cool for cats  
    (Difford/Tilbrook) 
      The Indians send signals  
      From the rocks above the pass  
      The cowboys take positions  
      In the bushes and the grass  
      The squaw is with the Corporal  
      She is tied against the tree  
      She doesn't mind the language  
      It's the beating she don't need  
      She lets loose all the horses  
      When the Corporal is asleep  
      And he wakes to find the fire's dead  
      And arrows in his hats  
      And Davy Crockett rides around  
      And says it's cool for cats  

      The Sweeney's doing ninety  
      'Cos they've got the word to go  
      They get a gang of villains  
      In a shed up at Heathrow  
      They're counting out the fivers  
      When the handcuffs lock again  
      In and out of Wandsworth  
      With the numbers on their names  
      It's funny how their missus'  
      Always look the bleeding same  
      And meanwhile at the station  
      There's a couple of likely lads  
      Who swear like how's your father  
      And they're very cool for cats  
      They're cool for cats  

      To change the mood a little  
      I've been posing down the pub  
      On seeing my reflection  
      I'm looking slightly rough  
      I fancy this, I fancy that  
      I wanna be so flash  
      I give a little muscle  
      And I spend a little cash  
      But all I get is bitter and a nasty little rash  
      And by the time I'm sober  
      I've forgotten what I've had  
      And ev'rybody tells me that it's cool to be a cat  
      Cool for cats  

      Shake up at the disco  
      And I think I've got a pull  
      I ask her lots of questions  
      And she hangs on to the wall  
      I kiss her for the first time  
      And then I take her home  
      I'm invited in for coffee  
      And I give the dog a bone  
      She likes to go to discos  
      But she's never on her own  
      I said I'll see you later  
      And I give her some old chat  
      But it's not like that on the TV  
      When it's cool for cats  
      It's cool for cats 
       

  • Chords
  • FROM THE ALBUM: Cool For Cats, an edited version of this track was released as the album's second single.
  • COMPILATIONS: In its edited form on Singles - 45's and Under, Master Series, and Greatest Hits, the latter of which it was re-released as a single to promote. The full-length version was reissued on A&M Classics.
  • LIVE VERSIONS: 1) The A Round and a Bout video in a medley with "Take Me I'm Yours", but is lopped off for the LP version. 2) In another live medley, this time with "Strong in Reason", on "Third Rail" CD single #1.
  • Peaked at #2 on the UK charts.
  • Used in a 1991 UK milk advertising campaign. Adrian Simpson recalls the lyrics for the campaign as: "My mums down the bingo / And the old man's out of town / They said that I could party so I called my mates around / Spot a little diamond in the corner on her own / The lads all tried it on her but end up with their fuses blown / So then she eyes me bottle in a way that I condone / So while the parties raving I stepped in with some old chat / and let her (?) my pint of milk because its cool for cats".
  • In 1999 "Cool for Cats" was used in Zimbabwe and possibly in South Africa

    • as an advert for DSTV (a pay channel) to advertise the BBC. (Thanks to Jess)
  • "I don't know if you're familiar with the phrase 'Cool For Cats' in Canada, but it was the first rock 'n' roll television show in England during 1959. That's where the album and single title originated ... I just worked it into some personal experiences within the lyrical content." (Chris in New Music Magazine, 1979) 
  • The lyric was written in The Rose and Crown Pub, Greenwich.