Song Lyric Sunday: Mice, Rats, Whatever…

Posted on by

For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday, as he tells us in his post Hickory Dickory Dock, Jim is inviting us to play tunes about rodents, which was suggested by me in a moment of madness – he tells how it came about. I had one obvious one in mind – the one I mentioned to Jim that prompted this theme –  but I played that six months ago for an SLS based on live albums, so I couldn’t really play it again, could I? Or maybe I could…

My first stop was to consult Wikipedia about what actually counts as a rodent, and I found to my dismay that animals I thought would be acceptable weren’t – so much for playing Richard and Linda Thompson’s Mole In A Hole, then. I could work with mice, rats and squirrels, but does anyone know any songs about hamsters or guinea pigs? Jim says that he has found more than forty songs which fit the bill for today, but I was less successful! So I did what any self-respecting music lover would do, and went for the repeat. Last time it was the live album version, this time I’m playing the original album release from one of my favourite bands:

And the lyrics:

Smile your little smile — take some tea with me awhile.Brush away that black cloud from your shoulder.Twitch your whiskers. Feel that you’re really real.Another tea-time — another day older.
Puff warm breath on your tiny hands.You wish you were a manwho every day can turn another page.Behind your glass you sit and lookat my ever-open book —One brown mouse sitting in a cage.
Do you wonder if I really care for you —Am I just the company you keep —Which one of us exercises on the old treadmill —Who hides his head, pretending to sleep?
Smile your little smile — take some tea with me awhile.Brush away that black cloud from your shoulder.Twitch your whiskers. Feel that you’re really real.Another tea-time — another day older.
Smile your little smile — take some tea with me awhile.And every day we’ll turn another page.Behind your glass we’ll sit and lookat our ever-open book —One brown mouse sitting in a cage.One brown mouse sitting in a cage.One brown mouse sitting in a cage.
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Ian Anderson
One Brown Mouse lyrics © The Ian Anderson Group Of Companies Ltd, Anderson Ian Music Ltd

 

One Brown Mouse was a track on Heavy Horses, the eleventh studio album by Jethro Tull, which was released on 10 April 1978. The album is often considered the second in a trio of folk rock albums released by the band at the end of the 1970s, alongside Songs from the Wood (1977) and Stormwatch (1979). This one, and its title track, is dedicated to the “indigenous working ponies and horses of Great Britain.” This song was inspired by the Robert Burns poem To A Mouse – not many bands were taking the great Scottish bard as their inspiration back then, if ever. The album peaked at #20 in the UK and at #19 in the US, going Silver and Gold respectively.
My luck was in with this album, though, as its opening track also gave us another mouse song:
For this record, Ian Anderson was inspired by daily life at his recently purchased country estate in Buckinghamshire, saying that “I was living in the same house in the same place, and getting a bit more involved in farming and other rural stuff… so the horse-hoeing husbandry of the original Jethro Tull era was in the back of my mind.” Several of the album’s songs were directly inspired by his personal life at the estate: this track, …And the Mouse Police Never Sleeps, was partially inspired by his cat Mistletoe, for example: the ‘mouse police,’ who was ‘licensed to mutilate,’ as the song says!
Never one to shy away from the obvious, I thought I’d also give you a rat song today. This is the one which I think may be played by others today, but there could really only be one, couldn’t there:

 

The Boomtown Rats, of course, with Rat Trap. This was their first of two UK #1s, the other being I Don’t Like Mondays, and took over at the top from John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. When the band performed the song on Top of the Pops (which is also mentioned in it) the band members began by tearing up pictures of Travolta and Newton-John to emphasise the fact that the pair – who had spent a total of 16 weeks out of the preceding 22 at the top of the charts – had been deposed. There were many, myself included, who were grateful for that relief!

As you saw in the video, Bob Geldof mimed the saxophone part on a candelabra, which he explained in his autobiography Is That It?: “The Musicians’ Union had forbidden me to play saxophone on the video, as obviously I hadn’t done so on the record. But I saw a candelabra on the piano at the shoot and I put a mouthpiece in the central candle holder and played it. The impact of the video came home when during the next few British gigs kids pulled out candelabras from nowhere and began playing them during the sax solo in Rat Trap.” I rather like that story! The single was released in October 1978 but I already had it by then, as it had also been a track on their second album, A Tonic For The Troops, which had come out the previous June. it made #8 in the UK, and went Platinum for 300,000 sales. Two of its other tracks had already been UK hits: She’s So Modern (#12) and Like Clockwork (#6). It’s a great album, which I played a lot.

