in from the garden for hours
While I was asleep in the hall

And not long ago this phenomenal cat
Produced seven kittens right out of a hat

And we all say
Oh! Well I never was there ever
A cat so clever as magical Mr. Mistoffelees
Oh! Well I never was there ever
A cat so clever as magical Mr. Mistoffelees

And not long ago this phenomenal cat
Produced seven kittens right out of a hat

And we all say Oh! Well I never was there ever
A cat so clever as magical Mr. Mistoffelees
Oh! Well I never was there ever
A cat so clever as magical Mr. Mistoffelees

Oh! Well I never was there ever A cat so clever as magical Mr. Mistoffelees
Oh! Well I never was there ever
A cat so clever as magical Mr. Mistoffelees
Oh! Well I never was there ever
A cat so clever as magical Mr. Mistoffelees

Oh! Well I never was there ever
A cat so clever as magical Mr. Mistoffelees

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the magical Mr. Mistoffelees!

[Tantomile]

Memory

Daylight, see the dew on a sunflower
And a rose that is fading
Roses wither away
Like the sunflower I yearn to turn my face to the dawn
I am waiting for the day
Now Old Deuteronomy, just before dawn
Through a silence you feel you could cut with a knife
Announces the cat who can now be reborn
And come back to a different Jellicle life

Memory, turn your face to the moonlight
Let your memory lead you
Open up, enter in
If you find there the meaning of what happiness is
Then a new life will begin

Memory, all alone in the moonlight
I can smile at the old days
I was beautiful then
I remember a time I knew what happiness was
Let the memory live again

Burnt out ends of smoky days
The stale cold smell of morning
The streetlamp dies, another night is over
Another day is dawning

Daylight, I must wait for the sunrise
I must think of a new life
And I mustn't give in
When the dawn comes tonight will be a memory too
And a new day will begin

Sunlight, through the trees in summer
Endless masquerading
Like a flower as the dawn is breaking
The memory is fading

Touch me, it's so easy to leave me
All alone with the memory
Of my days in the sun
If you touch me you'll understand what happiness is
Look, a new day has begun.