Origins: I'm Going To Drown My Cat

19 Nov 10 - 08:51 PM (#3036386)
Subject: Origins: I'm Going To Drown My Cat
From: Leadfingers

This is in the Digitrad as Bob Walsers - From someone in England - I understand it is from Judith Aarons - In the interests of Correct Attribution can any one confirm this ?

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19 Nov 10 - 09:18 PM (#3036402)
Subject: RE: Origins: I'm Going To Drown My Cat
From: Bat Goddess

I learned it close to 20 years ago, only the chorus, from Judy Cook. Not sure where she got it (but from someone in England).

A few word variations --

I'm going to kill my cat
And smother it with my pillow
It pissed all around my hat
And now it has to pay
But I'm not into cruelty,
So when I'm done disecting it,
I'm going to send the pieces to the RSPCA.

Linn

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19 Nov 10 - 09:27 PM (#3036408)
Subject: RE: Origins: I'm Going To Drown My Cat
From: Leadfingers

Thaks Linn

And Garg - Attributions of Song Writers DO Bloody matter aside from Royalties etc ! Credit is due to to whoever has the idea !

And YES !! SOME of us DO give a hoot !!

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19 Nov 10 - 09:51 PM (#3036418)
Subject: RE: Origins: I'm Going To Drown My Cat
From: Joe Offer

Hmmm. Well, the digital Tradition says from Bob Walser, who got it from someone in England The person who submitted the song was "DC" (Dennis Cook), one of the two original (1988) sources of song for the DT (and husband of Judy Cook).

So, all we really know is that it came from "somebody in England."

-Joe-

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19 Nov 10 - 11:27 PM (#3036455)
Subject: RE: Origins: I'm Going To Drown My Cat
From: Charley Noble

I also learned it 20 years ago but I've forgotten from whom. How's that for more clarification?

Charley Noble

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20 Nov 10 - 05:27 AM (#3036536)
Subject: RE: Origins: I'm Going To Drown My Cat
From: GUEST,Alan Whittle

I'm pretty sure that Brummy folksinger Malcolm Stent wrote this one. I certainly saw him perform it with his band the Timoneers in the mid seventies - they had a Friday night residency at the West Bromwich Travel Lodge.

There were a load of verses with it. Malc is pretty easily contactable and is sure to be able to sort it all out for you.

Harvey Andrews is sure to have a website and he will have Malc's contact details, because he has appeared in Malc's plays.

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20 Nov 10 - 05:31 AM (#3036538)
Subject: RE: Origins: I'm Going To Drown My Cat
From: doc.tom

The age can go back at least 30 years - I'm trying desparately to remember who used to sing it (apart from Pete Collins and Snowy). It had a boost shortly after Steeleye did All Around My Hat, of course.

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20 Nov 10 - 05:51 AM (#3036553)
Subject: RE: Origins: I'm Going To Drown My Cat
From: GUEST,SteveT

Certainly Judith Aarons used to sing it at the Globe in Topsham and the Mill on the Exe (Exeter) folk clubs in the early 1990s. I had a feeling that she wrote it but I'm not 100% sure.

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20 Nov 10 - 06:41 AM (#3036580)
Subject: RE: Origins: I'm Going To Drown My Cat
From: MoorleyMan

The correct answer as I understand it, is that Judith A is indeed the author, but that subsequently one of the verses was added or tweaked by Robin Laing, and more slight changes were made by David Kidman (who also sings it). I could contact Robin or David and find out, I guess.
I'm not sure about the Judy/Dennis Cook version, which sounds similar but different. I'll check my words file later.

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21 Nov 10 - 03:56 PM (#3037548)
Subject: RE: Origins: I'm Going To Drown My Cat
From: GUEST,Alan Whittle

refresh

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21 Nov 10 - 05:01 PM (#3037583)
Subject: RE: Origins: I'm Going To Drown My Cat
From: GUEST,Bob Walser

For any streams that derive from my singing, I learned the song from the late Jim Jewell of the Isle of Wight from whom I learned it in November, 1982. Jim ran a folk club on the Island and had guests from all over (in particular, Jim should get credit for connecting Jim Mageean and Johnny Collins). My notes don't include a source beyond Jim, alas.

