Who needs kitty treats? I’ve loved cats since I was a kid and I am always on the lookout for songs about them. Here are the first nine that come to mind. Most of them have entertaining music videos. If you love kitties and music, this list is for you. For best results, find your own meow-faces and have them join you while you check out these songs.
LIFE ONE “Cool For Cats” by Squeeze
LIFE TWO “The Siamese Cat Song” by Peggy Lee
LIFE THREE “The Love Cats” by The Cure
LIFE FOUR “What’s New Pussycat” by Tom Jones
LIFE FIVE “Pussycat Meow” by Deee-Lite
LIFE SIX “My Cat is Afraid of The Vacuum Cleaner” by Power Salad
LIFE SEVEN “Stray Cat Strut” by Stray Cats
LIFE EIGHT “Josie And The Pussycats” by Juliana Hatfield & Tanya Donelly
The song had been done by other polka groups before. I remember hearing it on the radio but with lyrics and in German by some other group. The Emeralds did an instrumental version which became an international hit. Soon it acquired a goofy dance routine to go with it. You may have seen it at performed a wedding reception.
Shortly after I first heard the song on the radio, TV commercials started to air for a hits compilation titled Bird Dance by The Emeralds (Show and Dance Band), a group from Canada. It came out on K-Tel Records which had some distribution in the USA, especially in the Midwest.
There are two versions of the song. This one was recorded and released first, but also appears listed as “version 2” on the compilation. Originally called “Bird Dance” people quickly nick named it “Chicken Dance” and that became the alternate song title.
This exact recording is heard in the Weird: The Al Yankovic Story while the actors do the dance. You can watch it for free on the Roku Channel. If you have not you should. it’s a great time. The song also appears on the forthcoming CD and Vinyl soundtrack to be released in January 2023. I’ve heard the new mix and I prefer the original. The new mix is too tinny.
I believe my Grandma found her copy on a merch table at the Yack Arena in Wyandotte, Michigan. Dozens of ethnic festivals were held there every year in the 1980s. Polka music was popular among the elderly population that had immigrated from Central and Eastern Europe decades before.
But because I was a weird kid, the story does not end there. You see, ever since I was about 9 years old I knew that I wanted to own a radio station some day. I was also a bit of a nerd that liked to tinker with things.
One Christmas I received an electronic projects kit from Radio Shack that looked like this.
You would follow the wiring instructions in the manual to create a host of different circuits. It was fun to put them together. One of the projects was a low-power AM radio transmitter.
I put that circuit together but I wired in my cassette recorder and connected the TV antenna located on out roof. The tape in the cassette recorder was of course Bird Dance by The Emeralds (Show and Dance Band). I went out to the back yard to find my grandmother. I tuned her radio into the broadcast and it worked like a charm. Good times. :)
Today is Halloween and this might be the most appropriate song. Released in 1993, it became an instant classic. It’s not quite as ubiquitous as Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” or Bobby Picket’s “Monster Mash” but it fit’s the occasion like a spooky glove.
“Danny Elfman, who has scored many of Tim Burton’s imaginative films (Edward Scissorhands, his two Batman films, etc.), is a perfect musical partner for the somewhat macabre director, and never more so than here, where, Elfman gets to play the main character. The Nightmare Before Christmas is an animated movie musical about the abduction of Christmas by the denizens of Halloween land, and Elfman sings the part of Jack, the Pumpkin King.” (allmusic, edited)
Danny Elfman is the man. He’s having a moment right now having recently performed a career spanning concert.
Jonathon Round sounds like The Decepticon named Starscream in his 1971 cover of “Sympathy For The Devil” by Mick Jagger, first released by The Rolling Stones. It’s uncanny. Listen to this track.
Christopher Collins was the voice actor that played Starscream on the original animated series from the 1980s. Maybe he heard this album in the 70s and then did his own take on the voice for The Transformers original animated series. It’s plausible. At times in this recording Round sounds like Cobra Commander from G.I. Joe. Collins voiced that character as well.
Some of the Mick Jagger penned lyrics are recited in a creepy somewhat Victorian style rather than sung. Sometimes the singing sounds like it belongs on a Black Sabbath track rather than an acoustic-folk number. When he belts out “Anastasia Screamed” and also when he laughs, it sounds just like that Decepticon from The Transformers.
Ever since I was a kid growing up in the 1980s, we would pull out The Jonathon Round LP around Halloween to play this cover. Not only is the song about The Devil, it has spooky sound effects.
