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 cock 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? Were 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 lynx? Are you keen to be seen when you're smelling a rat? Were you there when the pharaohs 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. (Repeat) The mystical divinity 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, delphicoracle cats, skeptical cats, dispeptical cats. Romantical cats, pedantical cats, critical 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.

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, Agustus, Alonzo, or James. Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey- All of them sensible everyday 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 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.

Macavity

Macavity's a mystery cat: he's called the Hidden Paw- For he's the 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 with 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, For he's a fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity. You may meet him and 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. (They say he cheats at cards.) And his footprints are not found in any file of Scotland Yard's. And when the larder's looted, or the jewel-case is rifled, Of when the milk is missing, or another Peke's been stifled, Or the greenhouse glass is broken, and the trellis past repair- Ay, there's the wonder of the thing! Macavity's not there! And when the Foreign Office find a Treaty's gone astray, Or the Admiralty lose some plans and drawings by the way, There may be a scrap of paper in the hall or on the stair- But it's useless to investigate-- Macavity's not there! And when the loss has been disclosed, the Secret Service say: 'It must have been Macavity!' - but he's a mile away. You'll be sure to find him resting, or a-licking of his thumbs, Or engaged in doing complicated long division sums. 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: At 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!

The Song of the Jellicles

Jellicle Cats come out to-night 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 they caterwaul. Jellicle Cats have cheerful faces, Jellicle Cats have bright black eyes; They like to practice their 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, They know how to dance a gavotte and a jig. Until the Jellicle Moon appears They make their toilette and take their repose: Jellicles wash behind their ears, Jellicles dry between their toes. Jellicle Cats are white and black, Jellicle Cats are of moderate size; Jellicles jump like a jumping-jack, Jellicle Cats have moonlit eyes. They're quiet enough in the morning hours, They're quiet enough in the afternoon, Reserving their terpsichorean powers To dance by the light of the Jellicle Moon. Jellicle Cats are black and white, Jellicle Cats (as I said) are small; If it happens to be a stormy night They will practice a caper or two in the hall. IF it happens the sun is shining bright You would say they had nothing to do at all: They are resting and saving themselves to be right For the Jellicle Moon and the Jellicle Ball.

Memory

Daylight, see the dew on the 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 And 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 the time I knew what happiness was. Let the memory live again. Burnt out ends of smokey days. The stale cold smell of morning. The streetlamp dies, another night is over and 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 the 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.