The Weakerthans love cats.

Well, one cat in particular, a feisty feline named Virtue, owned by frontman John K. Samson. It’s hard to decipher the full story of Virtue, but from what I can gather from 2003’s “Plea From A Cat Named Virtue,” the cat is concerned with Samson’s agoraphobic desires to stay indoors and drink. So like any song-narrating pet should, Virtue offers to throw a party to cheer him up.

“So, we should open up the house/Invite the tabby two doors down/You could ask your sister, if she doesn’t bring her Basset Hound,” then Virtue adds the sweetest offer of them all, “And I’ll cater with all the birds that I can kill.”

MP3:
The Weakerthans - Plea From A Cat Named Virtue

The cat returns in “Virtue The Cat Explains Her Departure,” from the band’s recently released Reunion Tour. A more somber tune, with a epic climax and the wonderful line, “I would wait for you to arrive with kibble and a box full of beer/How I’d scratch the empties desperate to hear you make the sound that you found for me.” The cat later adds, “After scrapping with the ferals and the tabby/Let you brush my matted fur/How I’d knead into your chest while you were sleeping/Shallow breathing made me purr.”

MP3:
The Weakerthans - Virtue The Cat Explains Her Departure

Usually I don’t condone people writing songs about their cats, but I’ll make an exception for Virtue.

The Weakerthans perform tonight at the Hawthorne Theatre, which is just four blocks east of The Cat’s Meow. Coincidence?