CATS

CATS - Gus, The Theatre Cat lyrics

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"Gus The Theatre Cat" appears next. He's an aged stage actor <br />

suffering from palsy, who worked with the greatest actors of his <br />

day. Gus tells of his greatest theatrical triumphs, and yearns <br />

to do it again. <br />

<br />

SOLO: <br />

Gus is the cat at the theatre door <br />

His name, as I ought to have told you before <br />

Is really Asparagus, and that's a fuss to pronounce <br />

That we usually call him just Gus <br />

<br />

His coat's very shabby, he's thin as a rake <br />

And he suffers from palsy that makes his paw shake <br />

Yet he was in his youth quite the smartest of cats <br />

But no longer a terror to mice or to rats <br />

<br />

For he isn't the cat that he was in his prime <br />

Though his name was quite famous, he says, in his time <br />

And whenever he joins his friends at their club <br />

(Which takes place at the back of the neighboring pub) <br />

<br />

He loves to regale them, if someone else pays <br />

With anecdotes drawn from his palmiest days <br />

For he once was a star of the highest degree <br />

He has acted with Irving, he's acted with Tree <br />

<br />

And he likes to relate his success on the halls <br />

Where the gallery once gave him seven cat calls <br />

But his greatest creation as he loves to tell <br />

Was Firefrorefiddle, the fiend of the fell <br />

<br />

GUS: <br />

I have played in my time every possible part <br />

And I used to know seventy speeches by heart <br />

I'd extemporize backchat, I knew how to gag <br />

And I knew how to let the cat out of the bag <br />

<br />

I knew how to act with my back and my tail <br />

With an hour of rehearsal, I never could fail <br />

I'd a voice that would soften the hardest of hearts <br />

Whether I took the lead, or in character parts <br />

<br />

I have sat by the bedside of poor little Nell <br />

When the curfew was rung then I swung on the bell <br />

In the pantomime season, I never fell flat <br />

And I once understudied Dick Whittington's cat <br />

<br />

But my grandest creation, as history will tell <br />

was Firefrorefiddle, the fiend of the fell <br />

<br />

SOLO: <br />

Then, if someone will give him a toothful of gin <br />

He will tell how he once played a part in East Lynne <br />

At a Shakespeare performance he once walked on pat <br />

When some actor suggested the need for a cat <br />

<br />

GUS: <br />

And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained <br />

As we did in the days when Victoria reigned <br />

They never get drilled in a regular troupe <br />

And they think they are smart just to jump through a hoop <br />

<br />

SOLO: <br />

And he says as he scratches himself with his claws <br />

<br />

GUS: <br />

Well the theatre is certainly not what is was <br />

These modern productions are all very well <br />

But there's nothing to equal from what I hear tell <br />

<br />

That moment of mystery when I made history <br />

As Firefrorefiddle, the fiend of the fell <br />

<br />

I once crossed the stage on the telegraph wire <br />

To rescue a child when a house was on fire <br />

And I think that I still can much better than most <br />

Produce blood curdling noises to bring on the ghost <br />

<br />

And I once played Growltiger <br />

Could do it again, could do it again <br />

Could do it again

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