Together with "The Marching Song of the Pollicle Dogs" Sung by: Munkustrap, Old Deuteronomy and The Company |
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| Of the Awefull Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles
Together with some account of the participation Of the Pugs and the Poms And the intervention of the great Rumpus Cat! The Pekes and the Pollicles, everyone knows Are proud and implacable passionate foes: It is always the same, wherever one goes. And the Pugs and the Poms, although most people say They do not like fighting, yet once in a way They will now and again join into the fray, and they - Bark, bark, bark, bark Bark, bark, bark, bark Until you can hear them all over the park, And they - Bark, bark, bark, bark Bark, bark, bark, bark Until you can hear them all over the park. Now on the occasion of which I now speak Almost nothing had happened for nearly a week (And that's a long time for a Pol or a Peke) The big police dog was away from his beat - I don't know the reason, but most people think He'd slipped into the Wellington Arms for a drink. And no one at all was about on the street When a Peke and a Pollicle happened to meet. They did not advance or exactly retreat But they glared at each other and scraped their hind feet And started to - Bark, bark, bark, bark Bark? ...bark! Until you could hear them all over the park And they - Bark, bark, bark, bark Bark! ...bark! Until you could hear them all over the park. Now the Peke, although people may say what they please, Is no British dog, but a heathen Chinese. And so all the Pekes, when they heard the uproar, Some came to the window, some came to the door; There were surely a dozen, more likely a score. And together they started to grumble and wheeze In their huffery-snuffery heathen Chinese. But a terrible din is what Pollicles like For your Pollicle dog is a dour Yorkshire tyke. There are dogs out of every nation The Irish, the Welsh and the Dane; The Russian, the Dutch, the Dalmatian, And even from China and Spain. The Poodle, the Pom, the Alsatian And the mastiff who walks on a chain. And to those that are frisky and frollical Let my meaning be perfectly plain (plain!); That my name it is Little Tom Pollicle And you'd better not do it again And his braw Scottish cousins are snappers and biters, And every dog jack of them notable fighters; And so they stepped out, with their pipers in order, Playing When the Blue Bonnets Come Over the Border Then the Pugs and the Poms held no longer aloof, But some from the balcony, some from the roof, Joined into the din with a - Bark, bark, bark, bark Bark, bark, bark, bark Until you could hear them all over the park And they - Bark, bark, bark, bark (Huffery-snuffery, huffery-snuffery) Bark, bark, bark, bark (Huffery-snuffery, huffery-snuff) Until you could hear them all over the park. Now when those bold heroes together assembled, The traffic all stopped and the Underground trembled, And some of the neighbours were so much afraid That they started to ring up the fire brigade When suddenly up from a small basement flat, Why who should stalk out but THE GREAT RUMPUS CAT! His eyes were like fireballs fearfully blazing, He gave a great yawn and his jaws were amazing; And when he looked out through the bars of the area You never saw anything fiercer or hairier And what with the glare of his eyes and his yawning, The Pekes and the Pollicles quickly took warning. He looked at the sky and he gave a great leap - And every last one of them scattered like sheep. And when the police dog returned to his beat, There wasn't a single one left on the street. All hail and all power to THE GREAT RUMPUS CAT! Jellicle cats and dogs all must Pollicle dogs and cats all must Like undertakers, come to dust Macavity! |
Of the Awefull Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles
Together with some account of the participation Of the Pugs and the Poms And the intervention of the great Rumpus Cat! The Pekes and the Pollicles, everyone knows Are proud and implacable passionate foes: It is always the same, wherever one goes. And the Pugs and the Poms, although most people say That they do not like fighting, yet once in a way They now and again join into the fray, and they - Bark, bark, bark, bark Bark, bark, bark, bark Until you can hear them all over the park. Now on the occasion of which I shall speak Almost nothing had happened for nearly a week (And that's a long time for a Pol or a Peke) The big police dog was away from his beat - I don't know the reason, but most people think He slipped into the Wellington Arms for a drink. And no one at all was about on the street When a Peke and a Pollicle happened to meet. They did not advance or exactly retreat But they glared at each other and scraped their hind feet And started to - Bark, bark, bark, bark Bark, bark, bark, bark Until you could hear them all over the park And they - Bark, bark, bark, bark Bark, bark, bark, bark Until you could hear them all over