Catanooga Cats - Birthday Suit

An early bubblegum pop music video/cartoon featuring the Catanooga Cats that was played on the early Banana Splits during the late '60s. It's oh so wrong on so many levels...

[@mmlinke1]

I have to laugh so hard at this! When I was a little kid, my very Catholic mother came storming in from the kitchen when I was watching this cartoon and yelled "What are you WATCHING?!" I was so young I had no idea what a birthday suit was!

[@DavidBDavis-lz7bt]

Don't feel bad. Also in 1969, my mom gave 5-year-old me a lot of grief over watching The Hardy Boys, because, apparently, Wanda Kay Breckinridge's animated dancing was too sexy. But she probably would have done the same thing had I been 16 or 17 at the time(lol).

[@brotherlonewolf4182]

Imagine what it would have been like if she were a Jehovah's Witness. Not only do they view nudity as shameful, they think that is is a mega sin to celebrate birthdays. They won't even allow their children to eat a piece of someone else's birthday cake even if they don't attend the party.

[@superpan218]

You know how religious parents are. They can be pretty conservative over the shows their children watch.

[@blueblousedesigns]

You should hear the version of this song by Thee Makeout Party!

[@rogerlambert9316]

Make me glad that I left organized religion. Organized religion is a toxin that flows throughout the Multiverse. Be spiritual, not religious.

[@brenolunademenezes6863]

They look like cute plush toys when they’re in baby form!

[@rilyboothe832]

In ALL Honesty, They *Were* REALLY *Cute* As Kittens

[@taylorhill6205]

Happy Birthday kitty jo!🐱🎂👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨

[@brenolunademenezes6863]

They look like toys!

[@michaelputch9307]

:( Have we forsaken the 60's and 70's so thoroughly? These were celebration of LIFE!

[@bluedeerfox1478]

The Chattanooga Cats looks very so cute as kittens💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝

[@Mattcai2004]

Kitty Jo looked adorable as a little kitten

[@taylorhill6205]

I love when kitty jo kiss country for the first time that so adorable!😻💋🥰

[@taylorhill6205]

@Riley'sArtCorner oh yeah 1st love is beautiful and wonderful!!!🐱💘

[@rogerlambert9316]

Monkey Boy wants a robot girl for his new wife and Queen Goddess.👸

[@OscarBravoUSA]

After reading these comments, I long for the days when people didn't seek "hidden agendas," or "deeper meanings." If there were any, nobody cared, or noticed. I was just 5 back then, and I viewed cartoons like these because they were fun - and funny. They still are.

[@txvoltaire]

I think my mother would have worried about me singing a song like that back in the day! (I'm old enough to have seen the seen the show when it 1st came on!)

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

+OscarBravoUSA I miss those days too.

[@sdovas]

Yeah, for sure, but the producers wanted to keep themselves amused as well, and from the little I know about Joe Barbera and Bill Hanna, sneaking a catchy tune from an otherwise sordid drive-in b-movie (z-movie)was just their speed. Fond but distant memories from childhood of this earworm as well, though I was thinking they were bears not cats... revelation!

[@citizenterryk]

in the true venerable tradition of bubblegum music, where they say it but they don't say it....personally, i think the grown-up Kitty Jo has a cute lil' tale......

[@martianspy]

Holy crap...this was my favorite song when I was 5. I had the record and used to play it over and over.

[@blueblousedesigns]

You should hear the version by Thee Makeout Party! on their album called "Play Pretend" because Dan Bush's vocals are kinda cute

[@gabrieleporcelli9666]

I really ❤️ that Pink kitty.

[@raynekimi2755]

Ohh my. I was hearing it right. Way back then children's cartoons have always been directed at adults.

[@Cerebus38]

"The Cattanooga Cats" were NOT a part of "The Banana Splits Comedy Hour". "The Banana Splits" aired on NBC. "The Cattanooga Cats" was a separate Hanna-Barbera show that was on ABC. The cartoons on "The Banana Splits" tended to be in the early '60s, pre-hippie/psychedelic mode. (Despite the fact "The Banana Splits" were one of the earliest shows to be aimed at the hippie culture.)

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

+Cerebus38 That is interesting contrast to say the least.

