cats & songs
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C A T Spells Popoki. This Hawaiian song also lists dogs, rats, donkeys, monkeys, boys, girls & old men. But the title says Cat, in 2 languages. Does it count twice?Paul
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General mountain dulcimer or music discussions
C A T Spells Popoki. This Hawaiian song also lists dogs, rats, donkeys, monkeys, boys, girls & old men. But the title says Cat, in 2 languages. Does it count twice?Paul
cats & songs
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There's a great old Missouri fiddle tune called "Cat On A Leash". Here's a link to an mp3 file of it: http://home.comcast.net/~wefiddle1/mp3/catonaleash.mp3
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I love the version of Moggie that Sweetwater has on their Sing No Evil funny-songs album.Here's a link to a great article on cats in songs, with some titles we've missed: http://www.best-cat-art.com/songs-about-cats.html
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I don't remember the music to this one, but I have heard it sung.A cat cam fiddlinOot o a barn,Wi a pair o bagpipesUnder her arm.She cud sing naething but'Fiddle cum fee,The moose has mairritThe bumble bee.'Pipe cat,Dance moose,We'll hae a waddinAt oor guid hoose.
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I was hoping somebody (else) would remember the poignant "Nobody's Moggy;" and that has come to pass. But since Flint Hill only posted the sheet music, here's the audio of a performance by its Down Under creators. A very sad tale. "The Intoxicated Rat," often credited to Doc Watson and nearly as often to Cisco Houston, is I believe by Dorsey Dixon, of The Dixon Brothers. May be mistaken about that; anyway, I'm sure it was recorded before Watson came along. The plot has to do with a rodent who gets drunk -- and belligerent about cats, until one actually shows up -- at which time he quickly gets sober."Pinkle Purr" by A.A. Milne has latterly been set to music at least a couple of times, but I don't know if the music is good. The poem is.
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The sad civil war cat song Poor Kitty Popcorn by Henry Clay Work.The old-school and politically incorrect Dead Cats on the Line , sung here by Vassar Clements.Rosalie Sorrels does cat songs: "Mehitabel's Theme" and "Always a Lady". Oscar Brand did a whole album about cats.And who could forget Eric Bogle's He's Nobody's Moggy Now ? (Even if you'd like to forget it.)Mean Black Cat by Robert Lee McCoy, ca 1937.Not to be missed is Riley Puckett's wonderful, deadpan version of The Cat Came Back .A personal favorite is Ralph Stanley's The Kitten and the Cat . The link goes to iTunes. Scroll down and click the link to hear a sample.
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Does it have to be published? I have a little song that I sing to Tigger to lull him to sleep.
He's a Tigger, he's a Tigger, he's our little Tigger boyHe's a Tigger, he's a Tigger, He's our pride and our joy.I love my Tigger, love my Tigger, I love my little Tigger catI love my Tigger, love my Tigger, though sometimes he's a brat!Several other verse along this line, sung to the tune of Oh My Darling Clementine. Tigger has been known to fall asleep in my arms while being sung to.
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Here's my version of "The Old Black Cat Couldn't Catch a Rat". It was, however, played on a "dog dulcimer" so you might hear some barking in the background.
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I nearly went catatonic trying to think of a cat song - what a catastrophe!If lions count, then Bruce Cockburn's "Wondering Where the Lions Are" is one.If you want a "shared" song, Henry Thomas (by John Sebastian, recorded on Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful) has the line "Dig the dog the cat dragged in"!That song from Lady and the Tramp went: "We are Siamese if you please. We are Siamese if you don't please. We are former residents of Siam, and there is no finer cat than I am." I disagree. Our two, Schrodinger (named after a nuclear physicist) and Shelby (a.k.a. Schlubby), would say that grey polydactils are best.
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Rag time!!!!!The Pussy Cat RagThe Black Cat Rag
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This is waaay harder than dog songs & tunes! I guess people just get sappier about dogs. :)With all the lonesome turtledoves flying from pine to pine, can you believe a cat never figured into that equation? There's a bunch of songs right there. :) And I can't believe there aren't a million songs that have cats and mice figuring into them some way. After all, how many cats have saved farmers from having all their grain looted by evil mice??? Someone should right this wrong and give cats their due! :)Harry Chapin's "Cats in the Cradle" comes to mind. Though "Gray Cat on a Tennessee Farm" is the only cat tune I play on dulcimer, I'd be happy to learn more tunes that feature felines. :)
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There's a fiddle tune played by esteemed fiddler Edden (or "Edn") Hammons of West Virginia, found on the Edden Hammons Collection: http://www.mustrad.org.uk/reviews/hammons2.htm it has the rather indelicate title of "Old Black Cat S**t in the Shavings"....the title always make me laugh. =8-o LOL
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I've never tried it, but I bet "And the Mouse Police Never Sleeps" by Jethro Tull could be arranged for dulcimer...
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Thought of a couple more Old Black Cat Couldn't Catch a Rat (Don Pedi recorded it). Does "The Lion Sleeps tonight" count as a cat song? :-)
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And then there's "How Much is that Kitty in the Window?"Oh, wait a minute...maybe not..... :(
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There's an old fiddle tune that Buddy Thomas played called "Kitty Puss". You can click on it here to hear a bit of it: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0010VJ1E4/ref=dm_mu_dp_trk11 My husband Brian plays it on fiddle and let me tell you it is REALLY HARD to play banjo to! It keeps modulating between different keys and uses some weird minor notes too. Yikes!I can do it, but what kills me is when Brian picks it as the very first tune we do in a gig when I haven't even warmed up yet. =8-o I always get mad when he does that. LOL
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The Cat Came Back!!!!!!!!!!!And that old favorite, Pussy Cat Pussy Cat Where Have You Been?
cats & songs
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Gray Cat on a Tennessee Farm, Sadie at the Back Door
cats & songs
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Ok, so Robin made a thread of songs that have dogs in them.
