Squeeze: Cool for Cats

Squeeze is a British pop and rock band who had their first commercial success in the late 1970s, during the post-punk, new wave era. They continued recording and touring through to the 1990s, and despite breaking up in 1999, they reformed eight years later and are still going strong today.

Their first hit record was Take Me I'm Yours, which peaked at number 19 in the UK singles chart in 1978. A steady succession of hit records followed, including 47 more singles, 15 studio albums, 14 compilation albums and four live albums.

Early years

Squeeze formed in 1974, after songwriter, vocalist and guitarist Chris Difford, aged 20, placed an advert for a guitarist in a local shop window. Legend has it that 17-year-old Glenn Tilbrook was the only person to reply. They began song writing together and were soon joined by keyboard player Jools Holland and drummer Paul Gunn.

They chose the band name Squeeze in tribute to a 1973 LP of the same name, released by the band Velvet Underground. Their early career was around Deptford in London, where they played a lot of live gigs, signing to BTM Records until 1976.

Subsequently, after signing for A&M Records, they enjoyed their first chart success, with not only their hit single, Take Me I'm Yours, but also with their album, Cool for Cats, released in 1979, which went silver in the UK.

Cool for Cats

This led to their second single released from the album, Cool for Cats, winning the band their biggest chart success to date, peaking at number two in the UK chart. It also reached number five in the Australian singles chart, opening up a whole new market for the band.



Written by Difford and Tilbrook, it featured a rare lead vocal from Difford - one of only three occasions when he sang the lead on a Squeeze single. The other two singles were Slap and Tickle in 1979 and Love Circles in 1989. Difford said that when he wrote Cool for Cats, he had no idea he was going to sing it. However, it evolved that way.

The title came from the name of a UK television series that was first broadcast in 1959 and continued into the 1960s. Cool for Cats was the UK's first televised rock 'n' roll show and the term "cats" dated from 1940s Britain, when it described a "cool" person who was into the latest music.

When Squeeze released Cool for Cats, it was sung in a broad Cockney accent, in a style which suggested the narrator was in the pub, telling stories to his mates. It was half-sung and half-spoken and depicted a typical young, British male.

The fanciful lyrics are sung by a regular guy who struggles to get by as best he can, while dreaming of a more exciting life. For example, when he says, "The Sweeney's doing 90, 'cos they've got the word to go," he refers to the popular 1970s TV cop show, starring John Thaw. The action-packed, hard-hitting detective series, with lots of fast car chases, was popular among young adults.

Towards the end of the song, the narrator admits, "I want to be so flash, I give a little muscle and I spend a little cash," because "everybody tells me that it's cool to be a cat."

However, his alcohol-fuelled bravado is short-lived and he admits that by the time he's sober the next morning, he's forgotten pretty much everything that's gone on.

Hit records

After the success of the album Cool for Cats and single of the same name, Squeeze enjoyed a series of chart hits over the next 20 years. These included top ten singles such as Up the Junction in 1979, Labelled with Love in 1981 and Tempted the same year, which reached number eight in the US mainstream rock chart and broke Squeeze into the American market.

The band's biggest-selling albums apart from Cool for Cats, included Argybargy - which achieved gold status in Canada in 1980 - and two silver discs for East Side Story in 1981 and Babylon and On in 1987.

In 1992, the single Cool for Cats was released again in the UK after it was used for a milk commercial - it charted a second time. Squeeze split up in 1999 after playing a final gig on 27th November in Aberdeen, Scotland, after which the two founder members embarked on solo careers.

21st century

After moderate success as solo artists, Difford and Tilbrook announced in 2007 that they were reforming Squeeze. The line-up included John Bentley on bass, Stephen Large on keyboards and drummer Simon Hanson. Large and Hanson had been members of Tilbrook's touring band.

Embarking on an American tour in August 2007, this was followed by a series of television appearances and live shows in the UK and the US between 2008 and 2010. Their Spot The Difference tour of the US began in July 2010, continuing in the UK in November and December.

They have continued to tour and to release new material ever since. Their most recent single was Innocence in Paradise in 2017, and their latest studio album, released in October 2017, was called The Knowledge.

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