Alley Cats

Alley Cats is the seventh song featured on the album, One Life Stand.

Trivia

 * This was the first tune written for One Life Stand. It was penned near the end of the band's 2008 tour and is the band's only song to be written and performed whilst on tour. Felix Martin (synthesizer and drum machine) told The NME February 6 2010: "It started as a demo three years ago and it was quite a heartfelt song with a little, private sound. But we ended up playing it on the road a lot and it became something bigger."
 * Joe Goddard (vocals, synthesizer and percussion) wrote most of this. Alexis Taylor (vocals, synthesizer, guitar, percussion, piano) commented to Pitchfork that it is one of Goddard's "more private songs." He added: "It seems to partly be about his mother and wishing that she was alive to hear this song that he's singing. And I think Joe's words in the chorus relate to when you're feeling something that you really love is coming to an end, and saying that's not really possible. In terms of the music, I think Joe was quite influenced by a song that we both really like, 'That's Us/Wild Combination,' by Arthur Russell. But the eventual finished version developed into something a bit more Fleetwood Mac-y. For my part on that song, I was thinking about myself and my own cat and the mood he brings to my wife and I."

Lyrics

 * Two people are alley cats
 * We have an unhappy cat
 * He is restless, needs attention, loses patience, seeks affection
 * Monkey grooms, blossom blooms
 * Do you dig germs, The Germs?


 * Well we wear each other's heads like hats
 * Speak in tongues like alley cats
 * Cradle them in both our laps
 * When we lie alone


 * Wear each others heads like hats
 * Speak in tongues like alley cats
 * Cradle them in both our laps
 * And we die alone


 * Well we sleep inside a blanket-y bed
 * Planted like the crocuses
 * In the song my mother said
 * She wanted us to sing


 * We sleep inside a blanket-y bed
 * Planted like the crocuses
 * And I wish my mother could
 * See the ring I got


 * Oh oh there is no pain I know...


 * The other night you said you might try to kill that thing I love
 * It is too strong for you, it is encased in glass and stone
 * The other night you said you might try to kill that thing I love
 * It is invincible, it is encased in glass and stone
 * You painted a song, you painted a song
 * It started when I was young and now it is in my lung
 * You painted a song, you painted a song
 * It started when I was young and now it is in my lung


 * Two people are alley cats
 * We have an unhappy cat
 * He is restless, needs attention, loses patience, seeks affection
 * Monkey grooms, blossom blooms
 * 'Do You Dig Worms?' The worms?