Lyr ADD: How Can I Keep from Purring? (Wellings)

Subject: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: GUEST,Calico
Date: 25 Sep 01 - 03:30 AM

The request for this song got buried in the Cat Song thread, so I'm posting here the request for the lyrics to this parody.
Cal

Subject: Lyr Add: HOW CAN I KEEP FROM PURRING? (add verse)
From: GUEST,Sonja
Date: 25 Sep 01 - 04:05 AM

Though I cannot post the lyrics you refer to, I will add a verse to those, whatever they are:
^^

Though I've used seven of my lives,
My feline bones are ag-ed,
The little kitten in me thrives
It simply won't be cag-ed, So I'll still pounce with zest and glee
On mousies when they're stirring
The world was made for cats like me--
How can I keep from purring?!

New verse by Sonja W. Oates 2001; tune : How Can I Keep From Purring

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 25 Sep 01 - 05:59 PM

Could have been written by Puss-in-Boots, my late FSO (feline significant other), before he finally succumbed to diabetes! Thank you, Sonja!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: GUEST,Sonja
Date: 26 Sep 01 - 02:21 AM

Oh, it's really 'neowthing,' Susanne.

Sonja

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: jeffp
Date: 26 Sep 01 - 08:29 AM

If nobody comes up with the original, just write a few more verses like that one! It was great!

jeffp

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: GUEST,Sonja
Date: 27 Sep 01 - 03:09 AM

Well, Jeff, I'd like to, but Betsy's original is so good that it's hard for me to get it out of my head long enough to re-write the whole song. That would probably be easier for someone who hasn't heard her verses.

I don't know her, but I know people who do, and maybe I can contact her for permission to post her parody here.

Thanks for the pat on the head, though. We cats all love that!

Sonja

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: GUEST,Genie
Date: 28 Sep 01 - 07:47 PM

Susanne,
Sorry to hear about your FS0.
My longest relationship with a cat was with Minnie Meowse, who succumbed to kidney and other internal organ failure at age 17 3 years ago. My new kitty, Melanie La Mew, is great, but I still miss Minnie.
Do all your cats write song? Maybe, if you have a new one, he/she can write more verses?
Genie

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: Lin in Kansas
Date: 29 Sep 01 - 05:12 PM

Sonja, who is Betsy?

And can anyone post the original verses? This sounds interesting! (Neat addition, BTW, Sonja.)

Lin

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 29 Sep 01 - 05:29 PM

Here is a picture of Betsy with the cat who perhaps wrote this

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: Barbara
Date: 29 Sep 01 - 11:30 PM

Oh, gosh, I had those words somewhere. When Betsy sang it at Rainy Camp, she passed out copies of the words to everyone. If they don't show up here in a few days, I'll find them someplace and post them.
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: Lyr Add: HOW CAN I KEEP FROM PURRING? (Wellings)
From: GUEST,Sonja
Date: 30 Sep 01 - 12:50 AM

Lin, I'm glad you liked the new verse.
Betsy Wellings lives, I believe, in Bellingham, WA. I got the lyrics at a Seattle Song Circle.

Since Barbara knows Betsy and seems to think she wouldn't mind the posting, I'll go ahead and do that.

Here they are:

How Can I Keep From Purring?
(Parody Lyrics: Betsy Wellings)

My live proceeds in endless need for human veneration.
I hear the sweet words, "Kitty, Dear," the constant adoration.
No dry cat food will quell my urge to hear that gentle whirring,
The electric can opener.
How can I keep from purring?

What, though the doggie near me sleeps--that foul abomination!;
Though he may snort and grunt and wheeze, I know no trepidation,
For there between us lies the one who holds me without stirring,
My humble servant, my human--
How can I keep from purring?

While others dream within their beds, I'm to the curtains clinging,
For I have torn the couch to shreds, my claws to sharpness bringing.
And, though I hang here in mid-air with dogs below me snoring,
My human soon will rescue me--
How can I keep from purring?


Humans are here to serve our needs, so every cat supposes,
And when we're pampered, loved, and fed, it's just what the world owes us!
But deep within my inmost heart, beneath my flesh and furring,
I know I am one lucky cat!--How can I keep from purring?

If you want to add the new verse above, it could be inserted anywhere, but personally, I would put it between the third and fourth verses. I imagine you folks could write even more entries.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: Lin in Kansas
Date: 30 Sep 01 - 04:26 AM

McGrath--thank you for the picture!

and Sonja--many thanks for posting the lyrics. Boris Bat Karloff, Lonnie Sue Cheney, and Bela Bruce Legosi thank you also. They tell me they could probably add several more verses (especially about the dog), but that sounds far too much like work to them...

