I like to toss him up and down A heavy cat weighs half a Crown With a hey do diddle my cat Brown. I like to pinch him on the sly When nobody is passing by With a hey do diddle my cat Fry. I like to ruffle up his pride And watch him skip and turn aside With a hey do diddle my cat Hyde. Hey Brown and Fry and Hyde my cats That sit on tombstone for your mats.
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Confirmed with The Collected Poems of Stevie Smith Penguin Books 1985 page 263.
Authorship:
- by Stevie Smith (1903 - 1971), "My Cats" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Geoffrey Bush (1920 - 1998), "My Cats", 1981 [ baritone and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Linton Gardner (1917 - 2011), "My cats", op. 126 no. 3 (1976) [ mixed chorus and woodwind quintet ], from Seven Poems of Stevie Smith, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this page: Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2019-09-20
Line count: 11
Word count: 81