The Cat Came Back

J brought us a New York Times press clipping today about Holly, a four year old housecat who was lost in Daytona Beach in early November.  She turned up a mile from her owners home on December 31.  Happy New Year.



Holly traveled over 2000 miles in about a month and a half and would probably have made it home to her house if she hadn't have been found first.  Science has no explanation for the feat.  The cat was emaciated, weak and showed signs of bloody foot pads.  There was no doubt as to Holly being the lost cat.  A chip implant in her that proved her identity beyond suspicion.

How did Holly do it?  Did she have excessive street smarts?  Could she read animal clues?  Or cars?  Or was she perhaps just a good hunter?  Science has little data on cat navigation.  Perhaps someone will get a government grant to do a study on the subject.  As far as we're concerned here at Table 54, this is old news.  There was a popular folk song back in the sixties sang by the New Christy Minstrels called:

The Cat Came Back

Meow, meow, meow

Now, just like everybody, you've got troubles of your own
But let me tell you, mister, of the sorrow I have known.
I had an old, gray cat that I couldn't bear to keep.
He spent the nights a-howlin' and he wouldn't let me sleep.

So I put him in a box and I tied it up quite well.
I had some fellas help me and I paid them not to tell.
They put it in a boxcar, on the westbound 710.
The train pulled away and was never seen again.

But the cat came back the very next day,
Yes, the cat came back and he wouldn't stay away.
Meow, kitty.  Meow, so pretty.
Meow, such a pity, but the cat came back.

We took him to the harbor and we put him on a ship.
We bid him, "Bon voyage," for that oceanic trip.
The captain was obliging and glad to help us out.
They tied him to the anchor so that there could be no doubt.

Well, we heard the sad report of that mighty storm at sea.
And, though it may sound heartless, I was happy as can be.
The paper said the ship went down beneath a heavy gale
And not a single soul was left to tell the awful tale.

But the cat came back the very next day,
Yes, the cat came back and he wouldn't stay away.
Meow, kitty.  Meow, so pretty.
Meow, such a pity, but the cat came back.

Then we gave him to a scientist destined for the moon.
The cat was used for ballast in an outer space balloon.
I guess you know what happened, that balloon is up there still.
And early that next morning, guess what came across the hill.

Meow, that's right.

Now, everyone in town was sworn to shoot that cat on sight.
With that crazy cat around, you couldn't sleep at night.
We even formed a posse just to hunt that critter down.
You could hear the guns a-blazin' as we ran him out of town.

But the cat came back the very next day,
Yes, the cat came back and he wouldn't stay away.
Meow, kitty.  Meow, so pretty.
Meow, such a pity, but the cat came back.

Here's the moral to our story: When looking for a friend,
If you get an old, gray cat, he's yours until the end.
You'll never drag him off, no matter what you do.
Bear in mind this dreadful tale that we have told to you.

But the cat came back the very next day,
Yes, the cat came back and he wouldn't stay away.
Meow, kitty.  Meow, so pretty.
Meow, such a pity, but the cat came back.

The Cat Came Back is a comic song written by Harry S. Miller in 1893 with slightly different lyrics than those sang by the New Christy Minstrels.  It has since entered the folk tradition and different variations of the title have also appeared as children's songs.

The first commercial recording of The Cat Came Back was by Fiddlin' John Carson in April 1924.  Other early recordings include one by Doc Philipine and "Fiddlin' Doc" Roberts,  on November 13, 1925.

- Y