Testi Soundtracks :: C

Chorus

Growltiger was a bravo cat who travelled on a barge

In fact he was the roughest cat that ever roamed at large

From Gravesend up to Oxford he pursued his evil aims

Rejoicing in his title of the "Terror of the Thames"



His manners and appearance did not calculate to please

His coat was torn and seedy, it was baggy at the knees

One ear was somewhat missing, no need to tell you why

And he scowled upon a hostile world from one forbidding eye



The cottagers of Rotherhithe knew something of his fame

At Hammersmith and Putney, people shuddered at his name

They would fortify the hen house, lock up the silly goose

When the rumor ran along the shore: Growltiger's on the loose!



Woe to the weak canary that fluttered from its cage

Woe to the pampered Pekinese, that faced Growltiger's rage

Woe the bristly bandicoot that lurks on foreign ships

And woe to any cat with whom Growltiger came to grips



But most to cats of foreign race his hatred had been vowed

To cats of foreign name and race, no quarter was allowed

The Persian and the Siamese regarded him with fear

Because it was a Siamese had mauled his missing ear



Now on a peaceful summer night all nature seemed at play

The tender moon was shining bright, the barge at Molsey lay

All in the balmy moonlight it lay rocking on the tide

And Growltiger was disposed to show his sentimental side



In the forepeak of the vessel, Growltiger stood alone

Concentrating his attention on the lady Griddlebone

And his raffish crew were sleeping in their barrels and their bunks

As the Siamese came creeping in their sampans and their junks



Growltiger had no eye or ear for aught but Griddlebone

And the lady seemed enraptured by my manly baritone

Disposed to relaxation and awaiting no surprise

But the moonlight shone reflected from a thousand bright blue eyes



And closer still and closer the sampans circled 'round

And yet from all the enemy there was not heard a sound

The foe was armed with toasting forks and cruel carving knives

And the lovers sang their last duet in danger of their lives



Then Genghis gave the signal to his fierce Mongolian hordes

Abandoning their sampans, the chinks they swarmed aboard

Abandoning their sampans, their pullaways, their junks

They battened down the hatches on the crew within their bunks



Then Griddlebone she gave a screech for she was badly skeered

I am sorry to admit it, but she quickly disappeared

She probably escaped with ease I'm sure she was not drowned

But a serried ring of flashing steel Growltiger did surround



The ruthless foe presssed forward in stubborn rank on rank

Growltiger to his vast surprise was forced to walk the plank

He who a hundred victims had driven to that drop

At the end of all his crimes was forced to go kerflip, kerflop



Oh there was joy in Wapping when the news flew through the land

At Maidenhead and Henley there was dancing on the Strand

Rats were roasted whole in Brentford and Victoria Dock

And a day of celebration was commanded in Bangkok!



We are pulled back to the present as "Skimbleshanks The Railway Cat" introduces himself. A friendly uncle to all of the cats, Skimbleshanks attends the trains he rides, and makes sure every detail is perfect