Growltiger’s Last Stand

CHORUS:
Growltiger was a bravo cat 
Who traveled 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

GROWLTIGER:
The "Terror of the Thames" Ha ha ha ha ha!

GRUMBUSKIN:
His manner and appearance
Did not calculate to please;
His coat was torn and seedy,
He 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.

CHORUS:
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:
Growltiger’s on the loose!

SOLOS:
Woe to the weak canary,
That fluttered from its cage;
Woe to the pampered Pekinese,
That faced Growltiger’s rage;
Woe to 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 Siamese
Regarded him with fear
Because it was a Siamese
Had mauled his missing ear.

TUMBLEBRUTUS:
Now on a peaceful summer
Night nature seemed at play.
The tender moon was shinning bright
The barge at Molesey lay

CHORUS:
All in balmy moonlight
It lay rocking on the tide
And Growltiger was disposed to show
His sentimental side

GRUMBUSKIN:
Growltiger's bucko mate, Grumbuskin, long since had disappeared
For to the bell at Hampton he had gone to wet his beard

TUMBLEBRUTUS:
And his bosun, Tumblebrutus, he too had stol'n away
In the yard behind the lion he was prowling for his prey

CHORUS:
All in the balmy moonlight it lay rocking on the tide
And Growltiger was disposed to show his sentimental side

GROWLTIGER:
n the fore peak of the vessel
Growltiger stood alone

GRIDDLEBONE:
Concentrating my attention
On the Lady Griddlebone

CREW:
And my raffish crew were sleeping
In their barrels and their bunks.

SIAMESE:
As the Siamese came  creeping
In their sampans and their junks.

GROWLTIGER:
Growltigerhad no eye or ear
For aught but Griddlebone

GRIDDLEBONE:
And the lady seemed enraptured
By his manly baritone

BOTH:
Disposed to relaxation and awaiting no surprise.

SIAMESE:
But the moonlights 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

GROWLTIGER AND GRIDDLEBONE:
And the lover’s sang their last duet
In danger of their lives.