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Arrangement: Ian J. Watts / Mike Wilbury · Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks
Lyrics
I love little kitty, her coat is so warm,
And if I don't hurt her, she'll do me no harm.
I'll sit by the fire and give her some food,
And Kitty will love me because I am good.
And while she is sleeping I'll make me fresh bread,
And while it is baking I'll rise to my bed,
To wake in the morning in a bed lined with silk,
And I'll eat warm bread-loaf while Kit drinks warm milk.
Now Kitty is purring and the hens are all fed,
The lambs in the meadow are resting their heads.
Relax by the fireside to keep ourselves warm and safe,
In our shelter from danger and harm.
Traditional lyrics — public domain. Arrangement © Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks.
History & Background
History & Origin
The original "I Love Little Pussy" (as it was known in older printings) was written by Jane Taylor, famous for "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", and published in 1804. The title was altered in later editions and this arrangement uses the more modern version with "kitty".
The poem is a gentle lesson in the ethics of animal care: the child is told, with perfect logic, that kindness will be returned with affection. "If I don't hurt her, she'll do me no harm" is a contract of mutual gentleness, practical and warm. It is one of the earliest examples in English children's literature of a text that takes animal welfare seriously as a virtue worth teaching.
Jane Taylor wrote for a readership of middle-class children who would have had household pets, and the domestic details — fire, food, the cat curled by the hearth — are specific and comforting. The image of a child and a cat sitting quietly together by the fire has been a symbol of domestic contentment in English culture for centuries.
Our arrangement, with additional verses by Ian Watts, expands the scene into a full evening: bread baking, the household settling, the lambs in the meadow resting their heads. It has the quality of a lullaby as much as a nursery song.
