Cats 😺 or Dogs 🐶 | 5ive Songs

1. Trey Songz, “Cats Got My Tongue” 😺

💿 Back Home • 🏷 Atlantic • 🗓 2020

“Oh, I need to eat / Claws, bite, please no teeth / All night between the sheets…” MEOW! Smoking (“Smoke a ‘Backwood’ when the cat good”) and sex play a key role on “Cats Got My Tongue,” a highlight from Back Home, the eighth studio album by R&B standout Trey Songz. While the title plays off the classic expression/idiom, Trey is being more literal.  The cat he’s referencing is certainly a different sort of pussy 😺…  This slow jam is freaky but totally enjoyable.  You’ll be ready to purr afterwards, promise! MEOW!

“I can’t even speak when the cat got my tongue
Is that what you want from me to show you my love?
Not sayin’ too much because your cat got my tongue
All night between the sheets, uh
I can’t even speak when the cat’s got my tongue.”

2. Lil Wayne, “Wild Dogs” 🐶

💿 Funeral • 🏷 Young Money • 🗓 2020 

“Wild Dogs” is all about ballin’ – a cliché topic for hip-hop. Even so, Lil Wayne manages to throw in plenty of memorable lines on this number from Funeral.  These lines are definitely true to the artist – only he’d ever muster up these lyrics!

Two such lines occur on the chorus, including, “Bitch, I’m a dog, I turn to a werewolf / Got Sira fuckin’ Alexa,” and, “Look at it too hard, it’s gon’ bust your retina / With diamonds that’s covered like eczema.” Wow, or better yet, WOOF!

3. Rich Brian, “Kitty” 😺

💿 Amen • 🏷 88rising / EMPIRE • 🗓 2018

Much like Trey Songz earlier, Indonesian rapper Rich Brian isn’t literally talking about a cat on “Kitty,” which appears on his 2018 debut album, Amen. “Ain’t no game that I play when it comes to / Gettin’ that kitty out the cage for my night.” Wow! “Kitty” is by far the dirtiest and arguably, the most outrageous song on Amen, finding Brian capturing his sexual awakening.

Even as he’s ‘getting it in,’ there’s a humorous, twist.  After getting drunk, meeting “the girl of [his] dreams,” virgin Brian has sex with her, gets caught by her mom, has his friend Mike pick him up, and finds out his first was Mike’s sister.  MEOW!

4. Blake Shelton, “I’ll Name the Dogs” 🐶

💿 Texoma Shore • 🏷 Warner • 🗓 2017

“I’ll Name the Dogs” kicks things off soundly on Texoma Shore, the 2017 album by country standout, Blake Shelton. A palette of sounds, typical of the country music script, forms the backdrop. Shelton, likewise, gives a sound vocal performance, painting on the backdrop like a champ. “I’ll Name the Dogs” centers on building a family, relationship, etc. The chorus is incredibly catchy, helping to make “I’ll Name the Dogs” an enjoyable, fun listen.  While the dogs aren’t central, at least on this particular song, the country star is being literal regarding man’s best friend.

“I’ll hang the pictures, you hang the stars
You pick the paint, I’ll pick a guitar
Sing you a song out there with the crickets and the frogs
You name the babies and I’ll name the dogs, yeah.”

5. Florence + The Machine, “Dog Days Are Over” 🐶

 💿 Lungs • 🏷 Universal Island • 🗓 2009

“Happiness hit her, like a train on a track / Coming towards her, stuck still no turning back.” Now that’s poetry! Sometimes, it only takes that one song to put you on the map.  For British standout Florence + The Machine, that one song was “Dog Days Are Over.”  Search for ‘dog’ on Spotify and you’re sure to find “Dog Days Are Over” at the top of the list.

The highlight appears on Lungs, which arrived back in 2009 – hard to believe! Here, Florence Welch shows off her ultra-expressive voice, belting triumphantly on the unforgettable chorus that “THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER / The dog days are done / The horses are coming / So, you better run.” WOOF, “…there it is!”