Dienstag, 3. Jun 2008, 19:40
My favorite thing about the Weakerthans is Virtute the Cat. (Which, by the way, I have thought for years was actually Virtue. I just found out that I was wrong that whole time. Apparently it is pronounced "Vir-too-tay." I had no goddamn idea!)
On Reconstruction Site, their 2003 album, the fifth track is called Plea From A Cat Named Virtute I would post the lyrics, but if you're that interested, a Google search should bring them up immediately. The narrative is told from a cat's perspective. The cat is talking to her owner, who is evidently a lonely alcoholic, and she is fed up with his sad sack behavior. She sees that he can get out of the mess he's put himself in if only he tries. As the title suggests, Virtute is practically begging her owner to just get over it and enjoy life again. The very last few lines, which I will post, are perched on the edge of heart-breaking when you hear them sung: ("All you ever want to do is drink and watch TV, and frankly that thing doesn't really interest me. I swear I'm going to bite you hard and taste your tinny blood if you don't stop the self-defeating lies you've been repeating since the day you brought me home. I know you're strong.")
Now, as if that wasn't clever enough, John K. Samson and friends returned to Virtute on the album they released last year, Reunion Tour. Again featured as the fifth track, Virtute the Cat Explains Her Departure expands on the first song's sorrow, and brings it to a deafening conclusion. You already know what happens at the end, because they spell it out for you right there in the title, but hearing Samson's carefully chosen "But I can't remember the sound that you found for me" breaks your heart right in half, and it's absolutely gorgeous.