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The Cat Came Back (Version 6)
Old-Time, Breakdown- USA; Ky., Missouri. "A Comic Negro Absurdity Minstrel Song" Words and Music by Harry S. Miller (1893)
ARTIST: As recorded by Marais and Miranda;
SHEET MUSIC: Cat Came Back arranged Richard Matteson
Listen: Sonny James- Cat Came Back (w/vocal) 1956
Listen: Laurie Berkner- Cat Came Back (w/vocal)
MP3: Fiddle Instrumental by Doc Roberts 1927
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes; DATE: 1893;
RECORDING INFO: Fiddlin' John Carson, "And The Cat Came Back" (Okeh 40119, 1924); Riley Puckett, "The Cat Came Back" (Decca 5442, 1937); Fiddlin' Doc Roberts, "And The Cat Came Back" (instrumental) (Challenge 307, 1927; Silvertone 8179, 1928); Marimac AHS #3, Glen Smith - "Say Old Man" (1990. Learned from Tommy Jackson). Morning Star 45005, Doc Roberts - "Way Down South in Dixie" (Learned from Madison County, Ky., African-American fiddler Owen Walker {b. 1857), a well-known local entertainer). Moore, Lee. Everybody's Favorite, Rural Rhythm RRLM 202, LP (197?), cut#B.01; Osborne, Uncle Charlie (Charlie N.). Seedtime on the Cumberland. Sampler 1990-91, June Appal JA 0067C, Cas (1992), cut# 3; Osborne, Uncle Charlie (Charlie N.). 100 Years Farther On, June Appal JA 0064C, Cas (199?), cut# 8; Williams, Doc. Doc Williams, New and Old Favorites, Wheeling WLPS-7272, LP (196?), cut#B.03
OTHER NAMES: "And The Cat Came Back;" “Cat”
SOURCES: Fiddler J. C. Owens-Fiddler’s Three (Cat Came Back) (a master of various fiddling styles of the upstate South Carolina) Doc Roberts (Ky.) [Reiner & Anick]; Kevin Wimmer [Phillips]. R.P. Christeson (Old Time Fiddlers Repertory, Vol. 1), 1973; pg. 8. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), 1994; pg. 15. Reiner & Anick (Old-Time Fiddling Across America), 1989; pg. 98. Randolph 444, "The Cat Came Back;" Spaeth-ReadWeep, p. 147, "The Cat Came Back;" Silber-FSWB, p. 400, Herren, Ruth Burton. Sweet Bunch of Daisies, Colonial Press, Bk (1991), p 68;
NOTES: "The Cat Came Back", a song written by Henry S. Miller in 1893 is included in my new book, Acoustic Music Source Book, published by Mel Bay. At some point in the 1960s-1970s the lyrics were wed to the chord progression Em/D/C/B7 found in songs like "Sixteen Tons" by Merle Travis. This is the way I play it and you can listen to Laurie Berkner's version (above) that uses the minor chord progression.
There are a variety of online versions at the Max Hunter and Wolff Folklore collections, some with notes and chords. There are a variety of lyric version (many included here), several which even have the cat blown up by an atomic bomb.
Notes from Kuntz: "G Major (Phillips, Reiner & Anick): A Major (Christeson). Standard, AEAE, ADAE. AABBCC (Phillips): AA'BB'CC' (Reiner & Anick). Christeson (1973) notes: "Played by a few Missouri fiddlers in ... the early 1930's but is seldom heard any more." (Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc).
