[Yip1982]

Since I got hold of the OBC recording some 11 years ago, I've felt a little bugged by a lyric discrepancy in Ghengis's part of Growltiger's Last Stand. The original Eliot line I refer to goes "With a frightful burst of fireworks the Chinks they swarmed aboard. / Abandoning their sampans, and their pullaways and junks...". In contrast Ghengis says "Abandoning their sampans, the Chinks they swarmed aboard." What could have happened? Could this have been a slip up in the recording session, or was the lyric always performed like this on Broadway?

[Moongewl]

I've only ever heard the fireworks bit on the OLC CD. I figured they changed it because they didn't want to set off unnecessary fireworks onstage.

[Cassandra]

I'm not sure why the lyric was changed from the original poem, but every production that I had seen until recently (Broadway, 4th National Tour and Troika Tour) used the lines:

"Then Genghis gave the signal to his fierce Mongolian hoard
Abandoning their sampans the Chinks they swarmed aboard
Abandoning their sampans, their pullaways and junks
They battened down the hatches on the crew within their bunks"

Now, only until a couple years ago, the Troika company was using those lines, as well. Then all of a sudden, it changed to:

"Then Genghis gave the signal to his fierce Mongolian hoard
With a frightful burst of fireworks the Siamese swarmed aboard
Abandoning their sampans, their pullaways and junks
They battened down the hatches on the crew within their bunks."

It sounds a little more like the original poem, though I'm guessing they removed the word "Chinks" due to its derogatory nature.

So, no, I don't believe it was a recording session error. It was performed that way as long as I remember it. Hope that helped a little bit.

[Rumblepurr]

I checked with my sources, and this is what I found:

In Eliot's poem of "Growltiger's Last Stand," the wording is:

Then GILBERT gave the signal to his fierce Mongolian horde;
With a frightful burst of fireworks the Chinks they swarmed aboard...
Abandoning their sampans, and their pullaways their junks,
They battened down the hatches on the crew within their bunks.
- Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, 1939 -

In the Original London Cast recording, the above is also used, but only the first two lines...

Then GILBERT gave the signal to his fierce Mongolian horde;
With a frightful burst of fireworks the Chinks they swarmed aboard...
- OLC CATS 1981 -

In the Original Broadway Cast recording, the lyrics changed.

Then GENGHIS gave the signal to his fierce Mongolian horde;
Abandoning their sampans, the Chinks they swarmed aboard...
Abandoning their sampans, their pullaways, their junks,
They battened down the hatches on the crew within thier bunks.
- OBC CATS 1983 -

And yes, the show became politically correct, and changed "Chinks" to "Siamese."

Rumblepurr
The Writer Cat.

[Yip1982]

Thank you so much for your helpful and informative insights. I really think they liven up any discussion on CATS and are invaluable contributions to the forum.

[JelliclePat]

It's a shame that some people are so thin-skinned. There's a lot more depth to these poems than most people realize, as was pointed out to me by Herman Sebek. Eliot's use of the word 'Chinks' makes fun of the Victorian/Edwardian Brits who looked down on anyone not native-born, including blacks, Hindi/Muslims, and Chinese/Japanese. I notice that 'Pekes and Pollicles' hasn't been changed:


'Now the Peke, although people may say what they please,
Is no British dog, but a Heathen Chinese...'

ALW saw that, and that's why he wanted to treat the poems the way he did.

[Moongewl]

Honestly, I find I prefer "Siamese" to "Chinks" in the context of the musical. It's just more catlike, and makes more sense to me. The "heathen Chinese" line shows British pride from the cats...and as long as it's Munkustrap(a British tabby) singing that line, I think it works well enough.

[JelliclePat]

I beg to disagree, Moongewl. The lines point up the British snobbery of the time. Eliot was making fun of that, and ALW knew it. If he'd wanted to blunt the point Eliot was trying to make, he would've have changed the line(s) himself, with permission from Valerie Eliot (if she'd've agreed, which I doubt).

Naturally, it's an American company that's changing the word. Europeans aren't nearly as over-sensitive. When no offense is meant, none should be taken. Since Eliot was making fun of his fellow Brits (I know! I know he was born American!) and not the Chinese immigrants, no offense was meant to the latter.

[Carbucketty]

[Moongewl]

[JelliclePat]

Just because a show is set 'somewhere between modern and timeless' doesn't mean it shouldn't teach. 'South Pacific' was ahead of its time with the song 'You've Got to Be Taught', and it's still relevant now, 60 years later. The same is true of Eliot's poems. Just because part of the world has come to realize that we are all human doesn't mean everyone has accepted that. Racism still exists in many parts of the world, even in the more enlightened countries. Only a few years ago, a black man in Texas was dragged behind a pick-up truck until he was dead, simply because he was black. If that can still happen in America, where Federal law prohibits discrimination of any kind, then Eliot's lessons are still valid. Therefore, using the original words *does* still reflect current times.

As I pointed out before, ALW set the *original* lines to music. He didn't change them, because he didn't feel they needed to be changed. I don't think Valerie Eliot would have allowed him to do it, anyway, because her husband's words are just as relevant today as they ever were. Just because they were written nearly a century ago doesn't mean things have changed all that much.