Christmas Carol Spotlight: The Cat Carol

I wanted to find a way to validate my ridiculous collection of Christmas music (53 hours worth and counting.  Currently 999 songs in my playlist, and always growing) and am choosing to highlight a few of my very most favorite songs and carols.  Mostly I want to highlight their poetry and their history because I just love that sort of a collection of information.

And easy place to start is The Cat Carol, a relatively new and charmingly quirky little number written by Bruce Evans that can be found on this most excellent album.

It's simultaneously quirky and bizarre and utterly full of soul and somehow perfectly captures the melancholy element of sacrifice that is necessary to make anything actually taste like Christmas spirit.  It makes me smile my toast and jam and fat socks smile and count my blessings and hug my kids.  Listen to it here.

The Cat Carol
The cat wanted in to the warm warm house,
but no one would let the cat in
It was cold outside on Christmas Eve,
She meowed and meowed by the door.

The cat was not let in the warm warm house,
And her tiny cries were ignored.
'twas a blizzard now, the worst of the year,
There was no place for her to hide.

Just then a poor little mouse crept by,
He had lost his way in the snow.
He was on his last legs and was almost froze,
The cat lifted him with her paw.

She said "Poor mouse do not be afraid,
because this is Christmas Eve.
"On this freezing night we both need a friend,
"I won’t hurt you - stay by my side."

She dug a small hole in an icy drift,
This is where they would spent the night.
She curled herself 'round her helpless friend,
Protecting him from the cold.

When Santa came by near the end of the night,
the reindeer started to cry.
They found the cat lying there in the snow,
and they could see that she had died.

They lifted her up from the frozen ground,
and placed her into the sleigh.
It was then they saw the little mouse wrapped up,
she had kept him warm in her fur.

"Oh thank you Santa for finding us!
"Dear cat wake up we are saved!"
..."I’m sorry mouse but your friend has died,
there’s nothing more we can do.

"On Christmas Eve she gave you her life,
the greatest gift of them all."
Santa lifted her up into the night sky,
and laid her to rest among the stars.

"Dear mouse don’t cry you are not alone,
you will see your friend every year.
"Each Christmas a Cat Constellation will shine,
to remind us that her love’s still here."