Growltiger was a Bravo Cat who travelled on a barge    In face he was the roughest cat that ever roamed at large    From Gravesend up to Oxford he pursued his evil aims    Rejoicing in his title of    The 'Terror of the Thames'    Ha ha ha ha       His manners and appearance did not calculate to please    His coat was torn and seedy, it was baggy at the knees    Once ear was somewhat missing, no need to tell you why    And he scowled upon a hostile world from one forbidding eye       The cottagers of Rotherhithe knew something of his fame    At Hammersmith and Putney people shuddered at his name    They would fortify the hen house, lock up the silly goose    When the rumour ran along the shore:    Growltiger's on the loose!    Ha ha ha ha       Woe to the weak canary that fluttered from its cage    Woe to the pampered Pekeinese, that face Growltiger's rage    Woe to the bristly Bandicoot, that lurks on foreign ships    And woe to any Cat with whom Growltiger came to grips       But most to Cats of foreign race his hatred had been vowed    To Cats of foreign name and race no quarter was allowed    The Persian and the Siamese regarded him with fear    Because it was a Siamese had mauled his missing ear       Now on a peaceful summer night all nature seemed at play    The tender Moon was shining bright, the barge at Molsey lay    All in the balmy moonlight it lay rocking on the tide    And Growltiger was disposed to show his sentimental side       Chi e la?    Mi amore!    Sono qui       In the forepeak of the vessel Growltiger stood alone    Concentrating my attention on the Lady Griddlebone    And my raffish crew were sleeping in their barrels and their bunks    As the Siamese came creeping in their sampans and their junks       Growltiger had no eye or ear for aught but Griddlebone    And the lady seemed enraptured by my manly baritone    Disposed to relaxation and awaiting no surprise    But the moonlight shone reflected from a thousand bright blue eyes       And closer still and closer the sampans circled 'round    And yet from all the enemy there was not heard a soun    The foe was armed with toasting forks and cruel carving knives    And the lovers sang their last duet in danger of their lives       In una tepida notte d'estate, allorche la natura    Era nel pieno fulgore, e la fresca rugiada    Splendeva al chiar di luna sopra la verzura;    Si poteva vedere il galeone ancorato.       Oscillare in silenzio nel vento profumato,    Dalla marea del naviglio serenemente cullato.    In quella tepida notte, che c'e dunque di male,    Se in tanta poesia    Il pirato divento sentimenta--aa--le?       Oscillare in silenzio nel vento profumato,    Dalla marea del naviglio serenemente cullato,    In quella tepida notte,    In quella tepida notte,    IN QUELLA TEPIDA NOTTE!       Then Ghengis gave the signal to his fierce Monglian horde    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       Then Griddlebone she gave a screech for she was badly skeered    I am sorry to admit it, but she quickly disappeared    She probably escaped with ease, I'm sure she was not drowned    But a serried ring of flashing steel Growltiger did surround       AI-EEEEE!       The ruthless foe pressed forward in subborn rank on rank    Growltiger to his vast surprise was forced to walk the plank    He who a hundered victims had driven to that drop    At the end of all his crimes was forced to go kerflip, kerflop       Oh there was joy in Wapping when the news flew through the land    At Maidenhead and Henley there was dancing on the strand    Rats were roasted whole in Brentford and Victoria Dock    And a day of celebration was commanded in Bangkok!       These modern productions are all very well    But there's nothing to equal from what I hear tell    That moment of mystery when I made history