Song 648: This week the playlist applauds Stray Cat Strut by Stray Cats, written by Brian Setzer, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Happy Meow Year! Just like 3 of my last 5 blogs here, tonight marks the first appearance of this particular group in my favorite song gathering. Despite my admiration for felines, somehow it took well over 9 years before I got around to adding this striking mover to the collection. When it first arrived, I had gotten halfway through my third year at a very comfortable Oakland, CA, residence, but then when September rolled around, a room became available at a friend's home in Berkeley, so I soon had an address within a few blocks of the pizza place where the singer/songwriter circle I had joined hung out. Spending more time in Berkeley soon made it obvious to me how lots of stray cats (human ones, NOT felines) had made the city sidewalks their new living quarters, mainly due to POTUS Reagan having essentially ended federal funding of mental institutions. During that era, the word cat had become a slang reference to a guy, and as the 1990s unfolded, I started writing a song I originally titled It Takes a Jealous Cat, implying a human male's jealousy over a human female. As I plan to explain in a video about The Story Behind My Song One More Cat Tale, at some point in that decade, the title evolved into It Takes a Cat and became a melodic ramble about a real furry fellow, so it now enlivens my Purrfection CD single, and you can hear and see a YouTube lyric video of it by clicking on the title. Like other stray cats, I don't bother chasing mice around, but I also don't get my dinner from a garbage can, even when I strut right by with my tail in the air.
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