# "Our House" - "two cats in the yard?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 5, 2009, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-house-two-cats-in-the-yard/495476 "2009-05-05T23:53:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-house-two-cats-in-the-yard/495476/1 "2009-05-05T23:53:46Z")
I’ve always liked the song _Our House_ by Crosby Stills Nash and Young, who are one of my favorite bands. (I saw them all together a few years ago - they were truly amazing, and Neil Young’s voice in particular sounds exactly the same as it did decades ago.) It’s a really distinctive song, because all of the rest of the songs on that album (_Deja Vu_) are very American Folky-sounding, but _Our House_ sounds very, very British. It sounds like something the Beatles could have done, and this is no doubt because it was written by Graham Nash, the British component of CSNY. It’s a very baroque-sounding song, heavy on the piano and harpsichord, and sounds quite unlike all the other songs on the album. This song contains the line: “Our house is a very very very fine house…with two cats in the yard.” I always found this line to be strange, from the very first time I heard the song, which was when I was five years old or so. Who keeps cats in their yard? Cats are generally a pet you keep inside your home. Even if someone has “outdoor cats” who spend time outside and come in and out through a cat door, they’re unlikely to describe the two cats in the yard as a feature of their house, the way it is so in the song. It seems like it would make more sense for the line to say “two dogs in the yard.” I was discussing this with a friend once and he suggested that they said “two cats in the yard” simply because the word “cats” fits better in the lyrics, rhythmically, and that to sing “with two dogs in the yard” would break up the flow of the words and sound clunky. I tend to agree, but that could be because I’m so used to the word “cats” in that line that I can’t even conceive of it being anything else, and so it sounds odd to use another word there. What do you think? ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-house-two-cats-in-the-yard/495476/2 "2009-05-06T00:14:41Z")
Well, I think it’s more common for people to have multiple cats than multiple dogs. Less factually, to me, “two cats” sounds much cozier and homier than “two dogs.” No one needs to be afraid of a couple of cats hanging out in a yard, whereas two dogs might be watchdogs and thus not as friendly to strangers. (Admittedly, I’m a cat person. Love dogs too, just not as much as cats.) ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-house-two-cats-in-the-yard/495476/3 "2009-05-06T00:21:02Z")
This is a very very very good point. ---
**Author:** ![troub](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troub/32/14802_2.png) [@troub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troub)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-house-two-cats-in-the-yard/495476/4 "2009-05-06T00:31:55Z")
I know things are different now, and may even have historically been different in urban and suburban areas; but when I was growing up in a rural area we did not have animals in the house, nor did they come and go through a cat door. The cats lived outside, in the yard. So I’ve never had a problem with that particular lyric. I wondered more about "with two cats in the yard, _life used to be so hard…"_ Life was hard with the cats? I’m sure the surrounding lyrics provide more context, but I could never remember them (and it would take away the mystery if I looked it up, of course 😃 ). ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-house-two-cats-in-the-yard/495476/5 "2009-05-06T00:33:15Z")
It’s the end of one sentence and the beginning of a new one. 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 cause of you. It’s just sung in such a way that the lines flow together, and it kind of sounds like it’s all one sentence. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-house-two-cats-in-the-yard/495476/6 "2009-05-06T00:43:50Z")
I agree it’s probably about the sound of the word. “Cats” is gentler. > [@choie](#): > > Less factually, to me, “two cats” sounds much cozier and homier than “two dogs.” No one needs to be afraid of a couple of cats hanging out in a yard Yeah, nothing’s quite as relaxing as the sound of two cats going at it. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![troub](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troub/32/14802_2.png) [@troub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troub)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-house-two-cats-in-the-yard/495476/7 "2009-05-06T00:44:22Z")
Oh, yeah, I remember that now… ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-house-two-cats-in-the-yard/495476/8 "2009-05-06T01:02:28Z")
Maybe they are “cats” like in man that “jazzman” is a “cool cat.” Or may it’s QAT like the drug people in Yeman use? ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-house-two-cats-in-the-yard/495476/9 "2009-05-06T01:23:38Z")
Isn’t that song supposed to be autobiographical? Maybe it’s “cats” because he really did have two cats, and “yard” because he needed something that rhymes with “hard”. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-house-two-cats-in-the-yard/495476/10 "2009-05-06T01:25:49Z")
Nothing specific, but the book \*Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon and the Journey of a Generation \* has much to say about the domestic life of Mitchell and Graham Nash, who wrote the song about their cohabitation. > [@](#): > > . . . a romantic aerie with wide plank floors, broad-paned leaded windows, and wood-beamed ceilings . . . A Tiffany lamp and the stained-glass window panels caught the Canyon sunlight, which of course poured in like butterscotch . . . No reference to cats, but cats would fit right in. Dogs would be too boisterous for the tone of this song. It refers to Nash as being very decorous, humble, fragile and gallant. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-house-two-cats-in-the-yard/495476/11 "2009-05-06T01:27:29Z")