Lin

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: GUEST,Sonja
Date: 30 Sep 01 - 11:08 AM

Great cat names, Lin!

Sonja

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: GUEST,Calico
Date: 30 Sep 01 - 02:35 PM

Thanks for posting the lyrics, Sonja.
Cal

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 30 Sep 01 - 06:19 PM

I love the words "foul abomination" as a description of a dog from a cat's point of view! Marvelous!!! Congratulations on a moving and timely lyric.

- LH

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: Deckman
Date: 01 Oct 01 - 05:20 PM

I've heard it said,
And I'm sure it's true,
That Bellingham girls,
Don't have enough to do!
Great thread. CHEERS ... Bob(deckman)Nelson (Everett)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: Genie
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 03:21 AM

gotta refresh this before I delete the thread from my tracer, just so more folks can see/hear Betsy's excellent parody

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: Haruo
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 03:38 AM

Thanks, Genie! I hadn't seen that one before.

Liland

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: PastyJane
Date: 13 Mar 02 - 01:31 AM

Bigfoot Underfoot would have approved.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: Genie
Date: 14 Mar 02 - 12:26 AM

Grp,
I take it Bigfoot Underfoot was a cat? Great name. Great cat, no doubt.

Genie

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: katlaughing
Date: 14 Mar 02 - 02:37 AM

Nice to see this one, again. Must print it out for future mewling. Ms. Kelpie, Kipling, Trystan, Charlee, Kazell, and Ms. Lovee think it is divine.

My cat calendar quote for the day is: "Meow is like 'Aloha' -- it can mean anything." - Hank Ketchum -

meow,

kat

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: PastyJane
Date: 14 Mar 02 - 10:26 PM

Bigfoot Underfoot was a Maine Coon cat. When he was a young kitten and I took him to the vet for a check-up, the vet looked at him and said "He's all FEET!" -- thus he became Bigfoot. When it became clear that he was wherever we were going to step he becam "Bigfoot Underfoot".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: technission
Date: 15 Mar 02 - 12:22 AM

Ha! I've shared space with Maine Coon mixes before and was
delighted once to find an unforgettable description of
the breed in a "cat book" :
"large goofy cat" !
Our "Gordo" was every bit of that!

^ ^
(*.*)
(,, ,,)
michael

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: GUEST,Calico
Date: 15 Mar 02 - 01:35 AM

Kat, "Meow" is feline for "Ciao" in Italiano (it even rhymes, sort of).  "Ciao," of course = "aloha"  =  "shalom."    

  ^ ^  =(*.*)=  (,, ,,)     Calico

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: GUEST,Calico
Date: 15 Mar 02 - 01:43 AM

How the meow are you supposed to draw pictures with a mouse if you "preformat" and it screws up like the post above?!

Trying this again...

^ ^
=(*.*)=
(,, ,,)

(If it doesn't work, just add 2 spaces in front of the "^ ^."

Calico

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: Genie
Date: 15 Mar 02 - 02:57 AM

...and two spaces in front of the (,, ,,), too!

eh, Calico?

Genie

(I empathize! What I type is not always what shows up in the post, either!)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: GUEST,Betsy Wellings
Date: 20 Feb 04 - 08:18 PM

Thanks to Barbara for posting my parody. I heard it was out there somewhere - took me two years to get around to finding it. I live in Centralia, Washington, and teach K-2 music in Tenino. Glad you enjoyed it. Tigre would be proud. Betsy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: mg
Date: 20 Feb 04 - 08:35 PM

Hi Betsy..how about the lost dog one too...that one was very nice for anyone who has lost a dog. When I first read it I thought it was about a dog who had been put to sleep, but I think the dog was lost lost... mg

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: open mike
Date: 20 Feb 04 - 10:53 PM

the little kitty graphic looks good if you add a tilda before or after
the bottom section~
^ ^
=(*.*)=
(,, ,,)~
thusly

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: Barbara
Date: 21 Feb 04 - 12:59 AM

I'll be glad to take credit for what I didn't do, beats getting blamed for it, but you'll notice that Sonja came up with the words before I found mine. I did assume that if you, Betsy, passed it out to all of us at song circle/Rainy Camp that it was okay with you to have it more widely distributed.
And it's a charming parody,
which reminds me, Betsy, you have an even more charming original in Julianna, (the five year old) who entertained me with tall tales about fireflies during breakfast last Sunday.
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: LadyJean
Date: 21 Feb 04 - 11:41 PM

This is a great song!
                   Musetta Rustycatte Flufftail LadyJean's Tortie With Attitude.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: Lady Hillary
Date: 22 Feb 04 - 10:08 PM

And then there were Gregory George Potemkin Russell III, otherwise known as Pot and Two Stroke, whose purr resembled the sound of a 2 stroke SAAB engine. Both were tuxedo's.

