Songs about cats are as insatiably quirky as the cotton-soft creatures themselves. Across the genres, cat-inspired music is well-groomed with lush, prowling sounds, meows, purrs, and unconventional rhythms to mimic the cuddly, sleek and scatty feline nature.
So grab the closest cat and stretch out by the fire to our kooky collection of cat songs!
Songs About Cats
1. The Cure – Lovecats
The Cure should probably be crowned the godfathers of Cat Rock after the flurry of cat inspired songs scattered throughout their career.
Lovecats has a uniquely wide-eyed, prowling sound with catchy cat-whisker bass lines and an alluring atmosphere that captures the creeping soul of every feline.
With The Cure’s authentic sense of Gothicism, Lovecats lyrics leer upon the spooky aura of cats who howl through the slender night hours, played distinctly against cosy kitten moments, like “curl up by the fire and sleep for a while.”
With its bizarre puppet music video and strangely innocent sentiment, this song is the cream of the cream when it comes to songs about cats.
2. TXT (투모로우바이투게더) – Cat & Dog
K-Pop stars TXT’s song Cat & Dog is about playful young love. They use the metaphor of a cat and dog to tell the story of a guy feeling like a puppy when he meets a pretty girl.
They capture the passionate and pure essence of a puppy wanting to play frisbee and go for walks with the person he loves, while most importantly, being her puppy.
TXT combines cat-like imagery such as “keep on grooming, keep kneading, keep being next to you” with simple yet captivating lyrics such as, “in my monochrome world, you shine red and blue.”
Full of meow samples and rumbling, this fresh track is perfect for when you’re craving that person who makes you purr.
3. Katy Perry – Roar
Unlike the other songs on our list, Roar is crafted around the strong, graceful nature of big cats rather than delicate and dependent kittens.
Katy Perry encourages you to have the pride and confidence of a tiger or lioness who refuses to back down out of fear, while knowing & believing you are beautiful in every way.
Roar’s legendary chorus reflects the perseverance of the cat queens of the jungles onto our human canvas, and how anyone can use their energy to find their own power; “I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter dancing through the fire, ‘cause I am a champion and you’re gonna hear me roar.”
4. Mud – The Cat Crept In
Mud’s glam rock hit compares a lady on the prowl to a late night alley cat creeping silkily around the neighbourhood’s dusk-lit houses and gardens.
Feline traits are tangled in every element of her presence, from her feline eyes and high-heeled paws, to her precarious, biteful personality, embedded with the deathly superstition, “she’s hanging on life number nine.”
This is an unintentionally hilarious rock song for any adventurous alley cat that can’t stay put.
5. Quen – Delilah
Taken from one of Freddie Mercury’s final albums, Queen’s Delilah is an uplifting and affectionate love song written by Freddie to his tabby cat, Delilah.
Mercury’s dancing voice mirrors the way we all feel around our felines, as he lists all the cutest things about his cat.
Most of his favourite cat habits are shaped to sound like he’s talking about a lover instead.
Lyrics like “You make me so very happy when you cuddle up and go to sleep beside me,” are met with deflecting lines such as “And then you make me slightly mad when you pee all over my Chippendale suite,” showcasing Queen’s abundant, quirky humour.
6. The Beatles – Leave My Kitten Alone
This obscure early Beatles track is about getting another guy to leave your girl alone, through contrasting kittens with bulldogs.
Simply summed up in classic blues-rock style, “You better leave my kitten all alone, I told you big fat bulldog, you better leave her alone,” The Beatles threaten to set their own dog on the bulldog and hit him on the head like Maxwell’s Silver Hammer if he doesn’t quit chasing the kitten.
Leave My Kitten Alone has a bright, retro milkshake cafe atmosphere with a morbidly protective message perfect for any cat lover to dig their claws into.
7. Tom Jones – What’s New Pussycat?
What’s New Pussycat? is a classic offbeat love song, to a woman so beautiful that Tom Jones compares her to having the cherishable features of a kitten.
ike Queen’s Delilah, this heartfelt track sings to the pussy cat of its loveliness and how much they’re cared for, while likening feminine and feline elegance; “Go and powder your cute little pussycat nose… make up your cute little pussycat eyes… I’ll soon be kissing your sweet little pussycat lips.”
Jones creates an overwhelmingly cuddly, romantic and uplifting approach to the unsung sub-genre of cat music.
8. Avril Lavigne – Hello Kitty
This is a weird one for anyone who’s only familiarity with Avril Lavigne is with her moody early 2000s pop punk music.
With the neon-splattered inspiration of Hello Kitty and snippets of Japanese language in her lyrics, Avril’s song Hello Kitty is as scattered and pick-n-mix as a sugar feasting kitten, full of bubblegum tones, kawaii aesthetics and tangled with cat references.
9. The Kinks – Phenomenal Cat
Phenomenal Cat is an eccentric 60’s tune detailing the exquisite life of a fat and well-kept cat who travels far and wide, discovering the strange lands beyond the half-mile radius most house cats stick to.
The Kinks’ song is fluffed with many colours and quirks, like the multitudes of tints to a tabby cat’s fur, including lines which paint a vivid picture of a fat cats’ adorably lethargic personality;
“No one bothered him as he sat, content in his tree. He just lived to eat ’cause it kept him fat, and that’s how he wanted to stay.”
10. Motorhead – Cat Scratch Fever
Cat Scratch Fever is the raucous result of Motorhead’s take on pussy cats; a leather-clad song of the addictive nature of women who prowl the night.
Like Mud’s own cat-woman, Motorhead connects the feline and the feminine with indiscreet innuendo, as the “pussy cat living next door” spellbinds him and curses him with her cat scratch fever;
“You know you got it ’cause it makes you insane, it makes you want to do it, do it, wasting my brain.”