"Alley Cat", also known as "Alleycat" and "The Alley Cat," is a popular instrumental song made most famous by the Danish pianist and composer

Bent Fabric Bent Fabricius-Bjerre (7 December 1924 – 28 July 2020), better known internationally as Bent Fabric, was a Danish pianist and composer. Biography Bent Fabricius-Bjerre was born in Frederiksberg, Denmark. He started a jazz ensemble after ...

, released in 1962. Fabric (born Bent Fabricius-Bjerre) wrote the tune under the pseudonym Frank Björn.

History

The song was originally released in November, 1961, under the Danish title "Omkring et flygel," which means "Around a Piano." In 1962, the Bent Fabric composition reached number 7 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and number 2 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. In Australia, it went to number 2 and in Germany it went to number 49. It also won a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

for Best Rock & Roll Recording during the 5th Grammy Awards. It sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc. Siw Malmkvist recorded the song in Swedish, "Våran katt", in Danish, "Vores kat" and in German, "Schwarzer Kater Stanislaus" (1962).

Critical reception

The song received generally positive reviews. Matt Dennis of the '' Windsor Star'' said it had an "infectious, toe-tapping tempo."

Chart history

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Notable recordings

Ray Conniff Joseph Raymond Conniff (November 6, 1916 – October 12, 2002) was an American bandleader and arranger best known for his Ray Conniff Singers during the 1960s. Biography Conniff was born November 6, 1916, in Attleboro, Massachusetts, United S ...

Chet Atkins Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), also known as "Mister Guitar" and "the Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson (musician), Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nash ...

* Al Hirt * Peggy Lee * Siw Malmkvist (in German) * Berl Olswanger and the Berl Olswanger Orchestra (1964) *

Bobby Rydell Robert Louis Ridarelli (April 26, 1942 – April 5, 2022), known by the stage name Bobby Rydell (), was an American singer and actor who mainly performed rock and roll and traditional pop music. In the early 1960s, he was considered a teen idol. ...

* David Thorne (reached #76 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in November 1962) * Kidsongs *

Popular culture

The song has appeared in numerous films, including: *The 1989 film '' Shag'', starring Phoebe Cates and Bridget Fonda *The 1994 film '' Cabin Boy'', starring Chris Elliott and Andy Richter *The 1999 film '' Just Looking'', starring Ryan Merriman *The 2000 film '' Duets'', starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Huey Lewis *The 2004 film '' Imaginary Heroes'', starring Sigourney Weaver and Emile Hirsch. *It was also used in multiple episodes of '' Get a Life'', such as "Zoo Animals on Wheels." *The song appeared in two episodes of ''

Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on January 31, 1999, following Super Bowl XXXIII, with the rest of the first season airing from April 11, 1999. Th ...

''. *In "The Wedding Affair," the fifteenth episode of Season 1 of '' Mad About You'', Paul and Jamie Buchman ( Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt respectively) make an uninspiring attempt at dancing to the instrumental with forearms and

hand A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the Koala#Characteristics, koala (which has two thumb#O ...

s somewhat extended forward and

finger A finger is a prominent digit (anatomy), digit on the forelimbs of most tetrapod vertebrate animals, especially those with prehensile extremities (i.e. hands) such as humans and other primates. Most tetrapods have five digits (dactyly, pentadact ...

s pointed downward to mimic a cat's paws and listlessly saying "

meow A meow or miaow is a cat vocalization. ''Meows'' may have diverse tones in terms of their sound, and what is heard can vary from being chattered to calls, murmurs, and whispers. Adult cats rarely meow to each other. Thus, an adult cat meowin ...

" at the end of the refrains.''Mad About You'' S01E15: "The Wedding Affair" (9:05-9:38) – Dailymotion.
Retrieved March 20, 2023. *It is also frequently used by ice cream trucks in the US and Mexico.

References

External links

* {{authority control 1962 singles Al Hirt songs Atco Records singles Metronome Records singles Columbia Graphophone Company singles 1962 songs Pop instrumentals 1960s instrumentals