EBarnacle on Lady Hillary's Machine

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: matai
Date: 23 Feb 04 - 08:00 AM

My cat Eddy (Vedder) doesn't write songs but he's happy to sing them for you. ^^
       =(**)=
         (,,)/
               

matai

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: matai
Date: 23 Feb 04 - 08:06 AM

^^
=(*.*)=
   (, ,)/
mmm......not as easy as one might think

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: GUEST,Betsy Wellings
Date: 04 Nov 08 - 06:59 PM

I have written a bass counterpoint part that goes with the last verse (joining in guiltily with the lead at key points), or can be sung separately. My intention is to record the song (soon!) in a bluegrass gospel style.
The rhythm is mostly defined by quarter notes.

If you want to sleep at night
You must give me tuna, tuna in large doses
Tuna, tuna, all the time
That's just what the world owes us.
And if you don't I'll wake you
Long before, before the rooster's crowing
I know you would not like that
How can I keep from purring?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: GUEST,Betsy Wellings
Date: 04 Nov 08 - 07:03 PM

In case you didn't realize it in my last post, I am the original creator of this parody. I love the verses people have added of course. But having four already plus this counterpart, I may not be able to include them in my recording! ;-(

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep From Purring?
From: katlaughing
Date: 16 Jul 09 - 12:09 PM

Betsy, sorry I missed this when you posted last year. Thanks for doing so!

kat

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep from Purring? (Wellings)
From: Genie
Date: 09 Jul 14 - 05:57 AM

This song just keeps gaining a wider and wider, very appreciative audience!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: How Can I Keep from Purring? (Wellings)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Feb 24 - 04:14 PM

HOW CAN I KEEP FROM PURRING
copyright Betsy Wellings

My life proceeds in endless need
For human veneration.
I hear those sweet words, "Kitty, Dear,"
The constant adoration.
No dry cat food will quell my urge
To hear that gentle whirring,
The electric can opener.
How can I keep from purring?

What though the doggie near me sleeps,
That foul abomination,
Though he may snort and grunt and wheeze,
I know no trepidation,
For there between us lies the one
Who holds me without stirring,
My humble servant, my human--
How can I keep from purring?

While others dream within their beds
I'm to the curtains clinging,
For I have torn the couch to shreds
My claws to sharpness bringing.
And, though I hang here in mid-air
With dogs below me snoring,
My human soon will rescue me--
How can I keep from purring?


Basslike Counterpart (counter melody):
If you want to sleep at night
You must give me tuna
Tuna in large doses
Tuna, tuna, all the time
That’s just what the world owes us
For if you don’t, I’ll wake you
Long before, before the rooster’s stirring
I know you would not like that
How can I keep from purring?

Humans are here to serve our needs
So every cat supposes,
And when we're pampered, loved, and fed
That's just what the world owes us
But deep within my inmost heart,
Beneath the flesh and furring,
I know I am one lucky cat
How can I keep from purring?

New verse by Jeanene Pratts:
Though I've used seven of my lives,
My feline bones are ag-ed,
The little kitten in me thrives
It simply won't be cag-ed,
So I'll still pounce with zest and glee
On mousies when they're stirring
The world was made for cats like me--
How can I keep from purring?!


https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tGK7ofDFNFHgP8luIXmNJJ1MTZQDfEm4iwZ4NaRVk0k/edit

It was nice to meet Betsy on Zoom Sunday and hear her sing this classic parody.

Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: How Can I Keep from Purring? (Wellings)
From: RunrigFan
Date: 29 Feb 24 - 10:24 AM

Is the gym How Cabb I keep from Singing the same medley

---

Hi, Runrig - the melody is "How Can I Keep from Singing."
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: How Can I Keep from Purring? (Wellings)
From: Hornpipe
Date: 03 Mar 24 - 07:09 PM

Can I just say how much I love this thread and this song!