Round (1949-2009) was apparently from the Detroit area. This would explain how my mother got a hold of his self-titled album. I still have the LP and we play it on the live stream during the Halloween season. In researching the album, I was shocked to find out that it was also released in Germany, Britain, and Spain.
Neither discogs nor allmusic have much information about this artist. It took some digging to find out anything. I discovered a few reviews of this album transcribed to a Facebook memorial group from eBay. I could not find these reviews on eBay but they seem legit.
“John was a larger-than-life man… a self-taught guitarist. His songs were a unique blend of observation, experience, fantasy, and politics. … [He was] most noted for his version of ‘Sympathy For the Devil’. Mick Jagger even mentioned this cut on-air as one of his favorite covers” (CaptainPeace, 2009)
“If you think Jonathon’s cover shots are scary, well, just wait’ll you hear this guy sing! This is the voice of a drama student on meth – overly emotive, nearly operatic grand gestures punctuated by that downright creepy maniacal laugh.” (fourthhostcelestials, 2008)
The folk-singer fad was over by the time he recorded this album.
“What you really have to wonder is how this album came out on the Westbound label. I mean, they were both from Detroit, but Westbound was known for funk and soul artists like Funkadelic, The Ohio Players and The Detroit Emeralds. Jonathan doesn’t fit into the funk category at all, but …somehow he got it done, and then got ‘em to release it in a fancy trick sleeve, all the while captivating audiences with his demonic stage show” (fourthhostcelestials, 2008)
The Rattles were a rock band from Hamburg Germany. They are best known for the hit single “The Witch” sung in English and released in 1970 at the height of psychedelia.
Here we have a recovered copy of the original music film, probably from a VHS tape. Someone attempted to re-include the music but it falls out of sync eventually. The colors are muted as well and that makes it extra creepy. What’s not to love about this?
The single reached number 4 in Germany, 8 in the UK and 79 in the US. It was included on the album also called The Witch in 1971. We love the cover-art
courtesy of discogs
Henner Hoir was a band member at the time. He eventually left The Rattles to go solo and perform in other bands. The song was also released under his name and was included on several Henner Hoir greatest hits compilations. For this reason it is frequently credited to him alone rather than the band. It’s kind of odd because he is not even the vocalist. The lead vocals on this track are by Edna Bejarano. She also sang the German version.
Herr Hoir went on to record the song again with an entirely different band called The Rivets. In this writers opinion, it’s a disappointing remake. It’s lacks the energy and pensive character of the original.
The song faded into obscurity in North America but reemerged in recent years as DJS and music fans dig for deeper cuts for their Halloween season playlists. FunHouse Radio is no exception. The remastered English version is in rotation for the season.
Danny Elfman wrote the quintessential Halloween carol, “This is Halloween” for Tim Burton’s smash hit movie, The Nightmare Before Christmas. Every nerd knows the original. A lot of us have heard the song covered by the sicko whom is never mentioned. How excellent it is to have this new version — and (sort of) LIVE.
Broken Peach is dolled up in death skull makup and play the song live to tape on an overcast day in the woods somewhere. The supporting floor tom drums are the perfect finishing touch.GloOooOoMY.
still shot from the video
I suspect this track gained them a lot of new fans since its was first published in 2015.
Imported into the United States in 1922, the “OKeh Laughing Record”–as it has come to be known–is one of the most unusual, (in its way) influential, and surprisingly enduring novelty records ever recorded.
There is nothing overly complicated about the recording itself. A solo cornet begins a rather slow, sad performance only to be quickly interrupted by a woman’s high-pitched, unrepentant, seemingly unforced laughter. She is quickly joined by a second laugher–a deep-voiced male–who, too, seems unable to contain himself. The mystery woman and man’s continuing, building chorus of giggles and guffaws eventually come to drown out, even usurp, the musical selection.
Because it was originally released with no credits or names attached, various “histories” of the “Laughing Record” have come into existence over the years. Generally accepted however is that the original recording was made in Berlin, Germany, in 1920 for the Beka label. The recording itself was an update/remake of an earlier purposefully laugh-centric recording, “The Misfortunes of Youth,” made by Henry Klausen in 1903.
newspaper ad & poster
The recording’s inexplicable, surprising success inspired a host of imitators, copy cats and pseudo sequels. The OKeh label itself issued the self-explanatory “Second Laughing Record” and “The OKeh Laughing Dance Record” as well as the equal-time-inclined “OKeh Crying Record” all before the end of the decade.