I usually like to find songs for SLS that are unlikely to be duplicated, but as I said I suspect that I won’t be alone today in choosing that last one of these. That’s what happens when some idiot suggests a theme with limited choices, I guess. But I thank Jim for going with this, and am hoping that you enjoyed these, and that others will have found something different to play!

See you again for Tuesday Tunes – the first of a two part set of New Year songs. Stay safe and warm 👍

62 thoughts on “Song Lyric Sunday: Mice, Rats, Whatever…”

    • I guess it isn’t the first thing you’d think of!

      The answer to that question is ‘yes.’ Someone played a song yesterday by a Japanese girl band called Shonen Knife. The song was called ‘Capybara’ but as they sang it in Japanese I’ve no idea what they were saying!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  6. I used to not avoid but never really listen to Jethro Tull. That was until around 5 years ago and I started. I haven’t heard anything by them that I really don’t like. This is very good and they make songs sound like a fairytale…I like that. Great song Clive!
    I have a prairie dog…I don’t know if that would count.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  8. Still haven’t listened to Heavy Horses and Stormwatch but I really like Songs from the Wood. Good to know his move to the countryside inspired the albums. A couple of good cuts to entice me to listen to them, Clive.

    Great story on Boomtown Rats concert with the sax-playing candelabra audience.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I’d rate them 1.Wood, 2.Horses, 3.Stormwatch but all three are very good. I think you’ll like Heavy Horses – the title track is an epic.

      That’s a great story about the candelabra, isn’t it 🤣

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      • That’s a big question! Apart from these three, I’d go for Crest Of A Knave, Thick As A Brick, War Child, Aqualung, Stand Up, This Was. Not quite ten, but I like a lot of them!

        Liked by 1 person

      • Sorry to put you on the spot, Clive. Haven’t hear Crest of a Knave or This Was (except for Steel Monkey and A Song for Jeffrey) even though I own both albums. Have you heard The Zealot’s Gene or the most recent one? I like at least one from TZG and the ones I’ve heard from the last one, which have some cool videos.

        Liked by 1 person

      • I should have added Live: Bursting Out and their Christmas album t9 my list!

        Crest Of A Knave is fantastic. Try ‘Said She Was A Dancer’ and the 10 minute track ‘Budapest’ – both are amazing in concert.

        I haven’t really got far with any of their three newest ones, but have also seen some good videos for them.

        Liked by 1 person

    • I thought you might like that one! As you saw, I fell back on One Brown Mouse – I’ve always loved the song and that is such a sweet video. And The Mouse Police was a fortunate bonus – it’s a great album.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      • It’s such a lovely song and this video is perfect for it. I have been very impressed with the range of songs people have chosen for this theme – far more than I could have imagined!

        Liked by 1 person

  13. Pingback: Song Lyric Sunday – Stine Writing

    • Glad you liked them, Glyn. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the band, though sadly no chance of a Mick Abrahams return now.

      I saw them in 2010. They were great, though Ian kept the one leg singing to a minimum!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  15. Both choices by Jethro are amazing and the lyrics are beyond clever … I would have been shocked had you not gone for the Boon Town Rats…you had to didn’t you.
    Hope you had a great Christmas and here’s to 2026 💜💜💜

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  16. Pingback: I Smell A Rat. Song Lyric Sunday. – willowdot21

  17. The One Brown Mouse video was really cute with the mouse becoming friends with the bird. I enjoyed the other Jethro Tull song also. I did enjoy the story about the Boomtown Rats ripping up pictures of Travolta and Newton-John when their song took the #1 spot. Great post, Clive and thanks for sharing your music.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • It’s lovely, isn’t it. Completely unofficial, posted two years ago with fewer than 600 views – quite the find for me!

      I remember that episode of TOTP well – they all held the photos up to camera in front of their faces before ripping them up. Very funny and typical Geldof.

      Glad you liked the tunes, and thanks for trusting me with the theme!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

Please leave a reply, I'd like to know what you think