Cool for Cats (song)

"Cool for Cats"
Single by Squeeze
from the album Cool for Cats
Released	March 9, 1979 (UK)
Format	7" and 12" vinyl
Recorded	1978
Genre	New Wave
Length	3:39 (album version) 3:10 (single version)
Label	A&M
Writer(s)	Chris Difford & Glenn Tilbrook
Producer	John Wood & Squeeze
Squeeze singles chronology
"Goodbye Girl" (1978) "Cool for Cats" (1979) "Up the Junction" (1979)
"Crying In My Sleep" (1991) "Cool for Cats" [UK Re-issue] (1992) "Third Rail" (1993)

"Cool for Cats" was the second single released from Squeeze's Cool for Cats album. It featured a comparatively rare lead vocal performance from Squeeze lyricist Chris Difford, one of only two occasions he sang lead on a Squeeze single A-side (the other was 1989's "Love Circles"). The song, slightly edited from the album track, peaked at #2 on the UK Singles Chart, making it one of the band's biggest hits. Difford brought a cockney accent to the way the lyrics were sung which makes it distinctive as well.

The title phrase is a reference to the 1950s/60s UK TV series Cool for Cats, the first British series to regularly feature rock 'n' roll music acts.

In 1992, thirteen years after its initial release, the track "Cool for Cats" was used in a British TV commercial for milk. The song was then re-issued in the UK, where it charted at #62. The song is also a playable track on Rock Band 2.

There is a persistent rumour that one of the two women dancing and singing the distinctive "Cool for Cats" chorus in the video to the song is Michelle Collins, who later found fame as Cindy Beale in BBC TV's EastEnders. However, during a radio interview in 2009,^[1] Collins said this was untrue (contradicting a 2002 interview^[2]).

Track listing

1. "Cool for Cats" (3:10)
2. "Model" (3:30)

1992 UK Re-issue
A&M AMCD 694 - Limited Edition Cool Cat Pac

1. "Cool for Cats"
2. "Trust Me to Open My Mouth"
3. "Squabs on Forty Five"

References

1. ^ BBC Radio Devon interview with Judi Spiers, broadcast live on July 28th 2009.
2. ^ Parkinson, s7e09. 4 May 2002.

External links

• Squeeze discography at Squeezenet
• Music video for Cool for Cats