Album: CATS - the original London version

The Naming Of Cats

The naming of cats is a difficult matter

It isn't just one of your holiday games

You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter

When I tell you a cat must have three different names



First of all, there's the name that the family use daily

Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James

Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey

All of them sensible, everyday names



There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter

Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames

Such as Plato, Admetas, Electra, Demeter

But all of them sensible everyday names



But I tell you a cat needs a name that's particular

A name that's peculiar, and more dignified

Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular

Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?



Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum

Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo or Coricopat

Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum

Names that never belong to more than one cat



But above and beyond there's still one name left over

And that is the name that you never will guess

The name that no human research can discover

But the at himself knows, and will never confess



When you notice a cat in profound meditation

The reason, I tell you, is always the same:

His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation

Of the thought

Of the thought

Of the thought

Of his name

His ineffable effable effanineffable

Deep and inscrutable singular name