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24 Nov 10 - 03:24 PM (#3039749)
Subject: RE: Origins: I'm Going To Drown My Cat
From: GUEST,Ted Crum (Steamchicken)

I'm proud to be able to reveal that the writer of "I'm going to Drown my Cat" was my old mate Jem Patterson, a fellow member of The Somerville Gentlemen's Band. He wrote it around 1975, and added to his output with an equally funny version of "Viva Espana". After a gap of twenty seven years three of us are performing together again, and I'm hoping to persuade him to perform this little gem once more in public. If anyone wants the words, contact me via the Steamchicken website and I'll pass them on.

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24 Nov 10 - 07:07 PM (#3039917)
Subject: RE: Origins: I'm Going To Drown My Cat
From: Charley Noble

Ted-

Thanks for nailing this one down. Did your band ever record the song and, if so, when?

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

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24 Nov 10 - 08:50 PM (#3039970)
Subject: RE: Origins: I'm Going To Drown My Cat
From: GUEST,Ted Crum (Steamchicken)

I fear not. We certainly sang it in early club and festival performances but it was not in our regular set list. Pity really because it was a really good spoof.

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24 Nov 10 - 10:22 PM (#3039986)
Subject: RE: Origins: I'm Going To Drown My Cat
From: Charley Noble

Ted-

That often is the fate of such songs, however brilliant. On a recording, once people hear it and get the joke they tend to skip over it the next time them play it.

Perhaps, that's why my group never recorded "Dead Dog Scrumpy."

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

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25 Nov 10 - 06:05 AM (#3040128)
Subject: RE: Origins: I'm Going To Drown My Cat
From: Mo the caller

Are you saying that Dead Dog Scrumpy is another spoof? If so what of?
Or just that it's only funny the first time (I agree it can be overdone)

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25 Nov 10 - 08:25 AM (#3040194)
Subject: RE: Origins: I'm Going To Drown My Cat
From: Charley Noble

Mo-

Well, we always find" Dead Dog Scrumpy" amusing as a live performance piece but there's more of an audience reaction when most of them haven't heard it before. And when it's recorded on a CD people do tend to skip over it after playing that tack once. No, it's not a spoof of anything we're aware of, although I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the basic tale was originally a shaggy dog story.

Charley Noble

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25 Nov 10 - 05:32 PM (#3040522)
Subject: RE: Origins: I'm Going To Drown My Cat
From: Mo the caller

Woof.

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26 Nov 10 - 12:49 PM (#3040920)
Subject: RE: Origins: I'm Going To Drown My Cat
From: Leadfingers

So we have three contenders - One of the Dated

Jem Patterson in 1975

Judith Aarons with an added verse from Robin Laing

and Malcolm Stent .

The waters getting muddier ! LOL

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27 Nov 10 - 09:08 AM (#3041374)
Subject: RE: Origins: I'm Going To Drown My Cat
From: GUEST,Alan Whittle

Malcolm would certainly have heard the Somervils. So maybe Jem is the man. Sounds convincing to me.

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28 Nov 10 - 05:12 AM (#3041841)
Subject: RE: Origins: I'm Going To Drown My Cat
From: GUEST,Ted Crum (Steamchicken)

Er, the water is quite clear folks. Malcolm would almost certainly have learned it directly from us since he and we shared quite a few stages around Brum in the seventies,and it was just his sort of material. I haven't had the pleasure of meeting Judith Aarons so can't comment on where she first heard it, but when I say Jem wrote it, I do not speak with forked tongue.

