| "The Cat Came Back" | |
Cover, sheet music, 1893 |
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| Written by | Harry S. Miller |
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| Published | 1893 |
| Language | English |
"The Cat Came Back" (originally published as "The Cat Came Back: A Nigger Absurdity") is a comic song written by Harry S. Miller[1] in 1893. "The Cat Came Back" has since entered the folk tradition and been recorded under variations of the title—"But the Cat Came Back", "And the Cat Came Back", etc. It is also a popular children's song.
The song is humorous in nature, telling a silly tale about "ole Mister Johnson" who had an "ole yaller cat" that he did not want, and when he tried to get rid of the cat, the cat kept coming back:
But the cat came back, he couldn't stay no long-er,
Yes the cat came back de very next day,
the cat came back—thought she were a goner,
But the cat came back for it wouldn't stay away.
In Miller's original, the cat finally died when an organ grinder came around one day and:
De cat look'd around awhile an' kinder raised her head
When he played Ta-rah-dah-boom-da-rah, an' de cat dropped dead.
Even then the cat's ghost came back.
The first commercial recording of "The Cat Came Back" was by Fiddlin' John Carson (OKeh 40119) in April 1924. Other early recordings include one by Philippine Fiddlin' Doc Roberts ("And The Cat Came Back The Very Next Day", Gennett 3235), on November 13, 1925.
The song was used as the basis for the 1988 short animated film The Cat Came Back by Cordell Barker.
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The song is often used to teach children the concepts of rhythm and tempo. It is an excellent example in this regard, because of the strong and consistent beat pattern, combined with amusing and humorous lyrics. Additionally, especially the minor key versions of the song, have a compelling effect with regards to perception of tempo.
Like many children's songs, the song has a very strong well-defined beat pattern. It consists of one weak beat, one strong beat, so it is often sung in 2/4 time.
Thus it can be (and often is) sung while walking, with, for example, strong beats when the left foot hits the ground and weak beats when the right foot hits the ground.
There are many versions of the song. In one, the cat is yellow. One version goes something like:
Now old Mr. Johnson had some troubles of his own,
He had a scarlet cat that just wouldn't leave his home,
He tried and he tried to give the cat away,
He gave it to a man going far far away.
But the cat came back the very next day,
The cat came back, we thought he was a goner,
The cat came back, he just wouldn't stay away.
But the cat came back he wouldn't stay away,
He was sitting on the porch the very next day.
Every second beat is emphasized (emphasized beats are shown underlined in bold).
Each line of text in the above has eight beats, and usually the chords fall (piano) or begin (organ) on the capitalized words.
The chord progression repeats every 8 beats, so one might think of the song as being in either 2/ time or 8/ time (whichever denominator you use for reference time, i.e. 2/4 or 8/4 time if the beat is a quarter note, etc.). The pattern of 2/ and 8/ is very similar to the beat pattern in Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, but phase-shifted by 180 degrees (since the song starts on a weak beat rather than the strong beat beginning of Twinkle Twinkle).
The song helped launch the career of children's entertainer Fred Penner. He has used the song as part of a medley that includes the tune heard in Hit the Road Jack with lyrics changed to "Hit the Road Cat".
As with many simple children's songs, it is often desired to have the number of beats be a power of two, so the first verse plus the chorus takes up, for example, 64 beats, so it is often nice to put some kind of instrumental or improvised section at the end of the chorus to make it fit nicely into 64 rather than 56 beats for one verse plus one run of the chorus. Alternatively an 8-beat rest (zero padding) may be inserted and the end of the chorus.
Many versions are in a major key, but there are some versions that are also in a minor key. The chord progression for many of the minor-key versions is Am, G, F, E.
The additional verses often have a notable variation in melody but with the same chords. For example the second verse often shoots up an octave to emphasize the words "dynamite" and "found" (each sung an octave above the first note of the song, which is "E" if the song is sung in the key of A-minor), even though the first verse does not shoot up that way.
The third verse often contains a descending scale that does not appear in the first or second verses.
Also, the second line of the chorus "thought he was a goner" is often sung either off-key (deliberately), or just spoken (not sung), or includes chirps or quarter tones (notes that fall between semitones). In some versions the chirps can be approximated by a chromatic glissando.
The chord progression lends itself exceptionally well to a bass line that's natural minor descending, and harmonic minor ascending, i.e. in the key of A-minor, the 8 beats (in 8/ time) would play out as A, A, G, G, F, F, E, G#
Additionally, the bass line may be played as melodic minor (i.e. including both an F# and a G# on the way up). This second variation is very effective in teaching children the concept of a melodic minor scale, since melodic minor otherwise occurs so seldom in simple children's songs.
Although the Barker animation does not involve many spoken lyrics, relying more on its animation to show the action, both spoken verses, as shown here, are different than other versions:
Now, old Mr. Johnson had troubles of his own.
He had a yellow cat that wouldn't leave his home!
A special plan with deception as the key.
One little cat—how hard could it be?
and
Well, old Mr. Johnson had troubles of his own.
Still the yellow cat wouldn't leave his home!
Steps were needed to remove the little curse.
The old man knew it couldn't get any worse.