Cat Lullaby - a song of goodbye

Notes on Cat Lullaby.

When asked whether his songs faithfully recount his own life experience, Fred Moolten often cites Cat Lullaby, first recorded in 2000, and re-recorded by Lisa Hindmarsh for the CD, "No Other Prize" in 2005.

"It's one of the most personal of my songs", he explains, "and Lisa's rendition is magical in expressing feelings I poured into the words and music.

"I don't listen to Cat Lullaby much any more", he adds. "The event happened years ago. I don't try to immerse myself in sad memories. Still, when I hear it, some of the ache returns."

"I suppose you have to call it a sad song, but when I was accompanying my pet to the veterinarian to be put to sleep, I wasn't trying to express sorrow. I was just trying to comfort him."

"It's a song of goodbye. Pets don't live as long as we do. Goodbye means that it's they who are leaving us, and not we who are leaving them. It hurts, but it's better that way, isn't it?"

Fred Moolten has said goodbye to several cats over the years. One was Morsel -- a beautiful, strong, and affectionate black cat: "The photos in the video are not Morsel", he explains. "Morsel lived before we owned a digital camera. We have a few, faded prints, but except for the mysterious glow of his eyes, they reveal nothing. The photos in the video are truer to him than the old prints. In those photos, what lives on are his grace, vitality, and joyous independence."

"When Morsel grew ill, he stopped jumping from the floor to the kitchen counter, and from there through an open window, where he could descend to the ground. At first, the vet clinic didn't know what was wrong, but later they found an inoperable tumor of the parathyroid gland that was poisoning his system with too much calcium. He stopped climbing, then stopped eating. He began to hide from us when we tried to feed him. Then one day, in his weakened condition, he contracted pneumonia, and we knew he wanted from us the final favor we owed him. We called the clinic, and put Morsel gently into a basket for his last journey to the vet."

"When we brought him home, I dug a shallow grave in the shade of some maple trees in our back yard. We wrapped him in a thin cloth, but that was all, placed him in the grave, and covered him with dirt. The idea of trying to preserve his remains in some way seemed wrong. Instead, we let Nature reclaim him, to transform him into earth, water, and air, from which life springs and returns in an eternal cycle."

Some related links:

More on Cat Lullaby, with listener responses:
http://bluesandfolk.com/catlullaby-sbnv.htm

Fred Moolten songs and CDs:
http://bluesandfolk.com/sbnv.htm
http://bluesandfolk.com
http://cdbaby.com/all/fmoolten

Lisa Hindmarsh:
http://www.lisahindmarsh.com/

Photography by
Chris Bloom:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigshock/

The Neepster:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/neeps/

Peter Smithson:
http://www.flickr.com/people/psmithson/

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• cat
• memorial
• R.I.P.
• cats
• pets
• petloss
• lullaby
• Fred
• Moolten

[light1hayate]

@allnameda141311 My 18 yr. old baby just lost the battle with cancer, I made the choice to put her under while they had her asleep so she wouldn't suffer anymore. No one will make fun of you for loving someone. My friends thought I was crazy because I loved my mine so much. The thing I always tell myself is that, they will not be suffering anymore and nothing else can hurt them. ~It's not really the goodbye that hurts...It's the memories that follow...

[granmaknowsbest]

i know how you losers feel , my poor Sylvester just passed away ..group cry?

[ashbuggy1234]

i need to stop wathcing this cause im crying

[dantetheemo]

thanks for the upload this song kinda really rips at my heart strings cause my cat i have had for almost 20 years is just slowly passing away i am taking her to the vet tm to end her pain cause i have no heart to let he die death where she suffers i want her to go in peace and in my arms its shitty cause she was born the same day and year as me so my brithday will always make me remember her not being here

[Isaiahsucre]

My cat hated it sorry

[TheSparkystarzz]

there are 11 heartless people who dislike this, me and my cat thought that it was a great tribute to cats that have passed into the next world, my cats 11-12 but luckily hes still alive i would probably cry my eyes out if he wasnt, he is now sitting on my shoulders with his nose on my neck hes really strange but i love him

[catonthemoon47]

my space video catonthemoon "bunnii comes back"..youtube wont let me put it here..everytime i open my microwave i expect to see my cat. 18 pound born 8/8/99 prankish video, tripod and pause button..me and bunnii were bored one cold night. catonthemoon@gmail.com through myspace, videos..

[catonthemoon47]

my cat bunnii had a similar story, i am crying, but with love. i put him in a cat carrier, duct taped to my handlebars..he had renal failure before, but this time it was probably rattlesnake..7 miles on my handlebars...waking only to scream for a moment...worst day of my life..thanks to let me know that i'm not the only one that still cries.

[SlowlyUnbreaking]

My 11 year old just died yesterday morning and I never imagined that it would be this hard. I wasn't even there and I think I'll regret it for the rest of my life. I wish he was still here. He was my best friend and now it feels like I'm all alone.

[carly10171]

this is ok

[Nayerianimelvr]

Celine/Selene/Salene, our 10-11 yr old was put down today. She had cancer of the tongue, and we didn't want her to starve or choke to death. 10-11 years is too short a time to know such a precious, loving cat.

[ningle4567]

I don't want to see my charli or Mia go, I love them too much. But it will happen one day :'(