Found on the Web: The Ballad of Billy McCaw

In my opinion, the best tune in Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats is "The Ballad of Billy McCaw," which in the original British production was inset within the larger sequence "Growltiger's Last Stand," but was subsequently cut from the American version of the show. The Italian producers of Cats, however, had the good sense to keep the parrot in, and the song is on the Italian cast album. Perhaps unsurprisingly, in Italian it sounds a little more operatic, a little less music hall. But still good.



GROWLTIGER:
Oh, how well I remember the Old Bull and Bush
Where we used to go down of a Saturday night
Where, when anything happened, it come with a rush
For the boss, Mr. Clark, he was very polite

A very nice house, from basement to garret
A very nice house. Ah, but it was the parrot--
The parrot, the parrot named Billy McCaw
That brought all those folks to the bar
Ah! He was the life of the bar.

Of a Saturday night, we was all feeling bright
And Lily La Rose -- the barmaid that was --
She'd say, 'Billy, Billy McCaw!
Come give us, come give us a dance on the bar!'
And Billy would dance on the bar
And Billy would dance on the bar
And then we'd feel balmy, in each eye a tear
And emotion would make us all order more beer

Lily, she was a girl what had brains in her head
She wouldn't have nothing, no not that much said
If it come to an argument or a dispute
She'd settle it offhand with the toe of her boot
Or as likely as not put a fist through your eye
Or when we was happy and just a bit dry
Or when we was thirsty and just a bit sad,
She would rap on the bar with that corkscrew she had
And say,

GROWLTIGER AND GRIDDLEBONE:
'Billy, Billy McCaw!

GROWLTIGER:
'Come give us a tune on your pastoral flute!'
And Billy'd strike up on his pastoral flute

GROWLTIGER AND GRIDDLEBONE:
And Billy'd strike up on his pastoral flute

GROWLTIGER:
And then we'd feel balmy, in each eye a tear
And emotion would make us all order more beer

GROWLTIGER AND GRIDDLEBONE:
'Billy, Billy McCaw!
Come give us a tune on your moley guitar!'
And Billy'd strike up on his moley guitar
And Billy'd strike up on his moley guitar
And then we'd feel balmy, in each eye a tear
And emotion would make us all order more beer

CHORUS:
Billy, Billy McCaw!
Come give us a tune on your moley guitar

GROWLTIGER:
Ah! He was the life of the bar.