The Cat Came Back
(Tex Morton version)
Words & Music:
Harry S. Miller
Tex' version employs the chords from the original 19th
century version of the song. He
tends to use "Sprechstimme" (the classical music term for
"speaking the words") for some of the verses to give it a feel of
telling the story rather than singing the song.
INTRO:
A E7
A
D |---------|-----------------|----------------|
A |---------|---0-----2-------|---0-----0------|
E |-0--2--4-|-------0------0--|------0------0--|
Keep this alt. bass style going with your thumb while you
hit the chords on the off beats of 2 & 4.
A
Now, old Mr. Johnson had worries of his own.
A
E7
He had an old yeller cat that wouldn't leave home.
A
Tried everything he knew to do to keep the cat away.
A
He took him up to Canada and told him for to stay.
CHORUS:
E7 A
But the cat came back the very next day.
E7 A
The old cat came back; thought he was a goner,
D E7
A
But the cat came back; he wouldn't stay away.
Now, this cat was a terror, so they thought it was the best
To give him to a feller who was going out West.
Train ran around a curve and it hit a broken rail.
Not a blessed soul aboard the train lived to tell the tale.
CHORUS:
Now, they throwed him in a kennel where the dog was asleep.
And the bones o' cats lay piled in a heap.
That kennel burst open and the dog come out the side.
His ears chewed off and holes in his hide.
CHORUS:
Oh, they snuck into a shop when the butcher wasn't 'round.
And they throwed him in the hopper where the meat is ground.
The ol' cat disappeared with a blood-curdlin' shriek;
And the town's minced meat tasted furry for a week.
CHORUS:
[SPOKEN: "I like this bit, heh-heh!"]
Now, the farmer on the corner said he'd shoot the cat on
sight;
Loaded up his gun with nails and dynamite.
He waited in the garden 'til the cat came around.
Seven little pieces of the man was all they found.
CHORUS:
[SPOKEN: "Heh, how many lives does a cat have?"]
Well, they put him in a rocket ship headin' for the stars.
Got a message back sayin' "Landed up on Mars."
Said the men were doin' fine, and the monkey and the rat;
But they couldn't find a trace of the old yeller cat.
CHORUS: [new
words]
And the cat showed up the very next day.
The old cat came home; we don't know how he did it.
But the cat came back; he wouldn't stay away.
No, he wouldn't stay away.