CAT CAME BACK-Marais and Miranda
Old Mr. Johnson had trouble all his own
He had a yellow cat that wouldn't leave his home
He tried in every way to keep that cat away
Took him up to Canada and told him for to stay
But the cat came back the very next day
The cat came back, they thought he was a goner
But the cat came back, he just wouldn't stay away
On a telegraph wire the birds were sitting in a bunch
He saw an even number, said he'd have 'em for his lunch
Climbed softly up the pole until he reached the top
Put his foot upon the 'lectric wire, tied him in a knot
But the cat came back the very next day
The cat came back, they thought he was a goner
But the cat came back, he just wouldn't stay away
This cat had company out in the backyard
Somebody threw a boot and threw it awful hard
Hit the cat behind the ear and he thought it was a slight
And down came a brick and knocked him out of sight
But the cat came back the very next day
The cat came back, they thought he was a goner
But the cat came back, he just wouldn't stay away
They threw him in the kennel where the dog was asleep
And the bones of cats lay piled in a heap
That kennel burst apart and the dog flew out the side
With his ears chewed off and holes in his hide
But the cat came back the very next day
The cat came back, they thought he was a goner
But the cat came back, he just wouldn't stay away
They sneaked him in a shop with the butcher not around
And they dropped him in the hopper where the meat was ground
The cat despaired with a blood-curdling shriek
And that shop's hamburger tasted furry for a week
But the cat came back the very next day
The cat came back, they thought he was a goner
But the cat came back, he just wouldn't stay away
They put him in a cotton sack and gave him to a girl
Who'd started on a bicycle all around the world
Well, over there in China a terrible wreak was found
She's singing now in heaven with the angels all around
But the cat came back the very next day
The cat came back, they thought he was a goner
But the cat came back, he just wouldn't stay away
Now this cat was a terror and they thought it would be best
To give him to a feller who was going way out west
Train ran round a curve and hit a broken rail
Not a blessed soul aboard that train lived to tell the tale
But the cat came back the very next day
The cat came back, they thought he was a goner
But the cat came back, he just wouldn't stay away
The cat was a possessor of a family all its own
With seven little kittens till there was a cyclone
Blew the houses all apart and tossed the cat around
The air was full of kittens and not a one was found
But the cat came back the very next day
The cat came back, they thought he was a goner
But the cat came back, he just wouldn't stay away
Away across the ocean they did send the cat at last
Vessel only out a day and taking water fast
People all began to pray, the boat began to toss
A great big gust of wind came by and every soul was lost
But the cat came back the very next day
The cat came back, they thought he was a goner
But the cat came back, he just wouldn't stay away
They gave the cat to a man in a balloon
And told him to give him to the man in the moon
But the balloon it busted and everybody said
Ten miles away they picked the man up dead
But the cat came back the very next day
The cat came back, they thought he was a goner
But the cat came back, he just wouldn't stay away
At last they found a way this cat to really fix
They put him in an orange crate on highway 66
Come a ten ton truck with a twenty ton load
Scattered pieces of that orange crate a mile down the road
But the cat came back the very next day
The cat came back, they thought he was a goner
But the cat came back, he just wouldn't stay away
They put him on a boat bound for Sidneytown
They thought with all that rain there he'd surely drowned
When the rain came down for the 92nd day
That whole darn city just a floated out the bay
But the cat came back the very next day
The cat came back, they thought he was a goner
But the cat came back, he just wouldn't stay away
The farmer on the corner said he'd shoot that cat on sight
Loaded up his shotgun full of nails and dynamite
And he hid in the garden till the cat came round
But 97 pieces of that man were all they found
But the cat came back the very next day
The cat came back, they thought he was a goner
But the cat came back, he just wouldn't stay away
They put him on the White House lawn, I'll tell the reason why
With all the golfballs flying, they thought he'd surely die
Well the very next morning, what do you think they found
64 squirrels lying dead upon the ground
But the cat came back the very next day
The cat came back, they thought he was a goner
But the cat came back, he just wouldn't stay away
Gave him to a little boy with a dollar note
Who was going out to sea in an open boat
They tied a rock around his neck, it must have weighed a pound
Now they're dragging up the river, cause the little boy was drowned
But the cat came back the very next day
The cat came back, they thought he was a goner
But the cat came back, he just wouldn't stay away
They took him down to Cape Canaveral and they put him into place
And they shot him in a satellite way up into space
They thought that the cat was beyond human reach
And then they got a phone call from Miami Beach
But the cat came back the very next day
The cat came back, they thought he was a goner
But the cat came back, he just wouldn't stay away
An H bomb fell just the other day,
A bomb fell in the very same way
Russia went, England went, then the USA
The whole human race gone without a chance to pray
But the cat came back the very next day
The cat came back, they thought he was a goner
But the cat came back, he just wouldn't stay away
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