People used to keep cats outside of the house, or to let the cats in and out (by getting up and opening the door). Cat and dog doors, and indoor cats and dogs, are a relatively very new concept. For that matter, cat litter is a new concept. People used to fill boxes with dirt or sand for new kittens, and then train the cat to go outside, if the cat/kitten was allowed inside the house to begin with.
When I lived in Las Vegas, and later in Fort Worth, I had two or three cats who were basically inside/outside cats. They used a litter box, but they also enjoyed going out to do whatever they felt like, roam, pick up fleas and ticks, and pick on the neighbors’ German shepherd. After I moved to Fort Worth, I kept the cats inside for a few days, to show them that this was their new home, and then accompanied them outside. When the old cat died and we got a new kitten, my daughter and I decided that he would be an inside only cat. For one thing, I was more aware of feline leukemia (and possibly FIV, I don’t remember if I knew about it then or not). For another thing, I was tired of bugbombing the house every year or two. Even the most fastidious cat will bring in fleas and ticks. Having inside-only cats was not only becoming more popular, vets and other animal advocates were starting to push the notion that a loved cat was an inside-only cat.
All of this is really only relevant to the US. I think that people in the UK, at least, still allow their cats to wander outside and come into the house again. In Mexico, cats are regarded (last time I heard, at least) as outdoor pets, and the folks who collect cats for researchers tend to go down and scoop up cats, without knowing or caring if they are someone’s beloved pets. Don’t know about the rest of the world, though.
It’s quite possible to have and love a cat who lives outside, or mostly outside, or one that goes outside occasionally.
Oh, one inside-outside cat I had used to love to spend a lot of time outside…but she wanted to come INSIDE to use her litterbox. She would frantically beat on the door and then zoom to the box when she needed to go.
The original line was “Two cars in the yard”, but the combination of Graham’s poor handwriting and everyone being stoned caused it to be mispronounced as “cats”. On playback, everyone agreed it sounded much better, so they left it that way.
I’ve always thought the song was twee and precious. “Place the flowers in the vahz”? Well, ooh, la-di-da, Mr. Frenchman. Just put the flowers in the damn vase. And then park the car in the car-hole.
“dogs” would be a bit clunkier there. At least in my speech, the word “dog” is unstressed, while the word “cat” has a slight stress due to the aspirated stop at the beginning. If you want the lyrics to match up with what the music’s doing there, you need a stressed word.
This is the same reason why Garbage’s “Androgyny” includes the lines “Boys in the girls’ room/Girls in the men’s room”: “boys” is not correctly stressed to fit the melody in the second line.
I had a yard, and two cats, that were indoor-outdoor cats. I would often come home from work, pull into my driveway, and see one or more sitting on the lawn, or nosing around the hedges…and this song would always come to mind.
My favorite instance of this song occurs on the sitcom Cheers, when Frasier has Lilith, Diane and Sam over at his place. He’s with Lilith at this point, and he and L sit at the piano and begin to sing the song, with Frasier playing. Diane impulsively joins them and they all sing a few bars together (really well – all three actors are gifted, and I believe Bebe Neuwirth has done plenty of musical theatre), but Frasier and L are creeped out by Diane joining in and so discreetly stop singing, leaving Diane to sing alone. It was well done, and the song was so appropriate given the situation.
And that’s another example of how I have wasted my life. As whatisname said, the TV monster ate us whole.
Our house
is a very, very, very fine house.
with two cats in the garden.
Life used to be so hard, an’
now everything is easy 'cause of you…
… which would suck.
My late cat Choie (the source of my screenname) was an indoor/outdoor cat and used to hang out on our lawn chasing and murdering cicadas. She used to wear a little bell on her collar so we could hear her bouncing away as she ran (and so could the birds, which is why she never killed any, thank goodness).
(I hated letting her outside, personally; it just seemed too risky in our neighborhood. There weren’t many cars, but there were enough. Still, Choie loved the outdoors and my parents didn’t want to coop her up, so I was outvoted.)
Just to emphasize what other posts have said: It’s two completely different songs, not two versions of the same song. The Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young one was composed by Graham Nash and recorded in 1970. The Madness one was composed by Chris Foreman and Carl Smyth and recorded 12 years later.
Graham Nash is originally English, but I think he is using “yard” in the American sense, which means a grass-covered lawn.
i thought the song leaned a bit british, because of the “very, very, very fine” part. that was the “tell” for me.
the yard part… well, it is a much easier rhyme than garden with the word hard.
u.k. english tends to use fine for nice. u.s. english would gone with nice house. when house shopping in the u.s. you may see nice houses. u.k. house shopping one would see fine houses.
This song has always struck me as an homage to something specific Graham Nash experienced. Whether or not it makes sense that there should or could be two cats in the yard is irrelevant.
Does one examine “Morning Morgantown” and ask why ladies in their rainbow fashions are out at the time of day when merchants are rolling their awnings down?
No, actually, it just wanted the door to be OPEN. Cats hate closed doors, and will holler if they think they can get the door open that way. Cats don’t particularly want to be inside or outside, they just want to be on the OTHER side of the door. Especially if their human is on the other side. Keep clicking the next button, until one of the cats says “Sucks to be you”, but be warned, don’t read this anywhere you can’t laugh out loud.
See, now it would be funny if you put the break in a different point.
Our house is a very, very, very fine house…
With two cats in the yard, life used to be so hard…
Now everything is easy cuz of you…
A story about a house that is now habitable because someone exterminated the rabid tigers that assaulted anyone who tried to enter or exit. Life sucked when there were two cats in the yard, but now they’re gone
