Music and Cats / Book of Abstracts - Catalog - Page 45
Abstracts
Panel 6: Feline Metaphors
16:55 – 17:10
Hepcats and Canaries
Cats and Birds in American Swing Era Slang and Music
Sarah Caissie Provost / University of Hartford in Connecticut
Terms incorporating cats have long represented
jazz musicians and their audiences. “Cat”
connotes a calm, unflappable presence: an
aspiration for a jazz musician. Called “hepcats” or
“jazz cats” in the 1930s and 1940s, the cat
represented an idealized masculine affect. While
occasionally “hepkitten” provided a feminine
version of “hepcat,” women and girls were more
likely to be called “birds.” Jazz singers, famously
female, were referred to as “canaries” during the
1930s and 1940s. The term was often derogatory,
denoting a light, nonthreatening voice that did not
challenge the supremacy of the male bandleader.
The predator and prey relationship of cats and
birds reflected the status of their respective
genders within jazz subculture. The association of
cats with jazz and masculinity persisted
throughout the 20th century, reaching a
pinnacle with the group of jazz-playing alley
cats in the 1970 Disney film Aristocats. In this
paper, I trace the prevalence of comparisons
with cats and birds through the jazz slang of
the 1930s and 1940s. Using source material
from jazz magazines of the 1930s and 1940s, I
detail the varied usages of cat- and
bird-related terminology. I also document and
analyze the way that cats are reflected in
swing-era songs, from Benny Goodman’s “All
the Cats Join In” to Cab Calloway’s “Hep Cat’s
Love Song.” Examining these jazz slang terms
reveals the way that subcultures produce
gendered identity; these identities are in turn
reflected in the production of the era’s music.
Küpper
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