[@taylorhill6205]

Aww that is so cute and adorable birthday song and those kittens to!🐈🎁

[@Channel_EXE]

I sang this on my birthday. My sisters said I was weird.

[@JonasClark]

...wow. I thought I'd listened pretty darn well to every song I've got, but y'know... you're right. "Alle Alle Oxen Free" is extremely suggestive! Ahh, bubblegum music... Now, if only someone would post the video for "Love Won't Stay Away" I'd be happy. I was very close after seeing the video for my other favorite, "Merry Go Round".

[@juritanaka8284]

Now I've noticed that Kitty Jo looks like Daphne from Scooby-Doo.

[@Nekosage]

Well, considering the fact that they are both Hanna Barbara shows...

[@DavidBDavis-lz7bt]

It would be cool to see a fanfic in which the two groups meet. Can't help but wonder what Scooby-Doo! Team-Up would have done with that.

[@taylorhill6205]

Yeah I guess she does a little when she was a kitten??🐱🤔

[@isabeld.paredes4923]

With go-go boots. Daphne rarely wore them in the first Scooby Doo series (if at all) and she proudly sported them in the first live-action Scooby Doo movie

[@trcgamer94]

I agree! In fact, they ALL would look better as kittens!

[@Prizm44]

lol this is fantastic. The editing is spot on and it's a great little song. I think the lyrics are intentional: 0:32 "But most of all, I wanna show, a present for the boy that loves me so" haha "I'm just crazy 'bout my birthday suit" - I wish more girls would be so proud of their body.

[@zazelby]

Lyrics are definitely intentional. As noted in other comments, this song was originally written for a 1968 nudie cutie comedy called Jennie: Wife/Child, where it plays over a scene of the title character skinny-dipping. Cattanooga Cats' musical director also wrote the songs for that film, so that's why he used it, though how he managed to get it past all of H-B's and ABC's censors is another matter.

[@Prizm44]

@@zazelby - Oh my gosh, that is amazing! I looked up "Jennie Wife/Child" and it's actually got this song 😮 I never though I'd hear another version of it. If anyone is interested, the movie is currently on KZbin and this song is around the 30:30 mark.

[@rogerlambert9316]

Organized religion tries to make everyone feel filthy, disgusting, and worthless. Good thing that now that I'm spiritual and not religious.

[@stormwulf117]

I wonder when Hanna-Barbera later found out that this song was originally used for a European softcorn porn movie.

[@mrflorida2050]

what was the movie called

[@reddycat1957]

@@mrflorida2050 The movie is called Jenny: Wife/Child (a/k/a Albert Peckingpaw's Revenge)

[@itznoah-iz5zt]

@@reddycat1957 HOW DO YOU KNOW THIS

[@reddycat1957]

@@itznoah-iz5zt i found out on Fandom

[@reddycat1957]

also how the fuck did you get here? kekw

[@earlsmith7428]

How? Just how? My mind boggles at the lyrics.

[@eggrole7]

at this point i've stayed up so late and stared at my computer screen so long that i feel like i'm sitting on the wall, this only adds to the hilerity

[@IansBasementVideos]

I'm pretty certain that me sending this to people on their birthdays makes up a hefty majority of the views.

[@fromthesidelines]

That's the ONE song I remember when I first watched this show....

[@user-ro6yi1th5k]

The only logical problem is that cats and other animals normally spend all their life in their birthday suits, so this piece requires a bit more suspension of disbelief and trust in anthropomorphy. Other than that I dont see any wrong with it, especially by 60-early 70s standards. Just a funny song

[@Rhiorrha]

This song is great, why is nobody making a 10 hour loop of it?

[@rogerlambert9316]

Good question

[@YooTuba]

The censors let all kinds of crazy stuff through in those days (like the entire "H.R. Pufnstuf" and "Lidsville" series which were one long giant drug joke). But I think this got past the censors because they show a little baby cat posing in a diaper and back then, baby nudity was considered OK and even cute. Now it would be considered pedophile city.

[@professortheremin]

So...the animation didn't change.....the audience did.

[@ReesesPieces625]

I post this video on my friends' facebooks every time it's someone's birthday. i love it!

