|
The Cat That Couldn’t Stay Away/ The Cat Came Back
Old-Time, Breakdown- USA; Ky., Missouri. "A Comic Negro Absurdity Minstrel Song" Words and Music by Harry S. Miller (1893)
ARTIST: From AGNES AMELIA RANSOM BURTON (1886 - 1969) Compiled & Edited by Lynn Ransom Burton;
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- Learned by Agnes Burton before 1900- A dance tune. A childhood favorite of the compiler of the Agnes Burton collection (born 1925).
Old Mister Johnson had troubles of his own
He had an old yellow cat that couldn't leave his home
He gave it to a preacher, and told it for to stay
But the cat came back, the very next day.
Chorus: O, the cat came back when they thought he was a goner,
O, the cat came back, cause he couldn't stay away,
O, the cat came back, cause he couldn't stay no longer,
O, the cat came back, the very next day.
Old Mister Johnson thought it would be best
So he gave him to a *man who was going way out West,
The train, going round a curve, struck a broken rail
And not a man that board that train was left to tell the tale.
Chorus: O, the cat came back when they thought he was a goner,
O, the cat came back, cause he couldn't stay away,
O, the cat came back, cause he couldn't stay no longer,
O, the cat came back, the very next day.
Old Mister Johnson thought he'd shoot him out of sight
So he loaded up his musket with nails and dynamite,
He laid around the corner 'til the cat came around
But a half a dozen pieces of the man was all they found.
Chorus: O, the cat came back when they thought he was a goner,
O, the cat came back, cause he couldn't stay away,
O, the cat came back, cause he couldn't stay no longer,
O, the cat came back, the very next day.
Mister Johnson gave him to a man in a balloon
And told him for to give him to the man up in the moon,
The balloon, it bursted, so the people say,
And pieces of the man was found a thousand miles away.
Chorus: O, the cat came back when they thought he was a goner,
O, the cat came back, cause he couldn't stay away,
O, the cat came back, cause he couldn't stay no longer,
O, the cat came back, the very next day.
*edited for offensive racial language
|