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- Album This song officially appears on the Catcall 7" Single.
- Timeline This song has been written (or started being written) in 1958 (Paul McCartney was 16 years old)
Related sessions
This song has been recorded during the following studio sessions
Jul 20, 1967
Get Back sessions - January 24, 1969 - Day 13
Jan 24, 1969
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Song facts
Around late 1958, Paul McCartney wrote a jazz-style instrumental titled “Catswalk“. While it was never formally recorded by The Beatles, a rehearsal from late 1962 at the Cavern Club was recorded and released on bootlegs.
In 1967, Paul McCartney gave the song away to jazz band The Chris Barber Band, and participating in the recording, singing
By then the tune had been recorded and released by another act. McCartney knew band leader Chris Barber, who played trombone with his trad jazz group, The Chris Barber Band, and in 1967 offered him the ‘Catswalk’. The band recorded a version at London’s Marquee Club in July 1967, but McCartney felt it could be done better.
The session took place on 20 July 1967 at Chappell Recording Studios at 52 Maddox Street, London. Retitled ‘Catcall’, the tune was given an over-the-top arrangement complete with a chorus of catcalls: McCartney and Jane Asher were among the people taking part in what was evidently a fun session.
McCartney can also be heard calling “Please play it slower” before the half-speed coda, and singing the chorus of “For he’s a jolly good fellow”.
From earlybeatlessongs:
One of several instrumentals, this one is principally by McCartney and was probably written in late-1958. The song was one of a few originals incorporated into the group’s live act, where it stayed until 1962. By luck, a tape of the Beatles rehearsing the song twice was captured in late-1962 at the Cavern Club, and these recordings have circulated on bootleg CDs. These versions have the song arranged Shadows-style, with dominant lead guitar figures.
McCartney wasn’t done with it however, and in July 1967, assisted Chris Barber with the recording of a rather different version which came out as a single that October, with the song re-titled as “Catcall”. (It didn’t chart.) In a break from protocol, the song was formally copyrighted without Lennon’s name being added.
A tiny fragment of the song also turns up in bootlegged tapes from the 1969 Get Back sessions (January 24). More recently a legal edition of the Beatles’ Cavern performances has appeared on the double LP, I Saw Her Standing There on the Rock Melon label. This collection of miscellaneous 1962 material was made possible by the expiry of the 50-year legal protection period on unreleased recordings, which made these and other tapes fair game in 2013.
Last updated on March 22, 2023
Officially appears on
7" Single • Released in 1967
3:00 • Studio version • A
- Paul McCartney :
- Cat calls
- Chris Barber :
- Cat calls, Trombone
- Brian Auger :
- Cat calls, Organ
- Barry Jenkins :
- Cat calls
- Vic Briggs :
- Cat calls
- Viv Prince :
- Cat calls
- Madeleine Hirsiger :
- Cat calls
- Ottilie Patterson :
- Cat calls
- John Ryan :
- Cat calls
- Gustav Karl Lovenz Schneeweiss-Moody :
- Cat calls
- Pat Halcox :
- Cat calls, Trumpet
- John Crocker :
- Alto sax (?), Cat calls
- Ian Wheeler :
- Alto sax (?), Cat calls, Harmonica
- John Slaughter :
- Cat calls, Guitar
- Stu Morrison :
- Banjo, Cat calls
- Jackie Flavelle :
- Bass, Cat calls
- Graham Burbidge :
- Cat calls, Drums
- Session Recording:
- Jul 20, 1967
- Studio :
- Chappell Recording Studios, London UK
LP • Released in 1969
3:00 • Studio version • A
- Paul McCartney :
- Cat calls
- Chris Barber :
- Cat calls, Trombone
- Brian Auger :
- Cat calls, Organ
- Barry Jenkins :
- Cat calls
- Vic Briggs :
- Cat calls
- Viv Prince :
- Cat calls
- Madeleine Hirsiger :
- Cat calls
- Ottilie Patterson :
- Cat calls
- John Ryan :
- Cat calls
- Gustav Karl Lovenz Schneeweiss-Moody :
- Cat calls
- Pat Halcox :
- Cat calls, Trumpet
- John Crocker :
- Alto sax (?), Cat calls
- Ian Wheeler :
- Alto sax (?), Cat calls, Harmonica
- John Slaughter :
- Cat calls, Guitar
- Stu Morrison :
- Banjo, Cat calls
- Jackie Flavelle :
- Bass, Cat calls
- Graham Burbidge :
- Cat calls, Drums
- Session Recording:
- Jul 20, 1967
- Studio :
- Chappell Recording Studios, London UK
The Songs Lennon and McCartney Gave Away
LP • Released in 1979
3:00 • Studio version • A
- Paul McCartney :
- Cat calls
- Chris Barber :
- Cat calls, Trombone
- Brian Auger :
- Cat calls, Organ
- Barry Jenkins :
- Cat calls
- Vic Briggs :
- Cat calls
- Viv Prince :
- Cat calls
- Madeleine Hirsiger :
- Cat calls
- Ottilie Patterson :
- Cat calls
- John Ryan :
- Cat calls
- Gustav Karl Lovenz Schneeweiss-Moody :
- Cat calls
- Pat Halcox :
- Cat calls, Trumpet
- John Crocker :
- Alto sax (?), Cat calls
- Ian Wheeler :
- Alto sax (?), Cat calls, Harmonica
- John Slaughter :
- Cat calls, Guitar
- Stu Morrison :
- Banjo, Cat calls
- Jackie Flavelle :
- Bass, Cat calls
- Graham Burbidge :
- Cat calls, Drums
- Session Recording:
- Jul 20, 1967
- Studio :
- Chappell Recording Studios, London UK
Bootlegs
A/B Road Complete Get Back Sessions - Jan 24th, 1969 - 3 & 4
Unofficial album • Released in 2004
0:08 • Rehearsal • Jan.24 - D3-21 - Catswalk 24.64
- Session Recording:
- Jan 24, 1969
- Studio :
- Apple Studios, 3 Savile Row, London
Live performances
Paul McCartney has never played this song in concert.
Going further
If we like to think, in all modesty, that the Paul McCartney Project is the best online ressource for everything Paul McCartney, The Beatles Bible is for sure the definitive online site focused on the Beatles. There are obviously some overlap in terms of content between the two sites, but also some major differences in terms of approach.
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Who played lead guitar on Catswalk?
Most probably George played lead guitar because there is also a bass on the record (which obviously is by Paul - this was a rehearsal played live). I have heard an arrangement by string trio recently (not by McCartney).