‘Stray Cat Strut’ is the third single by American rockabilly band Stray Cats, released April 17, 1981 in the UK, where it peaked at No. 11 on the Singles Chart. It was taken from the band's 1981 debut album, Stray Cats. That same year, as an import, it peaked at No. 78 on the US Disco Top 80 chart.
In a 2019 interview, songwriter, guitarist and singer, Brian Setzer talked about the role of Rockabilly in his early life and how it influenced his music style: “My dad had been in the Korean war with some guys from the deep south, and when I was a kid he told me: “This is the music they liked and I like it too.” He played me Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash. I thought, “Wow.” I’d never heard anything like it. Rockabilly was dead in America by then, but we lived for the music and the whole lifestyle. I loved the old cars and motorcycles, the music, the fashion. Nobody was doing anything like that in 1979. I couldn’t relate to prog rock with its lyrics about dungeons and dragons. We never had any wizards in my neighbourhood. We had ’58 Chevys on my block and a couple of good-looking girls, so that’s what I wrote about.”
Setzer said “I came up with Stray Cat Strut back in our garage in Long Island when I was 18. I wanted something slower than our other songs. It’s about us three guys, and the lives we were living. At that point, we were still called the Tomcats, but it became “stray” when we went to London, because we had wandered.”
In the US, the song was released as a single on June 11, 1982, and included on the Built for Speed album released that same month. During its initial release, ‘Stray Cat Strut’ failed to crack the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 109 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart in August 1982. When the band's next single, ‘Rock This Town’, made the top 10, the record company decided to re-release ‘Stray Cat Strut’, this time with much more success. Debuting at number 43, it was the highest new entry on the Hot 100 chart dated December 25, 1982, eventually peaking at number 3 in March 1983. The music video for the song received extensive airplay on MTV during the channel's early days. The video consisted of band members (and extras) performing in an alley while an irate resident throws things at them. It also featured scenes from the 1949 MGM cartoon Bad Luck Blackie.
In the October 1998 issue of Guitar World magazine, Brian Setzer's solo from ‘Stray Cat Strut’ ranked No. 92 on the "Top 100 Guitar Solos of All Time" list.
Labels – Arista (UK), EMI America (US)
Songwriter – Brian Setzer
Producer – Dave Edmunds
SONG LYRICS
[Intro]Ooh
Ooh
Ooh
Ooh
Black and orange stray cat sittin' on a fence
Ain't got enough dough to pay the rent
I'm flat broke but I don't care
I strut right by with my tail in the air
Stray cat strut, I'm a ladies' cat
I'm a feline Casanova (Hey, man, that's that)
Get a shoe thrown at me from a mean old man
Get my dinner from a garbage can
(Meow) Yeah, don't cross my path!
[Guitar Solo]
[Bridge]
I don't bother chasing mice around (Oh no!)
I slink down the alley lookin' for a fight
Howlin' to the moonlight on a hot summer night
Singin' the blues while the lady cats cry
"Wild stray cat, you're a real gone guy"
I wish I could be as carefree and wild
But I got cat class and I got cat style
[Instrumental Break]
[Bridge]
I don't bother chasing mice around
I slink down the alley lookin' for a fight
Howlin' to the moonlight on a hot summer night
Singin' the blues while the lady cats cry
"Wild stray cat, you're a real gone guy"
I wish I could be as carefree and wild
But I got cat class and I got cat style