You Will Not Believe The Story Behind This Iconic Friends Song
Who would've thought it wasn't about a cat at all?
Although just about every time Lisa Kudrow appears on screen, it means another hilarious moment is in store, many viewers are especially fond of her musical performances.
Smelly Cat is probably the most iconic of them all, with people all over the world still quoting it without even knowing how funny the song's origins are.
First of all, let's be clear: there never was a Smelly Cat. The song is dedicated to none other than Gouda, a dog owned by Betsy Borns, the head writer of the season 2 episode in which the song is first mentioned.
According to Borns herself, the dog was so smelly that it was even named after the smell.
However, Borns, along with another writer Adam Chase, is only credible for the name of the song, which also created a general idea of what it might be about.
The actual lyrics, which are probably playing over and over in your head as you read this, are the work of a collaborative effort.
Sometimes late at night, when everyone was having fun after a long day of writing, the lyrics somehow fell into the perfect order.
Friends co-creator David Crane and Jeff Astrof came up with the opening lines "Smelly cat, smelly cat, what are they feeding you?" and "Smelly cat, smelly cat, it's not your fault," respectively, and the rest was pure writing magic.
The music is where Lisa Kudrow herself came in. And from what we can all see as the end result, the actress was able to put the song together perfectly.
Her performance was so outstanding that the song Smelly Cat became such a pop culture phenomenon that it is still talked about today.
Since its first appearance on the big screen, the song has been sung by stars like Lady Gaga in the Friends reunion and Taylor Swift live on stage at one of the shows on her The 1989 World Tour.
If you want to revisit the show and remember its in-universe origins, you can stream Friends on Netflix or Max.
Source: Friends with Friends Podcast