The Rats' Song

from Reader's Voice (E.P.) by Ian Evans

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

£1 GBP or more
Buy the Full Digital Album

about

This is a little ode to the pet rats I used to have. I was singing about them as I planned the melody (using nonsense lyrics) and decided to keep them. I like the idea of writing children’s’ songs or, “first impression,” lyrics (at least occasionally).

Pickle and Sausage lived in a large cage in my bathroom (as it was the safest room to let them out in, without them being impossible to get back in!) They were lovely little things - They used to sleep on my lap and run up to me when I got home.

lyrics

Lyrics:

Pickle is a little white rat, who sits and watches me shave
She’s bigger than a weasel or a gnat and ever so brave
Sausage is a larger brown rat, who’s fat and sleek in misbehaviour
She’s smaller than a beaver and she’s smaller than my flat
If I ever died in here they’d eat me (and it’s fair that…)
Anything a person can eat a rat can eat

Halo Jones engaging in a rat war
Running like a person in a rat war

Rat King’s tails
Berkshire stripe
Stop looking like a mouse
Rat King’s tails
Eternal multicoloured girls

References:

* "Anything a person can eat a rat can eat" - This is almost true.... Rats evolved alongside humans and have learned to digest almost anything that we can. They certainly love junk food and prefer pizza or a bit of burger to seeds. However, they can still choke on thick pastes or large lumps of food, so you shouldn't allow them to share anything I just liked the concept of humans and rats sharing a lifestyle and common goals - which we do

* Halo Jones is an excellent comic by Alan Moore, which does feature the terrifying concept of, “rat war”

* A Berkshire stripe is a white marking on the bodies of some pedigree rats (including Sausage)

* “Stop looking like a mouse,” was a comical instruction to Pickle from her breeder as, when young, she did look exactly like a mouse

* A rat king is a monster in German folk-lore, which is said to be born when rats became tangled by their tails. (One is featured as the bad guy in the Nutcracker Suite). I also like a band called Sidi Bou Said, who wrote a song called Rat King

credits

from Reader's Voice (E.P.), released March 20, 2016

license

about

Ian Evans UK

Pop/experimental/rock musician and songwriter from London

ianevansmusic.com

contact / help

Contact Ian Evans

Streaming and
Download help

Report this track or account

If you like Ian Evans, you may also like:

Horn of Plenty
by Grizzly Bear

Grizzly Bear’s classic debut gets a 15th anniversary vinyl reissue, with a digital companion featuring a bevy of remixes. Bandcamp New & Notable Jan 12, 2020
go to album
The Woman You Want
by Eliza Shaddad

Haddad returns with cinematic soundscapes that include introspective folk, post-grunge, and indie-pop influences. Bandcamp New & Notable Jul 16, 2021
go to album
Slow Century
by I Was A King

Norman Blake of Teenage Fanclub produced this lush and hooky collection of pop songs. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 29, 2019
go to album
Give it to Me
by Miya Folick

featured on Bandcamp Radio Jun 13, 2017
go to album
Tides
by Second Hand Heart

Brooding, haunting and drop dead gorgeous songs from Melbourne, Australia. WTF is in the water over there? Bandcamp New & Notable May 16, 2014
go to album
Live From Blackalachia
by Moses Sumney

featured on Bandcamp Radio Feb 1, 2022
go to album
Coldstream Road
by e4444e

Newcastle, Australia's e4444e instills his airy indie pop with baroque flair and swooning psychedelic swells for a fluid, infectious affair. Bandcamp New & Notable Jul 19, 2020
go to album