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The Naming of Cats

"The Naming of Cats" is a poem in T. S. Eliot's 1939 poetry book Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. It was adapted into a musical number in Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1981 musical Cats, and has also been quoted in other films, notably Logan's Run (1976). The poem describes to humans how cats get their names.

Cats[edit]

In Cats, "The Naming of Cats" is the second song of the musical. It is entirely spoken and presented as a slow, eerie chant which breaks the fourth wall, acknowledging the audience and explaining to them how cats are given their names. While it is delivered by the cast in unison, whispered in natural rhythmic dialogue, the chant never follows a singsong style as the voices are spoken at different pitches and varying inflections. As the number is performed, cast members venture out into the audience before retreating backstage as the song transitions to Victoria's dance solo.[3]


The music is a fragmented and dissonant variation of a theme introduced in the overture. It has no constant key signature or harmonic structure.[3]


Many of the characters’ names are taken from the poem, including Bombalurina, Demeter, and Munkustrap.

In other media[edit]

In the 1976 movie Logan's Run, Peter Ustinov's character recites a shortened version of the poem.[4]


Sped-up parts of Eliot's recording of the poem were used in various Shining Time Station Season 1 episodes as phone voices, including "And The Band Played Off".[5]

Lambert, Anne H. (1990). "Eliot's Naming of Cats". . 38 (1–2): 39–42. ISSN 0027-7738.

Names