[Key:E minor Tempo:112, swung eighths (verses) / straight eighths (turnarounds & hooks)] [Vocal: breathy female vocal, lush, playful smoky mezzosoprano with warm wide slow vibrato at the end of notes, emotive rasp, intimate phrasing, jazz ad libs] [Lead Sheet: Verse changes (swung, 8 bars)| Em6 | Em6 | Am6 | Em6 | | C9 | B7♯9 | Em6 A♯°7| B7♯9 |] [Melody enters on a chromatic pickup D♯→E] [Phrase 1 (Footsteps in the alley): E G G F♯ E E - lazy, behind the beat. Answer (none of them are his): descending B A G F♯ E landing soft] [Every second line, harmon trumpet echoes the last three melody notes, bent flat] [Turnaround (straight, 4 bars)| N.C. (ostinato) | N.C. | N.C. | B♭9 B7♯9 |(Horns punch beat 1 of bars 1 and 3: E7♯9, short and rude)] [Hook (8 bars, ostinato continues underneath)| E7♯9 (stab) | N.C. | E7♯9 (stab) | N.C. || C9 | B♭9 | E7♯9 (stab) | N.C. |] [Mis-ter Cat: B B G E - falling, deadpan. The stab answers it.Second hook line lifts: E E C A before settling back to the low E] [Bridge:Bass holds low E, snaps on 2 & 4. No chords. The silence is the arrangement] [Final cadence: B♭9 → E7♯9 (stab, ff, let ring)] [Instrumentation & Arrangement Notes: Jazz Quintet Bass-upright or muted electric; owns the ostinato, walks in verses.Guitar- hollow-body, palm-muted doubling the ostinato; comps sparse staccato chords in verses (think a shrug in rhythm).Bari sax doubles ostinato an octave up in turnarounds only. Arrival is menace. Tenor sax-melody and solo; breathy, behind the beat, never hurried. Harmon-muted trumpet-the commentator. Wah-wah answers, one per vocal line. Vibraphone-doubles melody in Verse 2 only, so the second verse glints. Drums- brushes in the verse; sticks and a flat backbeat in the drive. Finger snaps- 2 & 4 throughout the verse sections. Vocal- cool, low, close-mic'd with backing harmony. The meows are punctuation, not comedy] [FX: Room Cavernous nightclub ambience Long, warm reverb tail (2.8-3.2 sec) Subtle stereo widening Delays Gentle ping pong delay on trumpet + sax Soft slapback on vocal (40-60 ms) Piano gets a faint shimmer from omnisphere pad tucked under the sustain] [Form: INTRO (4) → VERSE 1 (8) → TURNAROUND (4) → HOOK (8) → VERSE 2 (8) → TURNAROUND (4) → HOOK (8) → SAX SOLO (8, verse changes; drive enters last 4) → BRIDGE (spoken, 4, bass + snaps only) → HOOK ×2 (tag) → OUTRO (4, decay + final stab)] [INTRO snaps + low E pedal, brushes] [spoken, dry, once] meow [VERSE 1] Footsteps in the alley - (none of them are his) He watches from the shadows (where the danger is) You only hear him when he chooses (shoo-bee-doo-bah) The fool who fights that cat... always loses (shoo be do bah- bum!) [TURNAROUND - the Drive kicks in, horn stabs (muted trumpet: wah-waaah)] Bah-dah Bah-dah [HOOK] Mis-ter Cat (bah-dah!) Mis-ter Cat (bah-dah!) Nine lives in and he's comin' back (mm-meow) Mis-ter Cat (bah-dah!) Mis-ter Cat (bah-dah!) The whole town's his that's just a fact (shoo-doo-wah) [VERSE 2] Never turn your back, his words are sharp as claws (careful, now) His purr oozes red with the blood he draws He'll let the pain do his talking (wah-wah-waaah) By the time you hear it coming... he's already walking. (he's right behind you) [band stab] MEOW! [SAX SOLO:tenor, over verse changes] [ad lib bank] shoo-bee-doo-wah / skee-dee-dat-dat / bah-dah-bum / [scattered spoken meows] [BRIDGE spoken, bass pedal + snaps only] They say every alley in this town belongs to somebody. (They're right) meow [FINAL HOOK ×2: full band, then tag] This whole town is his... [break - one beat of nothing] ...and you know it now. [OUTRO: (Ostinato decays to bass alone, snaps fade, one last chromatic fall) B♭ → A → G → E ... then the full band, fortissimo, one hit:E7♯9 stab-let ring, brushes hiss out] MEOW!