[@sallysmackface8098]

Also footage from Catanooga cats. Wonderful stuff.

[@chunkygroove9038]

One of the truly great cartoons from the late Sixties. The hard rockin' intro is one of the best of all time.

[@mmitchellhouston]

Wow. Can't believe this was aired for kids!

[@ronmorgan280]

Its the seventee

[@ronmorgan280]

Six

[@rogerlambert9316]

Sounds risqué for a children's show.

[@SailorBarsoom]

"no way in the 666 levels of the Abyss that anybody over the age eight wrote that song and didn't know what they were saying" lol

[@jimgallagher8029]

How they got away with this I’ll never know…

[@Rhiorrha]

Found this: "My Birthday Suit" was originally composed for the 1968 independent soft-porn comedy Jenny: Wife/Child (a/k/a Albert Peckingpaw's Revenge); Lydia Marcelle sang the original version. Explains a lot, but not how it flew under the radar.

[@Popcultureguy3000]

@@Rhiorrha No it doesn’t, that just raises more questions!? Like how did no one ever ask what the source of the song was?

[@toycoon]

I love you in your birthday suit! My birthday suit makes me so proud.

[@dengeki3414]

This song is about being naked

[@Rhiorrha]

More specifically, it's a girl being naked and alone with her boyfriend on her birthday. And holy crap, Kitty Jo looked WAY better as a kitten. Why'd they have to change the shape of her head as she aged?

[@beauwalker9820]

@@Rhiorrha alot of people look different then when they were little.

[@PinkParkaGirl]

To put the urban legend to rest: It is indeed true that this song is from a 60's porno movie called Albert Peckingpaw's Revenge (AKA Jennie: Wife/Child). The original song (I have NOT seen the movie, I've just heard the song) has a bit more of a country sound and a slightly slower tempo, with a very perky-voiced singer. The lyrics are identical to the version here. How they got away with recycling it for the Cattanooga Cats, I haven't a clue, but that is the true story behind this song!

[@zazelby]

I know this comment was six years ago, but you can find the film on Dailymotion now. The song plays about 30 minutes into the film.

[@magnumopus7569]

@@zazelby Link?

[@Prizm44]

The movie is on KZbin at the moment. Hopefully doesn't get taken down.

[@jeffmissinne3866]

You can find the original song on You Tube at this writing. Search for "My Birthday Suit" by Lydia Marcelle.

[@trcgamer94]

Understandable, but don't worry. It may seem wrong, but it's still harmless. Now, if they put any inappropriate content in this song, then we'd have something to worry about. O_o

[@JoJobabylove12]

1:28, i can totally see me and my friend doing that! lol

[@sdovas]

Written by second -tier pop songwriter Harley Hatcher who wrote ALL the songs for the nudie-cutie motion picture that originally featured this tune, and Hatcher actually wrote several other songs featured on "Catanooga Cats" so maybe he was the connection that brought the tune to HB. (Hatcher also worked on the soundtracks of WILD IN THE STREETS, KELLY'S HEROES, and the great b-movie biker flicks SATAN'S SADISTS, THE GLORY STOMPERS, HELL RIDE & THE HARD RIDE among many others) Motion Picture Soundtrack also features the great Davie Allan & the Arrows, ($199 for vinyl on Amazon!!!) original version for motion picture by Lydia Marcelle (a stage name if ever I've heard one, but she WAS a striving 60s garage-band gal... Look for 'er) but the cartoon version is actually better. Who is singing THIS version of this obscure pop nugget?

[@narkspud691]

Peggy Clinger is the vocalist.

[@okcray7130]

The movie was JENNIE, WIFE/CHILD and the song was in a scene where the cute blonde was skinnydipping in the local swimming hole. If you're searching for the soundtrack album, it was issued under the alternate title "ALBERT PECKINGPAW'S REVENGE".

[@Skillow]

Now i know what a addict feels...