There is a long-running (and untrue) urban legend in San Jose that the band lived in Los Gatos for a time and [these](http://gregvanderlaan.com/images/los_gatos_cat_sculptures.jpg) are the cats from the song. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-house-two-cats-in-the-yard/495476/12 "2009-05-06T03:05:22Z")
Um, are we thinking of different songs? [Our House, by the British band Madness](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_House_(Madness_song)). That article doesn’t cite Graham Nash as the writer, but two other people. The song in question does include the ‘two cats in the yard’ line, so it must be the same, or maybe a cover with some changes? If the Crosby, Stills and Nash version is a cover, that would explain the Britisms. I’ve only heard the Madness version. It’s so well-known here that I’m surprised I’m the first Britdoper to link to this song. There’s nothing in the song that says the cats are a permanent feature of the house any more than ‘sister sighing in her sleep’ is - presumably she wakes up sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Idlewild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8491ac/32.png) [@Idlewild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idlewild)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-house-two-cats-in-the-yard/495476/13 "2009-05-06T03:12:18Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#): > > Um, are we thinking of different songs? > > [Our House, by the British band Madness](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_House_(Madness_song)). > > That article doesn’t cite Graham Nash as the writer, but two other people. The song in question does include the ‘two cats in the yard’ line, so it must be the same, or maybe a cover with some changes? > > If the Crosby, Stills and Nash version is a cover, that would explain the Britisms. I’ve only heard the Madness version. It’s so well-known here that I’m surprised I’m the first Britdoper to link to this song. > > There’s nothing in the song that says the cats are a permanent feature of the house any more than ‘sister sighing in her sleep’ is - presumably she wakes up sometimes. They are, indeed, two different songs. Thematically, they seem to be traveling in opposite directions. Madness talks about a time when things were happier. CSNY talk about a time when life was harder. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-house-two-cats-in-the-yard/495476/14 "2009-05-06T03:12:37Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#): > > If the Crosby, Stills and Nash version is a cover, that would explain the Britisms. I’ve only heard the Madness version. It’s so well-known here that I’m surprised I’m the first Britdoper to link to this song. Err…CSN &Y ( in this case ) pre-date Madness by a number of years. As noted Graham Nash was British and wrote the [song](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_House_(CSNY_song)) about an affair he had with Joni Mitchell. By the way by far the best stuff on that album belonged to Neil Young. IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-house-two-cats-in-the-yard/495476/15 "2009-05-06T03:13:19Z")
I just remember it being used for some commercial, showing a suburban family and (I think) their new minivan. Trouble is, the family had a dog, so the singers hummed the “cats” lines. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-house-two-cats-in-the-yard/495476/16 "2009-05-06T03:15:08Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#): > > Um, are we thinking of different songs? [Yes.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_House_(CSNY_song)) The Madness song’s article needs the disambig, seriously… ---
**Author:** ![Commander\_Keen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@Commander\_Keen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commander_Keen)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-house-two-cats-in-the-yard/495476/17 "2009-05-06T03:49:06Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#): > > Um, are we thinking of different songs? > > [Our House, by the British band Madness](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_House_(Madness_song)). > > That article doesn’t cite Graham Nash as the writer, but two other people. The song in question does include the ‘two cats in the yard’ line, so it must be the same, or maybe a cover with some changes? I don’t remember anything about cats in a yard in the Madness song. Are you sure? ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-house-two-cats-in-the-yard/495476/18 "2009-05-06T03:56:23Z")
> [@Commander\_Keen](#): > > I don’t remember anything about cats in a yard in the Madness song. Are you sure? Aaargh, no, my apologies - I did look it up but the first one was wrong, and then Wiki confirmed my wrongness. I remember the Crosby Stills and Nash one now too. :smack: For the song this thread was actually about, it sounds like he’s talking about a perfect day. The kind of day when it’s so sunny that cats leave the house to bask lazily, luxuriously and contentedly in the sunshine, much like the songwriter and his GF were basking before the fire. ---
**Author:** ![BrassyPhrase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@BrassyPhrase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrassyPhrase)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-house-two-cats-in-the-yard/495476/19 "2009-05-06T04:45:18Z")
I thought it was “two kids in the yard” It’s song I remember from childhood, so I’ve never really looked up the lyrics. It makes more sense to me. I’m thinking of the CSNY version, but I did like the Madness version too. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-house-two-cats-in-the-yard/495476/20 "2009-05-06T06:48:42Z")
They probably wrote it in an afternoon, and just shoved in the first thing that came to mind. Perhaps two cats were playing in their yard at the time. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-house-two-cats-in-the-yard/495476.md?page=2)