Feline Good About These Songs! Quiz

"Eye of the Tiger" is a rock anthem by the American band Survivor, best known as the theme song for the 1982 film "Rocky III". The song was written by a couple of band members at the specific request of Sylvester Stallone, the director and star of the movie. Stallone had originally wanted "Another One Bites The Dust", but the group Queen denied his request.

So he asked Survivor to write something with a gritty "street" feel. They based their song on a line in the film where it was stated that "You had that eye of the tiger, man, the edge... You gotta get it back". The song turned out to be huge success and was the second best-selling single of 1982. It won a Grammy award also.

"Cat Scratch Fever" is a rock song by American musician Ted Nugent, released in 1977 as the title track of his third solo album. The title of the song comes from a medical journal Ted Nugent saw that described an actual bacterial illness. Nugent, however, turned it into a metaphor about lust (fever) for women (cats). Its three-tone minor-key guitar riff has been named one of the best hard rock riffs of all time by VH1.

The song was Nugent's only Top 40 single, peaking at number 30 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. It lives on as a song played at sporting events to fire up the fans and has been covered by other artists like Motorhead.

"Cat's in the Cradle" is a 1974 folk rock song by Harry Chapin that tells the story about the complex relationship between a busy father and his son. The lyrics were actually written by Chapin's wife, Sandra. The inspiration came from observing her first husband's difficult relationship with his father. The song talks about a young boy asking his father to play but the father is too busy. Then the son grows up and moves away and he, too, becomes too busy for his family, including his (now elderly) father.

It became Chapin's only number-one hit single on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. It has stayed popular through the years due to its almost timeless message. It has been copied by several artists across several genres, including a notable cover by hard rock band Ugly Kid Joe in 1992 which also became a hit.

The song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" was a pop song by The Tokens that was a huge hit in 1961. The song has a long and varied history. It started in 1939 when a South African man named Solomon Linda recorded it in Johannesburg in just one take. It was writtin in Zulu and Linda sold the rights to it for only pennies. In 1952, The Weavers (led by Pete Seeger) adapted it but kept it as more of a traditional tune.

In 1961, a doo-wop group called The Tokens turned it into a pop song and put the lyrics into the English language. It turned into a massive international hit, reaching number one on the US charts in that year. It gained even more attention when it was featured in Disney's animated movie "The Lion King" in 1994. Sadly, the original creator, Solomon Linda, died in abject poverty before he could see his descendants receive royalty rights.

"The Pink Panther Theme" is a jazzy song by American composer Henry Mancini. He wrote it for the 1963 movie entitled "The Pink Panther". Mancini knew the opening saxophone part would be very important so he spent much time vetting out artists. He landed on jazz musician Plas Johnson. Mancini said he wanted to capture the stealthy nature of a panther along with the clumsiness of Inspector Clouseau (the main character of the movie).

The song was very successful and led to its use in all subsequent "Pink Panther" films (except "A Shot in the Dark") and became the music for the long-running animated cartoon series. The distinct song has been stylized in many different forms from many different artists and was put in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001.

Released in 1976, "Year of the Cat" is a folk-rock track by Scottish singer-songwriter Al Stewart. The melody originally had no title and was written in honor of comedian Tony Hancock (who unfortunately committed suicide) who Stewart had always admired. The title materialized when Stewart's girlfriend at the time had a book on Vietnamese astrology open to the "Year of the Cat" chapter. The setting of the song in a North African market is because Stewart was watching the film "Casablanca" while writing.

Al Stewart put it as the last track on his album by the same name in 1976. Radio stations discovered it, and it became a big hit and his signature tune. It also went on to reach number eight on the US Billboard Hot 100 in March 1977.

"Paper Tiger" by Sue Thompson is an upbeat pop song from 1964. It was written by the famous Nashville songwriter John D. Loudermilk and was one of several collaborations he did with Thompson. The term paper tiger refers to something or someone that claims or looks to be threatening but is actually ineffectual and unable to withstand challenge. The song uses this phrase as a way to explain a guy whose "roar is much worse than his bite".

Sue Thompson had a childlike, breathy voice when she sang. This made her voice sound significantly younger than her actual age (she was nearly 40 when "Paper Tiger" was a hit), which ironically helped her connect with a teenage audience of the day. The song reached number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was a huge hit internationally, especially in Australia and Great Britain.

"Honky Cat" is a funk-rock song by the English musician Elton John, with lyrics written by his longtime collaborator Bernie Taupin. The song was on Elton's 1972 album "Honky Chateau" and pays homage to the funk sounds of New Orleans, Louisiana. The song is about a boy in a country honky-tonk-like town who wants to move to the big city and how his friends and family warn him of the perils. This actually reflects Taupin's rural background and Elton's urban one.

The song, with its impressive horn section and banjo playing, peaked at number eight on the US Billboard Hot 100 and became a regular in Elton John's performances. It has also been featured in several movies and television shows.

"Stray Cat Strut" is a song by the American rockabilly band the Stray Cats, released in the UK in 1981 and becoming a breakthrough hit in the US two years later. Brian Setzer, lead vocalist and only 18 years old at the time, scribbled out the song in just a few moments in his parents' garage in New York. He considered their small three-man band a struggling, hungry trio of "stray cats". Setzer created the unique guitar solo because he stated he wanted something that would "bend your ear".

In 1981, it was released in the UK and did very well. It did not fare so well in the US. However, after the band had a big hit with "Rock This Town", the song was re-released in 1982 and became a massive hit in 1983. This was also boosted by their extremely popular video for the song (playing in an alley) on MTV.

"Cool Cat" is a 1982 funk-inspired song by the British rock band Queen, featured on their tenth studio album "Hot Space". Unlike many other of Queen's songs, this one only featured two of the members. Freddie Mercury played the electric piano and did the vocals. John Deacon played all the instruments (except for that electric piano) including bass, guitar, synthesizers, keyboard, and a drum machine. One very early version of the song, later removed, included David Bowie as a backup vocalist.

Interestingly, this song was never performed live in concert by Queen. "Cool Cat" was used in 2023 in an Amazon Prime commercial and picked up popularity forty years after its release. As a side note, many people think the song simply refers to Freddie Mercury's love of cats as he owned many of them throughout his life and referred to them as his family.