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28 Nov 10 - 06:44 AM (#3041878)
Subject: RE: Origins: I'm Going To Drown My Cat
From: Leadfingers

Thanks Ted! Looks like it has been well attributed then . Any chance of you posting the original lyric ?

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28 Nov 10 - 07:23 PM (#3042380)
Subject: ADD: I'm Going To Drown My Cat
From: GUEST

Right, here we go:

I'M GOING TO DROWN MY CAT
(Jem Patterson)

CHORUS
I'm going to drown my cat, then I'll smother it with my pillow,
He's pissed all round my hat and he's going to have to pay
Now I'm not into cruelty but when I've done dissecting it
I'm sending off the bits to the RSPCA

Fare thee well wee mog, you have widdled once too often,
I'm off to buy a dog that is clean and well behaved,
You never discriminated about the place where you urinated
So rest in P will be the epitaph above your grave

Chorus

To get you potty trained I have struggled till my strength
Just like your bladder has been drained all over floors, walls and stairs,
How your metabolism keeps booming when you produce more than you're consuming
Is really quite beyond me, so Kitty say your prayers

Chorus

I'll take my cricket bat which is made of finest willow
And sort you out with that, end my troubles at a blow
But I don't envy St. Peter as he waits at the gates to greet yer
You'll wait till he's not looking, then you'll widdle though his halo

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29 Dec 13 - 03:40 AM (#3587255)
Subject: RE: Origins: I'm Going To Drown My Cat
From: GUEST,Ted Crum (Steamchicken)

As a relevant addition to this thread, can I offer this? Phil discovered a lovely Italian folk song. We couldn't translate the original lyrics, which were in some obscure Tuscan dialect, so Jem, with some input from Phil and me, wrote the words and called it Cassanova. Have a look on this link and see what you think.


www.youtube.com/channel/UC8ki-fBWHdz_3BxEsdA0cnw/videos

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29 Dec 13 - 08:24 AM (#3587292)
Subject: RE: Origins: I'm Going To Drown My Cat
From: Leadfingers

Thanks Ted - Here's a link to Casanova

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30 Dec 13 - 08:23 AM (#3587527)
Subject: RE: Origins: I'm Going To Drown My Cat
From: GUEST,Musket

As I started reading this thread, I was racking my brains over where I had first heard it. As I had access to the recordings of the concerts, I must have lifted it from Stainsby Folk Festival tapes. I had been singing it when in a silly mood for years.

Somerville Gentlemens' Band! That takes me back... I recall the bass player jamming with Diz Disley and Johnny Silvo at the same festival. (1981? 2?)

Happy days...

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30 Dec 13 - 12:45 PM (#3587588)
Subject: RE: Origins: I'm Going To Drown My Cat
From: GUEST,Ted Crum (Steamchicken)

Yes, I was indeed that bass player! I recall Disley wandering up and saying "Aha, the old bull fiddle eh? Come and have a go with me and Silvo dear boy". Now, I'm a folkie. I only play in G,D,A or occasionally Em if pushed. He introduced me to this vast audience, turned to me and said "Nuage in B flat". I have to tell you I nearly ruined a good pair of trousers! I'm glad it struck a chord of memory for you.

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30 Dec 13 - 01:13 PM (#3587600)
Subject: RE: Origins: I'm Going To Drown My Cat
From: GUEST,Musket

I was one of the guitarists jamming in the beer tent. I was green to the gills with envy my friend..........

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30 Dec 13 - 01:46 PM (#3587608)
Subject: RE: Origins: I'm Going To Drown My Cat
From: Mo the caller

Thanks for Casanova - my cat was fascinated, he came and sat on my lap with eyes glued to the screen.
Good job he can't read the thread title.

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07 Nov 14 - 04:19 AM (#3675330)
Subject: RE: Origins: I'm Going To Drown My Cat
From: GUEST,Ted Crum (Steamchicken)

Mo, we've renamed it Crassanova for what I think are obvious reasons!

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