the park. Now the Peke, although people may say what they please, Is no British dog, but a heathen Chinese. And so all the Pekes, when they heard the uproar, Some came to the window, some came to the door; There were surely a dozen, more likely a score. And together they started to grumble and wheeze In their huffery-snuffery heathen Chinese. But a terrible din is what Pollicles like For your Pollicle dog is a dour Yorkshire tyke. There are dogs out of every nation The Irish, the Welsh and the Dane; The Russian, the Dutch, the Dalmatian, And even from China and Spain. The Poodle, the Pom, the Alsatian And the mastiff who walks on a chain. And to those that are frisky and frollical Let my meaning be perfectly plain; That my name it is Little Tom Pollicle And you'd better not do it again And his braw Scottish cousins are snappers and biters, And every dog jack of them notable fighters; And so they stepped out, with their pipers in order, Playing When the Blue Bonnets Come Over the Border Then the Pugs and the Poms held no longer aloof, But some from the balcony, some from the roof, Joined into the din with a - Bark, bark, bark, bark Bark, bark, bark, bark Until you could hear them all over the park. (Huffery-snuffery, huffery-snuffery) (Huffery-snuffery, huffery-snuff) Until you could hear them all over the park. [Cacophony of barks] NO! When these bold heroes together assembled, The traffic all stopped and the Underground trembled, And some of the neighbours were so much afraid That they started to ring up the fire brigade When suddenly up from a small basement flat, Why who should stalk out but THE GREAT RUMPUS CAT! His eyes were like fireballs fearfully blazing, He gave a great yawn and his jaws were amazing; And when he looked through the bars of the area You never saw anything fiercer or hairier And what with the glare of his eyes and his yawning, The Pekes and the Pollicles quickly took warning. He looked at the sky and he gave a great leap - And they every last one of them scattered like sheep. And when the police dog returned to his beat, There wasn't a single one left in the street. All hail and all power to THE GREAT RUMPUS CAT! Jellicle cats and dogs all must Pollicle dogs and cats all must Like undertakers, come to dust Macavity! |
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This song isn't present on either the London or the Broadway Cast Recording CDs. I'm not sure why; space constraints, perhaps? (The librettos make note of the CDs containing "some small alterations and cuts for recording purposes principally in the longer dance sections and narrative poem The Pekes and The Pollicles", so..) Anyway, the Australian Cast Recording is the only CD to contain this song, so that's why I only have lyrics for that and the video version. Some productions cut this song entirely. The original placement of this song is in act one, between "Old Deuteronomy" and "The Jellicle Ball"; however, the 2016 Broadway version, and the 2017 International tour, have changed the placement. "Awefull Battle" is moved to act two and takes the place of "Growltiger's Last Stand", with Gus playing the Rumpus Cat instead of Growltiger. You can read about that version of the song here. In act one of these versions of the show, instead of this song, a short preview of "Macavity" is played. The usual "pre-Awefull Battle" music plays (this is the same music that plays before The Old Gumbie Cat"), and the scene basically runs as usual (cats milling around, etc), and then the music/scene is dramatically interrupted by flashing lights and the sound of breaking glass. Demeter raises the call, "Macavity!", which is echoed by some of the other cats (I think). Bombalurina and Demeter sing: He's a fiend in feline shape A monster of depravity And the others echo them: "-pravity! Depravity! Depravity!" Bombalurina/Demeter continue: He hypnotizes with his eyes His head moves like a snake And are, again, echoed by the others: "Snake! A snake! A snake!" Everyone then runs away, except for Old Deuteronomy, Munkustrap and (in the version I saw, at least) Victoria, who check that the coast is clear before the others return. The show then continues onto "The Jellicle Ball". The 2016 Broadway version adds these lines sung by Old Deuteronomy (I think) after the action described above, leading into "The Jellicle Ball": Jellicle Cats, come out tonight Jellicle Cats, come back, come all The Jellicle Moon is shining bright Jellicles come to the Jellicle Ball ...as far as I remember, these lines weren't present in the 2017 International tour. At least not when I saw it (in February 2019). 90% of the lyrics are taken from the original "Awefull Battle" poem, with two exceptions; "The Marching Song of the Pollicle Dogs" is taken from one of T.S. Eliot's unpublished poems, and the last verse of the song ("Jellicle cats and dogs all must.." etc) is taken from his poem "Lines to a Yorkshire Terrier". |
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