# Stray Cat Strut **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [September 11, 2023, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stray-cat-strut/989948 "2023-09-11T19:41:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2023, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stray-cat-strut/989948/41 "2023-09-13T15:12:03Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Isn’t Deadcats a different band? One is Deadcats, the other is Dead Cats. Totally different head. Totally. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2023, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stray-cat-strut/989948/42 "2023-09-13T17:33:45Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > You don’t understand Siamese cats, do you? > They howl, oh boy they howl! I have good sized ginger that can hold his own. 🙀 ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2023, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stray-cat-strut/989948/43 "2023-09-14T14:34:32Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > _Get my dinner from a garbage can_ > > These lines suggest that the singer is literally a stray cat. But the song also has these lines: > > _Ain’t got enough dough to pay the rent_ > _I’m flat broke but I don’t care_ > [@Cheesesteak](#): > > The shoe and garbage can dinners are metaphors for haters who don’t appreciate his lifestyle, and his relative poverty making meal planning a challenge. I’m in the camp that most of the cat-related refs can be taken as metaphor, but if someone is so flat broke that they ain’t got enough dough to pay the rent, it’s not such a stretch to believe they may be literally getting their dinner from a garbage can. Now that ‘Stray Cat Strut’ has been over-analyzed in 42 posts, if I may branch out into over-analyzing other songs…I was watching The Today Show this morning, and Carrie Underwood was on, performing a few of her hits. I’m not a big Country fan, but her music is so popular I’m aware of some of her hits, through pop osmosis (popmosis?). In “Before He Cheats”, I just noticed that, in every line of the song character’s recounting of her man cheating in the verses, she repeatedly uses the qualifier word ‘probably’. As in: _Right now, he’s probably slow dancin’ with a bleach-blonde tramp_ _And she’s probably gettin’ frisky_ Then the chorus is a detailed recounting of how she (actually, not probably) destroys his truck in revenge. So, she has an extreme, violent, destructive reaction to what she’s only _imagining_ that he’s done. He could be having an innocent guys’ night out, or even shopping for her birthday present, for all she actually knows. So clearly the first-person character in the song is actually a delusional, violent psychotic. Then her first hit “Jesus Take the Wheel”-- it’s a nice metaphor for trusting in a higher power than yourself, right? Uh, no, the first verse describes a woman driving with a small child in the backseat who hits a patch of black ice and skids out of control. Does she, I don’t know, steer into the skid and gently tap the brakes until her tires hit pavement again, while asking Jesus for help? Noooo… _She threw her hands up in the air_ _Jesus, take the wheel_ She _ **literally** _ gives up all control of her vehicle and asks a magical dead guy to save her. Good song advice! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2023, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stray-cat-strut/989948/44 "2023-09-14T14:56:14Z")
> [@solost](#): > > I’m in the camp that most of the cat-related refs can be taken as metaphor, but if someone is so flat broke that they ain’t got enough dough to pay the rent, it’s not such a stretch to believe they may be literally getting their dinner from a garbage can. But the singer is relating these events in a cocky attitude. It’s true some people might be eating out of garbage cans but I can’t see them bragging about it. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_the\_Turtle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_the_turtle/32/2926_2.png) [@Fear\_the\_Turtle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_the_Turtle)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2023, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stray-cat-strut/989948/45 "2023-09-14T15:04:38Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > ETA: Now that I’ve read the lyrics, just what kind of cat goes _Howling to the moonlight on a hot summer night_? Is he really a stray dog? A cat that turns into a weredog ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2023, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stray-cat-strut/989948/46 "2023-09-14T15:14:58Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > But the singer is relating these events in a cocky attitude. It’s true some people might be eating out of garbage cans but I can’t see them bragging about it. There’s an ideological movement called ['Freeganism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeganism)’ that’s anti-consumerism and anti-waste, in which dumpster diving for wasted food is part. Maybe the singer is a proud proto-Freegan. And hey, I’ve heard some of the uneaten food that restaurants throw out is actually still pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2023, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stray-cat-strut/989948/47 "2023-09-14T15:24:04Z")
Heck, Oscar the Grouch has unapologetically _lived_ in a garbage can for decades. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2023, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stray-cat-strut/989948/48 "2023-09-14T15:31:59Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Heck, Oscar the Grouch has unapologetically _lived_ in a garbage can for decades [Soon to be a major motion picture starring David Harbour](https://youtu.be/kqpak5lFxvs) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2026, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stray-cat-strut/989948/49 "2026-05-11T19:15:45Z")
On a separate note, what’s the deal with the roadrunner? _If you’re on a highway and Road Runner goes beep beep._ _Just step aside or you might end up in a heap._ That hardly fits with the claim that _“Poor little Road Runner never bothers anyone”_ I’m sure all of those people who were using a public road and got run over by some crazed bird, probably high on amphetamines, would disagree. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2026, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stray-cat-strut/989948/50 "2026-05-11T19:38:14Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > That hardly fits with the claim that _“Poor little Road Runner never bothers anyone”_ Always give the right of way to faster things on desert highways! If you get run over it’s _your_ fault. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2026, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stray-cat-strut/989948/51 "2026-05-11T19:41:26Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > The very notion of a mouse having a pet dog is offensive. [Maybe he was hopped up on something?](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fexternal-preview.redd.it%2Fgood-gosh-opium-v0-lUhnSsiPbgA02M5Jzq8G9nuYwwyRMFs2-UmD7mUzHDE.jpg%3Fauto%3Dwebp%26s%3D107ea1115fc794bc82953d025af938378dec64aa) ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2026, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stray-cat-strut/989948/52 "2026-05-11T19:51:34Z")
Hey guys, way to revive a zombie and shut my thread down, in the process. Thx so much!! 😀 I don’t really care, just was fixin’to post in my thread and I saw this! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stray-cat-strut/989948.md?page=2)