Growltiger`s Last Stand Lyrics
In the fantasy sequence "Growltiger's Last Stand," Gus relives
one such triumph, playing the pirate Growltiger. In this sequence,
Growltiger, a feared feline sea captain and his amour,
Griddlebone,
meet an untimely end after battling a crew of
Siamese sailors.
CHORUS:
Growltiger was a bravo cat who travelled on a barge
In
fact he was the roughest cat that ever roamed at large
From Gravesend up to Oxford he pursued his evil aims
Rejoicing in his title of the "Terror of the Thames"
His manners and appearance did not calculate to please
His coat was torn and seedy, it was baggy at the knees
One ear was somewhat missing, no need to tell you why
And he scowled upon a hostile world from one forbidding
eye
The cottagers of Rotherhithe
knew something of his fame
At Hammersmith and Putney,
people shuddered at his name
They would fortify the hen
house, lock up the silly goose
When the rumor ran along
the shore: Growltiger's on the loose!
Woe to the weak canary that fluttered from its cage
Woe to the pampered Pekinese, that faced Growltiger's rage
Woe the bristly bandicoot that lurks on foreign ships
And
woe to any cat with whom Growltiger came to grips
But most to cats of foreign race his hatred had been vowed
To cats of foreign name and race, no quarter was allowed
The Persian and the Siamese regarded him with fear
Because it was a Siamese had mauled his missing ear
Now on a peaceful summer night all nature seemed at play
The tender moon was shining bright, the barge at Molsey
lay
All in the balmy moonlight it lay rocking on the tide
And Growltiger was disposed to show his sentimental side
In the forepeak of the vessel,
Growltiger stood alone
Concentrating his attention on the lady Griddlebone
And
his raffish crew were sleeping in their barrels and their bunks
As the Siamese came creeping in their sampans and their junks
Growltiger had no eye or ear for aught but
Griddlebone
And the lady seemed enraptured by my manly
baritone
Disposed to relaxation and awaiting no surprise
But the moonlight shone reflected from a thousand bright
blue eyes
And closer still and
closer the sampans circled 'round
And yet from all the
enemy there was not heard a sound
The foe was armed with
toasting forks and cruel carving knives
And the lovers
sang their last duet in danger of their lives
Oh, how well I remember the old Bull and Bush
Where we used to go down of a Sattaday night,
Where, when
anything happened, it came 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
M'Caw,
That brought all those folk to the bar.
Ah! He was the life of the bar.
Of a Sattaday night, we was all feeling bright,
And Lily LaRose, the barmaid that was,
She'd say "Billy!
Billy M'Caw! 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 nothick, no not that much
said.
If it came to an argument,
or a dispute,
She'd settle it offhand with the toe of her
boot
Or as likely as not put her fist through your eye.
But 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 "Billy! Billy M'Caw!
Come give us a
tune on your pastoral flute!"
And Billy'd strike up on his
pastoral flute,
And Billy'd strike up on his pastoral
flute.
And then we'd feel balmy, in each eye a tear,
And emotion would make us all order more beer.
"Billy! Billy M'Caw!
Come give us a tune on your moley guitar!"
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.
"Billy! Billy M'Caw!
Come give us a tune on your moley guitar!"
Ah! He was the
life of the bar.
CHORUS:
Then Genghis gave the signal to his fierce Mongolian hordes
Abandoning their sampans, the chinks they swarmed aboard
Abandoning their sampans, their pullaways, their junks
They battened down the hatches on the crew within their bunks
Then Griddlebone she gave a screech for she
was badly skeered
I am sorry to admit it, but she quickly
disappeared
She probably escaped with ease I'm sure she
was not drowned
But a serried ring of flashing steel
Growltiger did surround
The
ruthless foe pressed forward in stubborn rank on rank
Growltiger to his vast surprise was forced to walk the plank
He who a hundred victims had driven to that drop
At the
end of all his crimes was forced to go kerflip, kerflop
Oh there was joy in Wapping when the news flew through
the land
At Maidenhead and Henley there was dancing on
the Strand
Rats were roasted whole in Brentford and
Victoria Dock
And a day of celebration was commanded in
Bangkok!
GUS:
These modern productions are all very well
But there's
nothing to equal from what I hear tell
That moment of
mystery when I made history
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