The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

I know that when Paul McCartney wrote “Yesterdayâ€￾, the song was originally and temporarily entitled “Scrambled Eggsâ€￾. Is it true that when Burt and Hal wrote “What’s New Pussycatâ€￾, the song was temporarily entitled “What’s New Schnitzelbreathâ€￾? If this is true, was this Burt’s idea or was it Hal’s idea?

I have no info on the possible title "What's New, Schnitzelbreath?", but as someone who experienced the 1960s pop culture firsthand I have to say that that title has a ring of authenticity about it for the sort of farcical comedy Woody Allen & Co produced. Presumably, the movie's title song would take its title from the movie. Both "schnitzelbreath" and "pussycat" have three syllables and are accented identically, so they would be interchangeable in the song. Personally, I'm glad "pussycat" was used.

On the same subject, I just read that "What's New, Pussycat" is now available on DVD in Norway and Australia (but regionally encoded for those places). Maybe we will finally see it on DVD in the US before too long.