The World Forgot

A couple of days  ago I mentioned my penchant for liking songs about cats.  I probably should’ve been more specific.  I should have mentioned I particularly like songs from the point of view of a cat.  Namely a certain Canadian cat who goes by the delightful moniker Virtute.  As far as my research team {er, me} is concerned Virtute first made her debut on the music scene with a song on The Weakerthans’ 2003 album Reconstruction Site (amazon) (itunes).  It was on this track where she {I assume she’s a she due to Virtute not generally being associate with male cats} lamented the depression of her owner.  She encouraged her owner to live life again.  To invite people and friends over and to forget the past and all those awkward emotions associated with it.  Her best line, “we’ll pass around the easy lie / of absolutely no regrets / and later maybe you could try / to let your losses dangle off / the sharp edge of a century / we’ll talk about the weather or / how the weather used to be.”

Apparently her pleading and good natured ribbing didn’t quite pull through for her lonesome owner.  On last year’s album by The Weakerthans, Reunion Tour (amazon) (itunes), Virtute the Cat again takes the stage and explains why, in the end she chose to leave.  There was a great big world out there and her curiosity simply could not be ignored anymore.  Maybe it was her owner’s depression, maybe he was just getting older, or maybe Virtute and her owner were too similar to share the same space for such a long time.  They both depended too heavily on each other as an emotional crutch and it wasn’t healthy in a long term situation.  In the end she’s ultimately sorry that she left, but she knew she had to go.  If you’re listening to this song the line to wait for is “but I can’t remember the sound that you found for me / I can’t remember the sound.”

mp3 : The Weakerthans - Plea from a Cat Named Virtute
mp3 : The Weakerthans - Virtute the Cat Explains Her Departure

I’m a huge fan of The Weakerthans {I chose their latest album as the second best release of 2007} and these two tracks illustrate a great point about the band.  They can take literally any subject matter and make it relevant to everyone.  And even while they’re making a universally understandable song they have a gift for making each thought, each emotion, each song apply in some unique way to each and every one of us that has had the pleasure of hearing their music.  Here’s to hoping that Virtute makes another appearance on their next project.

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