The Cat Came Back (Live 1948)

Lyrics

[Intro Stage Banter: (Cliffie Stone), Merle Travis] (Boy with-a smilin' pretty teeth, and those nice Irish eyes) Ah, thank you, Cliff (Yeah he is, Curly, he is) I'll tell my dentist about what you said about my teeth And I'll tell my optometrist explicitly what you said about my eyes (It-it's not op-optometri-pus, Merle, it's optimist, I mean optome–, um, alright forget it) Anyway, they got eight legs, and I think (Yeah, no, they fix your eyes) (You go ahead, and what are you gonna sing?) Sing about Mister Johnson's cat (Alright) This is Mister Johnson over here [Verse] Old Mister Johnson had trouble of his own He had an old yeller cat that wouldn't leave his home Tried everything he knew to keep the cat away He gave him to Cliffie and told him fer to stay [Chorus] But the cat come back, they thought he was a goner But the cat come back 'cause he couldn't stay away The cat come back, hooray for Mister Johnson But the cat come back on the very next day [Verse] Well, the man on the corner swore he'd kill the cat on sight He loaded up his musket with nails and dyneemite He waited on the corner fer the cat to come around Half-a-dozen little pieces of the man was all they found [Chorus] But the cat come back, they thought he was a goner But the cat come back 'cause he couldn't stay away The cat come back, hooray for Mister Johnson Well, the cat come back on the very next day [Verse] Well, a little boy took him with a forty-dollar note To the middle of the river in a little open boat He tied a rock around his neck, it weighed forty pounds Now they fishin' in the river fer a little boy that's drowned [Chorus] But the cat come back, they thought he was a goner But the cat come back 'cause he couldn't stay away The cat come back, hooray for Mister Johnson Well, the cat come back on the very next day [Verse] Well, the cat, he was a terror, and they thought it was the best To give him to a feller that was goin' out West The train was goin' around a curve, struck a broken rail Not a single soul aboard the train was left to tell the tale [Chorus] But the cat come back, they thought he was a goner But the cat come back on the very next day Well, the cat come back, hooray for Mister Johnson But the cat come back 'cause he couldn't stay away [Verse] Oh, Mister Johnson gave him to a man in a balloon He told him fer to give him to the man in the moon The balloon, it busted, and everybody said It was forty miles away or more, they picked the man up dead [Chorus] But the cat come back, they thought he was a goner But the cat come back 'cause he couldn't stay away The cat come back, hooray for Mister Johnson But the cat come back on the very next day