I like to toss him up and down A heavy cat weighs half a Crown With a hey do diddle my cat Brown. I like to pinch him on the sly When nobody is passing by With a hey do diddle my cat Fry. I like to ruffle up his pride And watch him skip and turn aside With a hey do diddle my cat Hyde. Hey Brown and Fry and Hyde my cats That sit on tombstone for your mats.
Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada, but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.
Confirmed with The Collected Poems of Stevie Smith Penguin Books 1985 page 263.
Text Authorship:
- by Stevie Smith (1903 - 1971), "My Cats" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Geoffrey Bush (1920 - 1998), "My Cats", 1981 [ baritone and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Linton Gardner (1917 - 2011), "My cats", op. 126 no. 3 (1976) [ mixed chorus and woodwind quintet ], from Seven Poems of Stevie Smith, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this page: Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2019-09-20
Line count: 11
Word count: 81