Tree Trunk
Traction (Satisfaction) (kids or adults):
For kids: Cats chase birds, of course, and get
frustrated...
For adults: Mick Jagger was chasing birds, too, and wrote
Satisfaction about that hunt, and its frustration. This
song can be presented to emphasize that tomcatting,
also.
The Lady Is A
Cat (The Lady Is A Tramp)(kids or
adults)
For
kids: This typical cat rules, with her insatiable yet
changeable
appetite, self-absorption, capricious comings and
goings, and nerve-wracking overnight disappearances.
For adults: Every image is (or implies) a double-entendre
("she sleeps where she wants"), so this song can present a
female sexual prowler—in some ways the counterpart of the tom in Tree Trunk
Traction.
Oh, What A Wonderful Closet (. .
. Wonderful Day)(kids or
adults).
For kids: Of
course, cats love closets! In those small domains, they’re
unobserved, and so have a free paw to get into all sorts of
unexpected trouble. And those racks of shoes, belts, and ties offer
so many interesting ways to climb various walls.
For adults: The subtext, of course, can be pretty
clear.
Jack The Cat
(Mack The Knife)(good for adults):
Jack The Cat
satirizes the way we often ignore the fact that our graceful,
powerful pets are very well-designed predators. A related
denial is involved in the glamorizing of violence (gangsters,
cowboys). The song parodied here, Mack The Knife, was
theoretically an attack on that glamorization—but, irresistible
itself, has in effect become part of the problem. And
this parody has all the above in mind. Seems too harsh for
kids.
O Restless Cat (O Danny Boy) (good for
kids)
O Restless Cat (O Danny Boy) is a song
about the cabin fever of winter—which relates well to kids
in particular. And it's even in a parental voice, gently
advising patience, because spring will return.
Mr Can-Man (Mr. Sandman) (good for
kids)
Mr. Can-Man has a theme that's especially good for kids: It's
about the frustrations of being dependent--like requiring
someone else to open that lunch for you.