Perhaps because they were easy and quick to produce, a host of other “laughing” records also soon flooded the market, effectively creating their own bizarre subgenre. How they were ultimately used—as party background noise or for cheering up its listeners—is, of course, open to speculation.
advertising sticker
Even after its initial notoriety died out, the “OKeh Laughing Record” remained strangely, firmly embedded within American culture. Radio humorist Jean Shepherd (whose original short stories developed into the beloved holiday classic “A Christmas Story”) used it regularly in his broadcasts as did Chicago children’s television icon Ray Rayner. Later, the recording would become a staple of Dr. Demento’s weekly radio show.
– Cary O’Dell Courtesy of The National Registry, Abridged
Today is the first day of Oktoberfest. Eat your heart out, St. Patrick’s Day. For the next two weeks people in North America may pretend to be “German”. I suggest having Rouladen for dinner. Have a Kalter Hund for desert. Try a Schwarzbier. It’s the best!
Get in the mood to celebrate with this track by Werner-Wichtig. It’s is all about pumping out that tasty beer from kegs. Oktoberfest is also a great time to review your German vocabulary. The Lyrics can be found at the bottom of this page so you can sing along. Because it is a drinking song, it makes it even better if you murder the pronunciation.
This track is a parody of “Pump Up The Jam” by Technotronic, which was released in 1989 and hit Number Two on the West German pop charts. The instrumental version was included on the 7 inch single release. That made it really easy to create you own lyrics and sing over it. They probably got permission to use the track but I haven’t been able to find the details on that. It would have been possible to source the backing track from the 7 inch release without much of an issue. 45 RPM produces a superior signal verses 33 RPM. “Pump Ab Das Bier” was also released in 1989.
While the world is busy appropriating German culture this week, maybe we can excuse the apparel worn by the guys in the video. African inspired prints were popular at the time for White people to wear. Even I had a few shirts and hats at the time. We thought we were being cool. In hindsight, it’s cringe worthy. Conversely, Germans often cringe when they see American tourists wear kitchy lederhosen costumes at Oktoberfest celebrations.
Since the song first came out as a single, it’s been included in dozens of compilations. It was also re-released in 1998. I managed to get the original 12 inch vinyl record but it’s not in great condition. It’s a bit odd to me that they used the Statue of Liberty on the cover art, especially since the original song is by a Black Belgian band.
LYRICS (courtesy of LyricFind)
Pump ab das Bier, pump es ab Trink ihn aus den Humpen, komm lass dich nicht lumpen Mann, kann ich euch pumpen Pump ab das Bier, pump es jetzt, pump es hier Pump ab das Bier, pump es ab, pump es, pump es, pump es
Aua, das schmeckt so gut So ein Bierchen, das macht Laune und geht ins Blut Aua, wo bin ich hier? Sag doch endlich mal dem Wirt Bescheid Noch en Bier, noch en Bier Noch en Bier, noch en Bier Noch en Bier, noch en Bier Noch en Bier, noch en Bier, noch en
Pump ab das Bier, pump es ab Trink ihn aus den Humpen, komm lass dich nicht lumpen Mann, kann ich euch pumpen Pump ab das Bier, pump es jetzt, pump es hier Pump ab das Bier, pump es ab, pump es, pump es, pump es
Aua, noch en Korn, noch en Bier und noch en Korn und Dann von vorn Aua, wo bin ich hier? Sag doch endlich mal dem Wirt Bescheid Noch en Bier, noch en Bier Noch en Bier, noch en Bier Noch en Bier, noch en Bier Noch en Bier, noch en Bier, noch en
Pump ab das Bier, pump es ab, egal ob die Theke zusammenbricht Heute lassen wir’s uns gut gehen und nach Hause gehen wir nicht Pump es ab, sei nicht traurig, wenn der Kellner dich vergisst Dafür wirst du schon seit Tagen von der Ehefrau vermisst
Aua, noch en Korn, noch en Bier und noch en Korn und Dann von vorn Aua, wo bin ich hier? Sag doch endlich mal dem Wirt Bescheid Noch en
Pump ab das Bier, pump es ab, kriegst du auch die Hucke voll Irgendwann läuft’s sicher besser, hauen wir uns die Birne voll Pump es ab, denn heut ist Zahltag, heute schmeißt man uns nicht raus Ich bestell’ schon mal die Runde, heut gibst du mal einen aus
Aua, das schmeckt so gut So ein Bierchen, das macht Laune und geht ins Blut Aua, wo bin ich hier? Sag doch endlich mal dem Wirt bescheid Noch en Bier, noch en Bier Noch en Bier, noch en Bier Noch en Bier, noch en Bier Noch en Bier, noch en Bier, noch en Bier
– C. Hüther, F.T. Meyer-Thurn, R. Thielecke, R. Beyer
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