When my cat came back — Mandolin Tab

Mandolin tab and sheet music with synced audio · Harry S. Miller · Key of G · 120 BPM · 2/2 time · Old-timey · Beginner

Chords used in this arrangement: G, C, D7.

When my cat came back started out as a Tin Pan Alley novelty song at Christmas 1893, written by a guy named Harry S. Miller and popularized by Broadway impresario Tony Pastor, before old-time fiddlers grabbed it and made it their own. Fiddlin' Doc Roberts is the version most players in the old-time world trace back to, and his 1927 recording is the real template for what you're about to learn. Legend has it he learned it from an African-American fiddler named Owen Walker out of Madison County, Kentucky. One folklorist writing in the 1970s even noted it was "played by a few Missouri fiddlers in the early 1930's, but is seldom heard any more," so you're actually keeping something pretty rare alive by picking it up. The melody is straightforward and feels great on mandolin in G.

This page includes mandolin tablature, standard music notation, and a chord chart — printable as PDF and playable in sync with the original recording. Change the key, slow the tempo down, and loop the bars you want to practise.