Friends of the Working Mouse

Friends of the Working Mouse is a villain song sung by Mr. Toplofty, Mr. Grasping and Mr. O'Bloat in An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island. They sing it after coming up with an evil plan to get their factory workers on their side by giving them a common enemy; the Lenape Mice. They hope that this plan will result in their workers becoming more loyal, and that they won't complain when they force the workers to increase their output without getting a raise in pay. Meanwhile, Chief McBrusque and Scuttlebutt look on in slight bewilderment as their bosses sing and dance.

The song was written by William Anderson and performed by Ron Perlman, Tony Jay, and Richard Karron.

Lyrics

Mr. Grasping: My colleagues, gather round, please

Since you and I all know

That if our mice keep working,

Our profit's sure to grow!

Mr. O'Bloat: I really like to see them sweat

It makes me calm and cool

Mr. Toplofty And while they're grateful for the pay,

We're thankful they're poor

ALL: Friends of the working mouse!

Grasping: We're such a happy family

Our workers are the best!

O'Bloat: And while they put in overtime

We'll just take a little rest!

Toplofty: We've got it all together now

We're in for the long haul

Grasping: So a toast to them, let's give a cheer

While they are slaving for us all

ALL: Friends of the working mouse!

Friends of the working mouse!

O'Bloat: (spoken)  Oh yeah, we're, like, friends of you workin' mices and stuff.

Grasping: We know

They want to make a show

Of their aspirations

So come on

We can help, you know

Meet their expectations

ALL: Hey, ho!

The only limit is our imagination

Heave ho!

It's off to work they go

It's their true salvation

Maybe...

O'Bloat: We really ought to see them here each and every day

Grasping: So even when they need time off, we do insist they stay

Toplofty: With their noses to the grindstone since they want to keep their jobs

O'Bloat: We keep 'em workin sharp, our mice, while we just act like slobs

Grasping: Yes, we will rightly steer them on our short and steady course!

Toplofty: We're only here to help them down our chosen path, of course! You see, we're

ALL: Friends of the working mouse!

O'Bloat: Trust us!

ALL: Friends of the working mouse!

Friends of the working mouse!

Trivia

• The verse "Heave ho, it's off to work they go" is a reference to the musical number Heigh-Ho from Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.