Brian Setzer wrote "Stray Cat Strut" when he was 18 -- after finding inspiration, in part, from an animated TV series.
In an interview with Britain's Guardian, "I wanted something slower than our other songs. It’s about us three guys, and the lives we were living. At that point, we were still called the Tomcats, but it became 'stray' when we went to London, because we had wandered."
Setzer got the line, "Black and orange stray cat sittin’ on a fence" from the black and orange cat sticker on his guitar. As for "feline Casanova," he was a big fan of the cartoon series, Top Cat -- that sassy attitude matched the series' lead character. Claiming he "played the guitar solo out of thin air, on the spot," he thought, "I wanna to do something that will bend your ear, something unexpected." Yet it took him all of 30 seconds to write.
Shows in Sweden and Finland will conclude their European Tour.