A popular song from 1896
Words by Arthur J. Lamb
Music by Sallie A. Massie
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by Denese Coulbeck:
Lyrics
- There’s a tom cat in our neighborhood
Who dearly loves to sing
Who thought a chorus formed of cats
Would be the proper thing
He sent requests to all the cats
That live within the block
That they should meet upon our roof
Each night at one oclock
So, regularly every night
The cats will all turn out
Some cats will bring their families
And some will come without
It doesn’t matter if it rains
Or if the weather’s clear
They’ll hold a concert on our roof
and this is what we’ll hear
Chorus
The big tom cat from our neighbors flat
As leader will begin
He’ll start the row with a log miau
Then all the cats chime in
That they can sing most anything
Our neighbors will give proof
O it’s simply grand, the tom cat’s band
In their concert on our roof
- There’s none of us can think of sleep
Until the concert’s done
And times when we are tired out
We don’t enjoy the fun
We often wonder when we hear
Some most discordant tune
Just how it strikes the little man
Who’s living in the moon
We’d throw brick bats at those blamed cats
When they would sing at first
But now we always encore them
When they are singing worst
And the besides we really
Can’t complain you see?
The concert’s complimentary
The cats are singing free
Sung here by Vancha March: