Grizabella the Glamour Cat (song)

As Rum Tum Tugger is finishing his wild, fun song, Grizabella appears onstage. Immediately the mood changes - she is not welcomed by the tribe. The younger kittens don't understand, but the adults make it clear that she is not to be touched or accepted. To explain, Demeter and Bombalurina tell us who she is.

Lyrics
Remark the cat who hesitates toward you.

In the light of the door which opens on her like a grin.

You see the border of her coat is torn and stained with sand.

And you see the corner of her eye twist like a crooked pin.

She haunted many a low resort

Near the grimy road of Tottenham Court.

She flitted about the No Man's Land

From "The Rising Sun" to "The Friend at Hand."

And the postman sighed as he scratched his head,

"You'd really had thought she ought to be dead."

And who would ever suppose that?

That was Grizabella, the glamour cat?

Grizabella, the glamour cat.

Grizabella, the glamour cat.

And who would ever suppose that

That was Grizabella, the glamour cat?

This poem is open to interpretation, one theory involving allusions to the second world war in mentioning "The Rising Sun", No man's land, and "The Friend At Hand". However the more literal interpretation is that these mentions are refering to pub names, often used as geographic markers in London. Tottenham Court Road is well known as a location, "The Rising Sun" and "The Friend At Hand" both being pubs in the area.