Traumafessions :: Reader Jillcs on Lady & the Tramp

This is one of those traumas that I can't quite explain, but that horrified me to the very core when I was a kid, and still gives me the shivers. LADY AND THE TRAMP gave me more nightmares than any other film before or since. Most people, when I tell them this, agree that it had its disconcerting moments, but it wasn't the feral dogs or the rat with the red eyes that kept me up at night. It was those damn SIAMESE CATS!

Perhaps it was that I couldn't reconcile the cognitive dissonance of MEAN CATS— cats were supposed to be nice animals! Perhaps, as my brother suggests, I just had a natural aversion to negative Asian stereotypes. Or perhaps the tempo of the song was just unlike anything I had ever heard before and struck me as spooky. All I know is that those teeth and eyes and the opening notes of the song used to send me into full-blown panic. Several of my friends had Disney song compilation records that featured the Siamese Cat Song, and every time it came on, I would flee the room. I still shiver a bit if I hear it, especially if I'm not prepared– I had a job at The Disney Store for a while, and one day someone played that song before we opened, causing me to yelp and jump across the store.

Because of the Siamese Cat Song and MICHAEL JACKSON's Thriller, there was definitely a period of my childhood in which I was terrified of all music. There was also definitely a nightmare involving being trapped in PEE-WEE'S PLAYHOUSE while all the furniture and puppets sang the Siamese Cat Song.

Here is the video for your convenience. I'm sure it will amuse you to know that I had to stop it less than 30 seconds in because it's nearly 2 a.m. and my husband isn't home. Better safe than screaming in my sleep.

UNK SEZ: Unfortunately Jillcs, it looks like we can't embed the English version… but no worries, the German one is even scarier! (The curious cats among you can find the English version HERE).