Long before it became a staple of 1960s pop music, the phrase that launched Tom Jones’ sultriest hit wasn’t written in a studio.
Instead, it was pulled straight from the playbook of one of cinema’s biggest playboys. While the singer initially had his doubts about taking on the track, the story behind its signature line proved to be as wild as the Hollywood social scene that inspired it.
The phrase “What’s New Pussycat” was lifted straight from actor Warren Beatty‘s phone calls, reported Medium. The outlet wrote, “[Warren] would wake up, day or night, and get on the phone, and call everyone he knew, starting each conversation (with a woman) with “’What’s new Pussycat?’”
Film producer Charles Feldman immediately claimed the line as the title for his upcoming film, loosely based on the actor’s romantic exploits. Beatty dropped out of the movie before filming began, but the 1965 screwball comedy, starring Peter O’Toole, Peter Sellers, and written by and starring Woody Allen, kept the famous title and was a big hit.
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But Beatty learned a valuable lesson from his experiences with the film. He told Deadline, “I learned a big lesson, which was, you better be in charge. And that’s when I said, ‘OK, I’m going to do this Bonnie and Clyde thing, and I can only fire myself or walk out on myself, or whatever.”
Ultimately, What’s New Pussycat needed a soundtrack, and Burt Bacharach and Hal David were hired to pen the title track. Bacharach wanted Jones to sing the movie’s theme.
Speaking about “What’s New Pussycat,” Jones told Rolling Stone, he wasn’t initially sold on the tune. “When Burt convinced me to do that song, it took a while,” he explained.
Jones added, “He did say, ‘This is not a rhythm & blues song.’ Soul music had kicked in by then, and I wanted to do Wilson Pickett songs, Solomon Burke, Sam and Dave, and Otis Redding. But I wasn’t getting the songs.”
Still, Jones recognized a golden opportunity: the song’s playful swagger fit his rising sex symbol image like a glove. Throwing his full vocal power behind the track, he recalled his mindset going into the studio: “I thought, ‘I’m going to punch the s*** out of it on ‘What’s New Pussycat?'”
He continued, “Burt said, ‘That’s what I want. It’s a crazy song for a crazy film. I have to have a voice of authority.’ It’s sort of a backhanded compliment: ‘I’ve got to have you, but this is the song,'” he says with a laugh.
The gamble paid off. “What’s New Pussycat?” exploded into a top-three hit on the Billboard Hot 100. It remained on the chart for 12 weeks and remains a Tom Jones classic.
Related: 1968’s Controversial Classic, Written in Two Hours, Remains One of Tom Jones’ Most Beloved Songs
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