Stray Cat Blues

Composers: Mick Jagger & Keith Richards
Recording date: April-May 1968        Recording location: Olympic Sound Studios, London, England
Producers: Jimmy Miller        Chief engineers: Eddie Kramer & Glyn Johns
Performed onstage: 1969-71, 1973, 1976, 2002-03

Probable line-up:

Drums: Charlie Watts
Bass: Bill Wyman
Electric guitars: Keith Richards
Vocal: Mick Jagger
Piano: Nicky Hopkins
Mellotron: Brian Jones
Congas: Rocky Dijon
 

Ah... hey

Yeah, cat's own tail


I hear the click-clack of your feet on the stairs
I know you're no scared-eyed honey
There'll be a feast if you just come upstairs

But it's no hanging matter
It's no capital crime

I can see that you're 15 years old
No I don't want your I.D.
And I can see that you're so far from home

But that's no hanging matter
It's no capital crime

Oh yeah, you're a strange stray cat
Oh yeah, don't you scratch like that
Oh yeah, you're a strange stray cat
I bet, bet your mama don't know you scream like that
I bet your mama don't know you can spit like that

You look so (...) and so far from home
But you don't really miss your mother
Don't look so scared, I'm not no mad-brained bear

But, but it's no hanging matter
It's no capital crime

Oh yeah.... ooh

I bet your mama don't know that you scratch like that
I bet she don't know you can bite like that

You say you've got a friend, that she's wilder than you
Why don't you bring her upstairs?
If she's so wild, then she can join in too

It's no hanging matter
It's no capital crime

Oh yeah, you're a strange stray cat
Oh yeah, don't you scratch like that
Oh yeah, you're a strange stray cat
I bet your mama don't know you can bite like that
I bet she never saw you scratch my back

 
 

TrackTalk

I mean, even WE'VE been influenced by the Velvet Underground... I'll tell you exactly what we pinched from (Lou Reed) too. You know Stray Cat Blues? The whole sound and the way it's paced, we pinched from the very first Velvet Underground album. You know, the sound on Heroin. Honest to God, we did!

- Mick Jagger, 1977

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