It might not have as many, but....
I demand equal time for CAT songs and tunes!!! LOL
Anyone know some cat tunes?.... :)
updated by @strumelia: 07/31/23 09:18:10PM
Suzanne, we'd need to know the scale/VSL length of your dulcimer (distance in inches, from nut to bridge).
updated by @strumelia: 02/10/16 11:52:23AM
dogs & songs
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Randall, it's a good one and you do it up right. I appreciate your posting the link.
Randall McKinnon said:
I just uploaded the entire song on my website-- www.randallmckinnon.com . You'll find it under the "Music" tab...Hope you enjoy it!
Robin Thompson said:Randall,
Never too late to add a good dog song!
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Randall,
Never too late to add a good dog song!
dogs & songs
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Back in the 20s, Cliff Edwards, known as "Ukulele Ike," sang a song called "My Dog Loves Your Dog."Some of the lyrics go:Look how she pets himAnd look how she lets himPlay around the wayI'd like to play with youChows and Pekinese who have pedigreesAre crazy over my houndBut your little mutt simply got him nutsAnd he gladly gave her his last piece of liver 'causeMy dog loves your dogYour dog loves my dogIf our doggies love each otherWhy can't we?
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Yeah, that song's a killer.That's the part of farming that breaks your heart.
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EmLee, thanks for giving me the name James King and the Echo Mountain title-- I think that may have been the song I heard on radio.Paul, what to say about Barney? Powerful. Thanks for the link
dogs & songs
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I've been known to play Old Rattler , mostly on banjo, though. I did work up a dulcimer version of this horse song, Barney. I played it once at a late jam at Buckeye Dulcimer Festival, but it didn't seem to go over too well. One comment was on the order of "What a weird song." I guess if a person never cried at Old Shep, or the end of Old Yeller, Barney might seem weird. I've never played that one in public since that night. If ya can't cry at a good tear-jerker about dogs, cats, etc, you must have a hole in your soul. Better get that looked at.Paul
dogs & songs
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I'm surprised no one has mentioned the adventures of Ilene, The Two Legged Dog , as recorded by Cindy Funk of Sweetwater. Based in part on the story of a real dog named Skeezix, which she saw on TV.Hop around, hop around Ilene,Hop around just like a frog.Of legs she's got half,Please try not to laugh,At Ilene the two-legged dog.
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That's it! I must have Doc's version on vinyl somewhere, because I couldn't find in in my CD/iTunes collection. Not knowing the name of that song was driving me crazy. Now I can sleep tonight.D.T. Flint Hill said:
Good one!
I believe that forlorn doggie was last seen in the song Life Gets Teejus, Don't It ?
Cal Tinney did a popular version in the late 1940s and Doc Watson did a live recording in the early 1970s.
dogs & songs
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Good one!I believe that forlorn doggie was last seen in the song Life Gets Teejus, Don't It ?Cal Tinney did a popular version in the late 1940s and Doc Watson did a live recording in the early 1970s.
dogs & songs
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"Hound dog howlin', he's so forlorn,The laziest dog that ever was born.He's a howlin' so 'cause he's a sitting on a thornAnd he's just too tired to roll over."That comes from some Doc Watson tune whose name I can't remember.And I heard years ago that the Beatles song "Martha My Dear" was about Paul's English sheepdog.Fun stuff.D.T.
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Certainly no dog ever bit a baby in an OT tune.
dogs & songs
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Mary Z Cox posted this "Old Blue" on YouTube-- and she's playing her new Paul Conrad-made Timbre Hill dulcimer:
dogs & songs
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I mentioned this one on the cat post: "Henry Thomas" by John Sebastian, from the late 1966 album "Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful".My cat - dragged in - through the door - one fine mornOn its back - ears hungForty pounds of feet and tongue.Ooh wee, my dear Henry, dig the dog the cat dragged in.Can't fight - won't bite - has bugs - eats rugsSmells flowers - sleeps hoursGrowing like a dinosaur.There's a slide whistle solo. Go figure!(The late Zal Yanovsky, lead guitarist for the Spoonful, and quite likely the slide whistle player, moved to Kingston and opened a great gourmet restaurant, Chez Piggy, which is now run by his daughter, as well as Pan Chancho Bakery, both in historic buildings. Zal was quite the character in this town.)
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Thanks Flint! Here's a picture of my dulcimer "Ellie" that I played the tune on. You can see why it is an appropriate instrument for a song about an old yellow dog.
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This really cooks, Phil. Like it a lot.It's striking to me how some old-time tunes sound like baroque French dance music when they're played on the dulcimer. I think it's the pacing and the implied harmony of the chords. A lot of those old gavottes and minuets started out as "country music" or turned into country music as they trickled down from the French court to the villages. Whatever, this sounds really rustic and pretty.
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Here's my version of Old Yellow Dog. It probably should go faster but I tried it both ways and kinda like this one better.
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Goodnight Little Cowup is my favorite sweet, sappy, country dog song. It's by Stephanie Davis, who has three Australian Shepherds.