Music by Merle Haggard

You've always got me

...And when we bury our face in our hands and wish we had never been born, they don't sit up very straight and observe that we have brought it all upon ourselves.  They don't even hope it will be a warning to us.  But they come up softly, and shove their heads against us.... He looks up with his big, true eyes, and says with them, "Well, you've always got me, you know.  We'll go through the world together and always stand by each other, won't we?

 

 

...He is very imprudent, a dog is. He never makes it his business to inquire whether you are in the right or in the wrong, never bothers as to whether you are going up or down upon life's ladder, never asks whether you are rich or poor, silly or wise, sinner or saint. You are his pal. That is enough for him, and come luck or misfortune, good repute or bad, honor or shame, he is going to stick to you, to comfort you, guard you, and give his life for you if need be--

 

 

...Cats have the credit of being more worldly wise than dogs--of looking more after their own interests and being less blindly devoted to those of their friends. And we men and women are naturally shocked at such selfishness. ....But, taken altogether, cats are libeled. Make a friend of one, and she will stick to you through thick and thin. All the cats that I have had have been most firm comrades. I had a cat once that used to follow me about everywhere, until it even got quite embarrassing, and I had to beg her, as a personal favor, not to accompany me any further down the High Street. She used to sit up for me when I was late home and meet me in the passage. It made me feel quite like a married man, except that she never asked where I had been and then didn't believe me when I told her.

 

Jerome K. Jerome

Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, 1889