[@JennieLovedoll]

Though I wasn't born at the time that the cartoon was made, I liked the song and video; not to mention the birthday cake in the video is making me feel hungry 😋😋😋😋. I also read the comments deep in the comment posts, and I agree with the one who impugn today's America as hyperanalytical and politically correct.😑 Then I learned a lesson:😑 I will ignore those who are hyperanalytical and politically correct; for they will eventually fill up our insane asylums and hospitals after suffering mental anomalies, heart attacks and strokes after the stressing is said and done; otherwise, I will party 'til God, through Jesus Christ, tells me it's time to leave Nightclub Earth.😎

[@themangoman9315]

This song takes on a whole new meaning now

[@drswag0076]

i can sense the double meaning most songs had those subliminal stuff.

[@realhomercat]

I wish we saw Scoots and Groove as kittens!

[@ColinLooksBack]

I second the "wrong on so many levels" part...

[@QBCNetwork]

Mike Curb also helped out the Osmonds when they started out playing rock music. When he had his own label, he had LeAnn Rimes & (believe it or not) Joey Lawrence, for his 2nd CD.

[@Kyranyoutubevids]

Country: And that, Kids is how I met your mother!

[@rogerlambert9316]

This song sounds risqué for a children's show.

[@JoJobabylove12]

she looked prettier as a kitten. Her face was really long as an adult

[@brenolunademenezes6863]

She is a teenager!

[@Rhiorrha]

This version is slightly different from the LP version: this has horns, and the LP version does not. Odd.

[@Aiko0]

Makes me think of the song "I like you so much better when you're naked" by Ida Maria. xD

[@brenolunademenezes6863]

Quando que isso aparece na música?

[@randallscott4581]

Risqué kids cartoons, the best kind!

[@spy4863]

@BlueDragonOfUNA Nah, "Birthday Suit' meant the same thing in the 60's and 70's as it does today! It's just that Bubblegum Music is so full of double entendres!

[@turkenlegoflims]

shes not in her birthday suit O.o

[@QBCNetwork]

Get on The Jerry Springer Show & ask that question, you'll get some Jerry beads! (LOL)

[@spy4863]

Ummmmmm.............O-kay............I like my "birthday suit" too.........matter of fact I like it so much I show it off all over my apartment! With the shades down, of course, which is a shame since Ihave such a beautiful "birthday suit!"

[@ronmorgan280]

The singer must might heard the first

[@lesaalbright5520]

great song

[@Sener]

that's really interesting. When I was a kid and saw this on cartoon network I was like "what the hell!?". Now it makes a bit more sense, even though it's still shocking that it happened. Do you know where I can listen to the original song? I cant find it, thanks!

[@goffrd137]

this song was actually written for a stag film but wasn't used and the song rights were sold and re-recorded for this version.

[@larryellisreed280]

Entitled "Jennie: Wife/Child," a/k/a "Albert Peckingpaw's Revenge."

[@zazelby]

The film was released (at least twice, possibly three times under different titles), complete with the song (which plays over the title character skinny-dipping). The full movie is on Dailymotion.

[@Electrify85]

OMG look what the cat dragged in...

[@rogerlambert9316]

Monkey Boy like this cover better than the original version.

[@fatfoxclown]

@mastered46 actually the song was not from hanna barbera from what I heard

[@CholYerlow]

Apparently "birthday suit" meant something completely different in the 70s.

[@Channel_EXE]

They just couldn't show her vajayjay

[@EWOODJ]

It didn’t…

[@blueblousedesigns]

Here because of the Thee Makeout Party's cover of this song.

[@lobesno98]

Mercy beacoup, c'est a belle video, j'adore!

[@msmlovers463Jamboree]

WTF BIRTHDAY SUIT

[@wilakt4fud]

Apparently weed was much stronger in the 70s.

[@gazooie1958]

wilakt4fud and purer too.

[@tuttt99]

That and acid

[@rogerlambert9316]

10 hour loop, please.

[@JonasClark]

I highly doubt the claim that Mike Curb wrote this for a soft-core movie. But it IS racy, which none of the other Cattanooga Cats songs (I know of 27) were. As much as the song is suggestive, the video twists the lyrics' visual meaning to cuteness. I had heard about this segment, with claims that "Kitty-Jo dances nude", which are obviously only marginally true. Note: This version of the song is slightly different than the album version (Link on the Wikipedia entry to all 27 songs as MP3s)

[@donnyf88]

You look Awesome Regards -P.Bear

[@d777j777l777]

This video, in the modern context, is kinda wrong in so many ways, but was harmless enough in its time.

