Bent Fabric – "Alley Cat" (1962)

[NOTE: This year’s "28 Posts in 28 Days" features twelve previously-published posts from what I like to call the "Golden Age" of 2 or 3 lines.  My handy-dandy random number generator is telling me to pick today’s post from those that originally appeared in February 2014 – a month that was unique in 2 or 3 lines history because it featured only instrumental records.  I’ve chosen to share my post about Bent Fabric’s 1962 recording of "Alley Cat" because it includes a video of me performing that catchy little piece on the piano, and I'm a big showoff.]   

*     *     *     *     *

 Bent Fabricius-Bjerre – who became known internationally as Bent Fabric – was a Danish pianist and composer whose 1961 instrumental, "Omkring et Flygel" ("Around a Piano"), became a big hit in Denmark. 

The following year, the record was released internationally under the name "Alley Cat."  It was a #1 hit in Australia and reached the top ten in the United States, where it won the Grammy for best instrumental.

Fabricius-Bjerre, who was born in 1924, began to perform and compose shortly after the end of World War II, and he continued to write music into his eighties.  The title track of his album Jukebox made it to #7 on USA Dance/Club Play charts in 2006 -- 44 years after "Alley Cat" was a hit.

According to Wikipedia, "Alley Cat" is the most common music played by ice cream trucks in Mexico. 

*     *     *     *     *

I still have the sheet music for "Alley Cat," which I learned to play when I was 12 or so.  It was a particular favorite of my mother's. 

"Alley Cat" has a simple structure.  It begins with an eight-measure primary theme, which is repeated.  Then comes an eight-measure secondary theme.  The primary theme then returns, followed by an eight-measure variation on that theme (which is also repeated).  The secondary theme comes back for an encore performance, followed by one final iteration of the primary theme.  The piece closes with a four-measure coda.

Here's a short video that will make all that perfectly clear:

Click here to listen to Bent Fabric's recording of "Alley Cat."

Click here to buy that recording from Amazon.