Down & Dirty Dog Gone Cat Scratchin’ Blues
So many of us have critters hanging around the home place. I’ve often wondered if mine each have their own, personal musical preferences.
When I see my adopted greyhounds or cats in a particularly joyous or the odd sullen mood, I wonder if they, like the rest of us, might have a musical soundtrack playing in their heads to get them through the day (or through the night, as is so often the case). Since mine are all adopted, I have no idea what
had influenced their particular musical tastes prior to finding their way to me, but I’m getting a sense of what they like. One thing I do know…animals do appreciate music!
When I’m listening to a Folk Alley stream, invariably, my Lacy will sidle up beside me when a tender love (or lovelorn) song makes it’s way into our living space. She’ll close her eyes, lean in toward the speakers, and will occasionally gaze with her big ambers into mine as if to tell me something…I haven’t yet been able to guess what that is.
Hayley Ann, my old girl, on the other hand, craves livley mandolin and fiddle music. Lately, she’s become very fond of Sam Bush, Chris Thile, Solas and Tim O’Brien, it seems. Norman Blake always seems to catch her interest.
One of my cats, William (the one who seems to have only three brain cells, bless him), will suddenly appear, staring deep into my eyes with his pools of blue, gently pawing at me even before I’m aware of the tears starting to well in response to anything which moves me deeply.
Well, old Frisky just wants body heat, so she snakes her way between my back and the chair and becomes my vibrating lower back pillow when I’m checking out the Folk Alley Blogs or Open Mic. Frisky can sleep through anything, but purrs a lot, so I guess she likes what she hears.
Harold (my big boy) loves anything LOUD, raucous and Scandinavian, and will often “sing” right along, with squinted eyes. He’s also my “Bouncer” at bed time who stands guard and won’t allow any other creature to bother me as I fall asleep to the recorded sounds of the Pacific nighttime surf. He keeps it quiet around here when it needs to be.
Lily prefers LIVE music and just wants to hang outside with the birds and the summer bugs. She sits for endless hours listening to the hummm and whirrr and chatter and gives close attention to the nesting Mockingbird, who nightly sings her extraordinary repertoire near my side porch. Lily has her own, personal concert I think. A social creature, she’ll check out the conjunto band down the street, and when the occasional friend stops by for a front porch acoustic jam, Lily is right there singing along and making requests! I suspect that she’d hang out at Folk Music festivals, if given half a chance.
Juno “Roots and Traditional Album of the Year” award winner, Corb Lund and the Hurtin’ Albertans, web site features video clips of a big ol’ hound, “Jax the Dog”, wailing away to “Time to Switch to Whiskey”. The hound harps in, as if on cue, to “Whis-keyyyyyyy!”, and amazingly, he’s in tune every time!
The fish? Well, the fish seem to enjoy the good vibrations as well. Since I’ve deprived them of their TV priviledges with a soft boycot since May ’05, they don’t seem to complain. I think they prefer Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, but I can’t be sure…
So, fellow Folk and critter lovers, what tales could your menagerie tell about the soundtracks of their lives?
