Canadian musician Fred Penner on the 40th anniversary of 'The Cat Came Back'

Beloved Canadian musician Fred Penner joined CTV Morning Live’s Kent Morrison, to talk about the 40th anniversary of his album “The Cat Came Back.”

 

This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

 

Kent Morrison: Fred Penner is back in Edmonton tomorrow on the stage at the Winspear, celebrating 40 years of the album that brought him to generations of Canadians.

Mr. Fred Penner, thanks so much for being with us. The Cat Came Back is an album that we're talking about, 40 years after it came out.

What was it about, specifically, that song that you knew would resonate with kids?

Fred Penner: I think every musician has that awareness, when a song suddenly lands on your plate and you know that it just has something.

It isn't an original tune. I've rewritten many of the verses, but it's from 1896, I think it was originally written.

I was jamming one day with my cousin, David and my brother Terry, and we were just flipping through this old folk song book.

Suddenly, I turned a page and there it was, The Cat Came Back. E minor, D, C, B7, for any of you musicians out there.

It's a beautiful circular guitar pattern. It's easy to jam on and we just started playing it, and it lasted half an hour.

This one tune just had a quality to it, that had the excitement of lyric. Where the story is happening, and it leaves you hanging on, then the cat comes back.

Audiences have been relating to that, as you said, for decades now and I couldn't be happier.

Kent: There are some people that are humming it to themselves right now. Is it your favourite song on the album?

Fred: Oh golly. There's a question.

My favourite part of the album, when I first started recording, I really wanted to do stories, because I grew up listening to storytelling on the radio.

So, I wrote a story called, The Story of Blunder. It was an adaptation of a 1930s tune, and it was a whole epic thing at the end of that album.

I'm doing pieces of that in the concert tomorrow evening, like The Goblin song, for instance, to fit in with the Halloween theme here.

But that story was really important, so I've tried to put stories on my albums along the way with that imagination built into them.

It was a pretty interesting album to build and create songs from my childhood that I brought in.

Kent: So then it leads to Fred Penner's place and time in the hearts of many Canadians. Did you have a background with children? How did you get into that space?

Fred: Well, I'm sure many of your listeners already know that I had a sister who was born with Down syndrome.

Her name was Susie, and she passed away when she was 12, when I was in my early 20s.

I was just at the turning point of my life where I had no idea what direction I was going to go. I made music, but I had a degree in economics.

I thought, “No, that's not going to work for me.” So I started performing, and I started heading out into the world.

I always remembered the strength of Susie and my connection with music. She was just the sweetest soul on the planet.

My mantra is, “Music can make a difference in the life of a child,” and I've held that dear to my heart from that time.

Kent: Does that keep you coming back to the stage? You're in your 70s, and you're still doing it. Is that what keeps you coming back?

Fred: Absolutely. Knowing that I just played in Sidney, B.C. two days ago, and there was a mother who had just lost her husband, in the last six months.

They had this beautiful child with Down syndrome and her name was Abby. We had this connection, and it just brought back the flood of memories and delight that I had with my own sister.

Knowing that there are people out there who feel a deep connection with me, I never assume that's going to happen, but when it does, it's quite overwhelming and I hope that I can keep doing this for a little bit longer.

Kent: Fred Penner, it's been a treat talking to you. Enjoy your time in Edmonton tomorrow night, and hopefully there's some sandwiches available for you.

Fred: Oh, the chances are good. After Edmonton, we're playing in Red Deer on Friday night, so I hope to see you there as well. Thank you so much Kent.

Kent: Absolutely, have a good rest of your day. Mr. Fred Penner is at Winspear tomorrow night, and then he's in Red Deer. He also has a wonderful website, fredpenner.com.