Songs about Cats

--Tom Cat - The Rooftop Singers

--Nora’s Cat – Joe Mesiano

--Alley Cat – Bent Fabric

--Cat-Song – Laura Nyro

--The Kitty Cat Song – Lee Dorsey

--The Pussy Cat Song (Nyow, Nyow, Nyow!) – Jo Stafford and Gordon MacRae

--Feline – Bobby McFerrin

--The Siamese Cat Song – Sonny Burke and Peggy Lee

--What’s New Pussy Cat – Tom Jones

--Stray Cat Strut – Stray Cats

More songs about cats

We’ve barely scratched (no pun intended) the surface of cat music . There are lots of songs about our furry friends. Here are some more:

--Everybody wants to be a Cat performed by Scatman Crothers. This song is from Disney’s The Aristocats - This is indeed one my favorite cat songs. And the scene in which the alley cats perform this tune is one of my favorite parts of the movie.

--Lucifer Sam by Pink Floyd – "That cat's something I can't explain"… sings Pink Floyd in this "Ode" to Lucifer Sam.

--I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat performed by Mel Blanc, who was the voice of Tweety Bird – Imagine, a cat song by a bird. The song was written by Alan Livingston, Billy May and Warren Foster.

--The Cat Came Back by Harry S. Miller – A popular children’s song, it was written in 1893. This comic tune has been recorded with different titles, including: And the Cat Came Back and But the Cat Came Back. The song tells the story of "ole Mister Johnson" who had an "ole yaller cat" that he wanted to get rid of. But no matter what Mister Johnson tried, the cat kept coming back.

--En Español – El Gato y Yo (The Cat and I) performed by Argentinian singer Amanda Miguel. This love song is about a woman who uses "feline tactics" to seduce her lover.

Cats the Musical

If you love cats music, there is an entire musical devoted to songs about cats. Cats!, a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, is filled with cat-inspired musical numbers, including:

• Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats
• The Naming of Cats
• Macavity: The Mystery Cat
• Mr. Mistoffelees
• The Ad-Dressing of Cats

And of course, the world-famous Memory, the hauntingly beautiful song performed by Grizabella, the former glamour cat.

Cat songs… not about cats?

These songs have the word cat in the title, but they are not really about cats. In some pieces, the term cat (or cats) is used as a metaphor. In others….well, it’s hard to tell.

--Cat People (Putting Out Fire) by David Bowie

--The Cat’s In the Well by Bob Dylan

--We the Cats Should Help You – Cab Calloway

--Cats in the Craddle – Harry Chapin

--Three Cool Cats – recorded by both The Coasters and The Beatles

--The Lovecats by The Cure

--They Call Her the Cat and Honky Cat by Elton John

--Fenomenal Cats by The Kinks

--Leave My Kitten Alone, a song that was first recorded by Little Willie John in 1959 and later by The Beatles.

-- The Cat Crept In - Mud

--Cat Scratch Fever - Ted Nugent

--Stray Cat Blues - The Rolling Stones

--The Year of the Cat –Al Stewart

--Cool for Cats - Squeeze

Special mentions

--Opposites Attract performed by Paula Abdul - This song is not about a cat but about two star-crossed lovers. However, in the video, Paula’s boyfriend is a cartoon cat. I think that the cat made it one of the coolest videos of the 1980s.

--I’m Too Sexy by the English trio Right Said Fred - A song not about cats, but the singer does say… "I’m too sexy for my cat".

--Smelly Cat composed and sung by Phoebe, one the characters of the hugely popular sitcom Friends.