a 1922 popular song based on a piano solo
words and music by Zez Confrey
The sheet music:
Accompaniment:
Lyrics
There’s a catchy melody that’s spreadin’ all around the country
And they call it “Kitten on the Keys”
Everyone’s buying it, everyone’s trying its
Brand new harmonies
You can close your eyes and just imagine there’s a little kitten
Running up and down the ivories
Anyone listenin’ can’t help a whistlin’
Kitten on the Keys
Raggedy melodies, beautiful harmonies
Haunt you in each little strain
Jazzy improvements of raggiest movements
Just rattle around in your brain
It isn’t easy to sing it ’cause I know a fellow
Who tried it one day
He found it a riddle, got stuck in the middle
And strangled to death so they say
It’s best to take your time before you sing this ryhme
You better start to sing it this way
(Puff, puff, puff, puff)
Crackerjack piano players practice up for hours
Just to get its tricky technicalities
And when they master it, Oh! how they plaster it
All over the keys
All you have to do is play it fifty-seven thousand times
Before you get the knack of it with ease
Oh how they swing when you’re playing the King
Of ragtime symphonies
Sung here by Fred Feild: