Ten Songs: Nine About Cats (And One Stray Dog) Quiz

Answer: Harry Chapin

This song, from Chapin's 1974 album "Verities & Balderdash", reached number one on several US and Canadian Charts and performed well in many other countries. It tells the poignant story of precious time spent (or not spent) between a father and his son and how that is then perpetuated into the next generation. Ugly Kid Joe released a successful cover version in 1992 (without the apostrophe - whether this was an omission or they wanted more than one cat in the cradle is not clear).

Answer: Elton John

Written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, "Honky Cat" was released in 1972 as the opening song on the "Honky Chateau" album. The song reached number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 (1972) and Winston Cook-Wilson of "Spin" magazine called it John's "most underrated" single.
Despite the title it was not recorded in the US but the entire "Honky Chateau" album was recorded at Strawberry Studios at Chateau d'Herouville, Herouville, France, in January 1972. Mr John dubbed it the "Honky Chateau" and named his album after the new name of the studio.

Answer: Al Stewart

Released in 1976 by AL Stewart, "Year of the Cat" is the titular song off his seventh album. Recorded in the famous Abbey Road Studios, London, it reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1977. "Year of the Cat" is widely recognised as Stewart's signature song.

"Year of the Cat" is a narrative song where the tourist protagonist visited an exotic market when an alluring woman dressed in silk whisks him away for a romantic adventure. He wakes up the next morning next to her but his tour bus has left without him and he has lost his ticket any way.

Answer: Ted Nugent

This song is from the 1977 album of the same name by US guitarist and hard rock maestro, Ted Nugent. The album has had multi-platinum sales but the single's performance was slightly less impressive reaching the mid-thirties in the charts. The song is characterized by a recurrent three chord minor progression which is partly the reason in 2009 it was selected as number 32 in the all-time best rock songs by music station VH1 (Video Hits One).

The album of the same name went multi-platinum.

Answer: Survivor

Written by Frankie Sullivan and Jim Peterik, "Eye of the Tiger" was released in 1982 as the titular song from their third album. Although nearly called "Survival", luckily Sullivan and Peterik stuck with "Eye of the Tiger". The song was recorded as the theme song to Sylvester Stallone's "Rocky III" which was released the following day and it reached the number one position on numerous charts around the world. (The slashing chords were timed to the punches thrown by Rocky in the scene the song was played). Nominated for an Oscar (Best Original Song) and a Grammy (Song of the Year), the song failed to win either nomination.

The song also features on a 1986 Richard C. Sarafian movie of the same name.

Answer: Rolling Stones

Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, "Stray Cat Blues" was released on their 1968 album "Beggars Banquet". Not released as a single, possibly due to its indelicate subject material, "Rolling Stone" magazine ranked it 43 on the list of the band's greatest songs.
The song is on the sound track of the 2015 movie "Joy", and also featured on the video game "Guitar Heroes: Warriors of Rock".

Answer: Squeeze

Lead guitarist for Squeeze, Glenn Tilbrook, stated that the lyrics of this song reflected snapshots the band's lives at that point in time. The song was the band's second single off their 1979 album of the same name. The song charted well in many countries including number two in the USA and number five in Australia (where the band were known as 'UK Squeeze').

The song title was taken from an early UK TV show which was one of the first to showcase Rock'n'Roll music. Cockney-accented Squeeze lyricist Chris Difford sang lead on this song, one of only three occasions he sang lead on a Squeeze single.

Answer: The Tokens

This song has a chequered history. It was originally written and recorded As "Mbube" by South African Solomon Linda in 1939. Linda's original was written in Zulu, while George David Weiss wrote the English version's lyrics.

In 1949, the song was demonstrated to Pete Seeger and The Weavers. They thought it was a traditional Zulu song. They performed it as "Wimoweh", a mispronunciation of the original chorus of "Uyimbube" meaning "You are a lion" in Zulu. This version contained the chanting chorus "Wimoweh". It was recorded live with a brass and string orchestra. It went to Billboard's Top Ten but their were copyright problems and Pete Seeger signed over his royalties to Mr Linda. The Kingston Trio also recorded a version.

The song was reworked by RCA producers to make a pop version. The Tokens subsequently took the song to the top of the Billboard Top 100 in 1961.

Answer: Tom Jones

"What's New, Pussycat" (1965) is one of Tom Jones' most requested songs and is a staple at his live shows, yet peaked at number eleven on the UK Singles Chart giving Mr Jones his third British hit. It fared better in the US, where it was his second hit and peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100.
Written for the opening credits of the eponymous movie, it was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David and nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1966, but lost to Tony Bennett's "The Shadow of Your Smile".

Answer: Pink Floyd

"Seamus" is song from the 1971 Pink Floyd album "Meddle". It is named after Humble Pie's Stave Marriott's collie who howls through the entire song. Curiously never explained, the song is sung in a country blues style.
Thankfully it was was never released as a single (In 2011, "Classic Rock Review" stated that Pink Floyd fans have ranked "Seamus" as one of their worst songs). It was only performed once live where a Russian Wolfhound, Nobs, was brought in to provide accompanying howling. This version can be heard on "Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii".

Not the best dog song to include on a quiz but we did want this quiz to be about ten cats not nine, so we found a way to make the nine cats shine.