That Glam-Rock Purr: A Feline Femme Fatale Slips into the Heart of the Seventies
Ah, the 1970s! A time when platform boots scraped the ceiling, flares flapped like flags in the breeze, and the music, oh, the music, was an unashamed burst of sheer, glitter-dusted energy. If you lived through it, you’ll remember the way Glam Rock turned monochrome post-war Britain into a vibrant Technicolor dream. And right at the heart of that dazzling explosion was the band Mud, a group who, under the deft guidance of the legendary songwriting and production team Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman (often dubbed “Chinnichap”), became true chart titans.
Following the immense success of their first UK chart-topper, “Tiger Feet”—which was, remarkably, the UK’s best-selling single of 1974—Mud wasted no time in unleashing their next feline-themed masterpiece upon the eager public: “The Cat Crept In.” Released in April 1974, this track proved that the band’s pop-rock mojo was still in full swing. It scaled the Official Singles Chart with remarkable speed, peaking triumphantly at Number 2, held off the top spot only by Terry Jacks’ melancholic “Seasons in the Sun.” Across Europe, it was just as irresistible, even climbing to Number 1 in the Netherlands.
This track, like much of Mud’s Chinnichap-era output, was a deliberate, perfectly crafted pop-rock gem designed to exploit the band’s theatrical flair, particularly the vocal talents of lead singer Les Gray. The song’s meaning is less a profound philosophical statement and more a celebration of a classic rock and roll trope: the alluring, almost dangerous femme fatale. The “cat” in the song is a metaphorical one—a mesmerizing woman, a “high-heeled paw,” who “crept in” and then “crept out again,” leaving the singer utterly captivated and disoriented. The lyrics paint a picture of a mysterious, stylish, and electrifying woman whose entrance and exit are swift, silent, and entirely captivating: “She got style you can see it in her feline eyes.”
What makes “The Cat Crept In” so uniquely Mud is how they fuse the raw energy of 1950s rock and roll with the theatricality of ’70s Glam. Les Gray’s unmistakable vocal style—a brilliant pastiche of Elvis Presley’s early rockabilly snarl and hiccup—is center stage, backed by a driving rhythm section and the signature guitar work of Rob Davis. It was a conscious nod to the past, a love letter to the ’50s rock that underpinned much of the Glam movement, making it instantly relatable to those of us who came of age during that earlier rock era. The single was a testament to the band’s brilliant versatility, sitting comfortably alongside their heavier glam tracks like “Dyna-mite” and their festive classic “Lonely This Christmas.” It’s a moment in time captured perfectly, a song that still carries the joyful, unburdened spirit of a Saturday night in 1974.