[@captainfantastic9158]

Ha-ha! I guess some sensors overlooked the innuendo of Kitty Jo wanting Country to see her in her "birthday suit." But it's innocent innuendo---not meant to be analyzed and judged to death and run roughshod upon like in today's overly politically correct world.

[@willalexmac7714]

It's true. Just meant to be cute, not offensive. Kids back then weren't even familiar with the meaning of "in your birthday suit". I often post this video to the facebook walls of my female friends who are celebrating birthdays. They all "Like" it.

[@txvoltaire]

Yeah, they definitely couldn't have gotten away with "How Do You Like my Twat?"

[@SteveCarras]

It looks like Scooby Doo..same design...I'll take ol' Yowp Yowp or Muggins [proto-Muttley], Jinks the cat,etc.:)

[@livingsocks]

I guess this is where "Groovy Cat" comes from. Also, Picture Is Unrelated.

[@zerobatsu]

What did they think this meant????

[@MariusIonescu]

Nope, but she was so hot that even the dog fell in love with her:))

[@MrLehnerd]

I see But what is filthy of it she singin about her new birthday suit which is not naked......may just mean clothes i can say.....

[@rogerlambert9316]

What's the name of that Daphne Blake wanna be?

[@rogerlambert9316]

Kitty Jo

[@rogerlambert9316]

Kitty Jo is HOT! 🔥

[@Tusskie]

What were they smoking?

[@reddycat1957]

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeed

[@beauwalker9820]

It was the 1960s, everyone was smoking something.

[@brenolunademenezes6863]

Qual o problema dessa música?

[@itznoah-iz5zt]

@@reddycat1957 smoke it everydaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay

[@RedStaryPuu]

... creepy

[@RincewindsHat66]

Wow, people have been making terrifying furry/loli cartoons for a long time...

[@ronmorgan280]

I'm

[@beauwalker9820]

You're?

[@Wobuffet3]

who's the singer? i love her voice

[@ronaldmorgan4734]

Wobuffet3 sadly she died a few years later from drugs

[@Wobuffet3]

What the shit, that's awful. What's her name? I want to hear more of her stuff.

[@ronaldmorgan4734]

Peggy clinger.

[@Sener]

Where can I download this song as an mp3?

[@john_dillermand]

Inside the mind of a furry on acid in the 1970's

[@KramerKontained94]

The early furries where very different to their modern ancestors

[@hdofu]

I believe the word you are looking for is *descendants* , furries didn't time travel to the 60's from today.

[@tinelvago88]

but.. will it blend?

[@MetroMediaTelevision11akaMM11]

1:20

[@wolfism88]

Rewatching it now, however... So. Very. Wrong. My childhood feels tainted now. DX

[@QBCNetwork]

It's only trivia.

[@MOTOPAC]

This isn't the orignal song for that cartoon, is it? It sounds real 90s-2000s indie.

[@Sener]

Can someone post the lyrics?

[@brenolunademenezes6863]

0:32-1:03

[@FleegleArabeXDcanalsegundario]

Hoy no es mi cumpleaños banda 🗿🗿🗿

[@galaxy5saskue]

lol obviously they didnt know the true meaning of "birthday suite"

[@wolfism88]

I rest the blame for my being a furry solely at the feet of my having watched this on TV when I was like four. Just sayin'.

[@tuttt99]

This is just wrong on SOOO many levels

[@thesteveus]

Who actually does the singing in the Cattanooga Cats cartoons?

[@larryellisreed280]

It was done my Mike Curb's late-1960's stable of musicians, led by Michael Lloyd and Peggy Clinger (the latter being the case here).

[@ronaldmorgan4734]

S few years later Peggy killed herself P

[@MUSICBLASTROCKS]

This is from the banana split show in the 1960's! FACT!

[@larryellisreed280]

Actually, it was from "Cattanooga Cats," which, unlike "The Banana Splits," was fully animated.

[@fakemadereal]

There is something quite off about this. As if there is a hidden message.....

[@brenolunademenezes6863]

Que tipo de mensagem?