Rat Songs

Those of you with pets; you all do it. Some of you hide it and some of you share it, but we all speak for our pets. Eventually we make songs based on the perceived characters of our pets. I do it too.

My primary influence has been the rats with whom I have lived. There is a definitive character amongst rats I have known that leans their bardic fervour towards specific topics, namely: Cheeeeeese. Not to slot rats into a specific perception in society, but the fact is they sing a lot about cheese. Kind of like Dwarves singing about gold. "Gold, gold, gold, gold... Gold, gold, gold, gold..." I have read where dwarves in fact love iron more than gold, but it plays merry hell with the meter of their traditionally sung forms.

There is a loose knit sort of format to the typical rat song. It starts off with some lyrics which may even seem poignant, as though leading in to more profound realities, but some kind of cheese will always be mentioned. From there the original concept will be more closely linked with cheese. Invariably, the lyrics eventually devolve to cheese, cheese, cheese, etc...

An excellent example of this is witnessed with the remake of Moby's "We are all made of stars," created by my beloved, bewhiskered rodent roommates a few years back;
"Growing in numbers, growing in cheese
Can't fight the future, you are what you eat
People they eat some cheddar,
People they eat some brie
Noone can stop us now...
So won't ya give us some cheese
Cheese is so cheesy
and I do not mind
surrounded by cheeses
in front and behind
People they eat some cheddar,
People they eat some brie
Noone can stop us now...
So won't ya give us some cheese
Cheese is so filling
I feel cheese in me
Monterey Jack,
Feta and Brie
we are all made of cheese
(we are all made of cheese)
we are all made of cheese
chee-chee-chee-cheese...
*fade to silence*

You see? The song "Slinky Rat" does not in fact mention cheese anywhere in it. The lyrics are "Slinky Rat, (do doo, doodeleh doo), Slinky Rat (do doo, doodeleh doo) *key change, repeat*" It is the exception to the rule though. I aspire to eventually put together all the rat songs I have heard over the years.

The most recent one has obviously been inspired by World Cup, as all the rats I know have been hearing me chanting in support of my teams. They seem to have adapted the chant as follows:
"aaa loooooot a looot a looot of cheeeeeese,
aaaaa loooot oooof cheeeeese,
aa loooooot a looot a looot of cheeeeeese
aaaa loooot oooof cheeeeese"
If you don't know the original chant, you are sorely out of the loop.