Ease into this song with this riff (Chaves style):

    |   |   |   |    |   |   |   |    |   |   |   |    |   |   |   |    
A|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
E|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
C|--4-------2-----|--0-------3-----|--4-------2-----|--0-------3-----|
G|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|

        Em      D        C       B7       Em      D        C       B7
    |   |   |   |    |   |   |   |    |   |   |   |    |   |   |   |    
A|------2-------0-|------1-------2-|------2-------0-|------1-------2-|
E|------3-------2-|------0-------2-|------3-------2-|------0-------2-|
C|--4---4---2---2-|--0---0---3---3-|--4---4---2---2-|--0---0---3---3-|
G|------0-------2-|------0-------2-|------0-------2-|------0-------2-|

Then play Em D C7 B7 rotation throughout the entire song.

Old Mr. Johnson had trouble all his own
He had a yellow cat that wouldn't leave his home
He tried in every way to keep that cat away
Took him up to Canada and told him for to stay

Chorus:
But the cat came back the very next day
The cat came back, they thought he was a goner
But the cat came back, he just wouldn't stay away

On a telegraph wire the birds were sitting in a bunch
He saw an even number, said he'd have 'em for his lunch
Climbed softly up the pole until he reached the top
Put his foot upon the wire, tied him in a knot

Chorus

This cat had company out in the backyard
Somebody threw a boot and threw it awful hard
Hit the cat behind the ear and he thought it was a slight
And down came a brick and knocked him out of sight

Chorus

They sneaked him in a shop with the butcher not around
And they dropped him in the hopper where the meat was ground
The cat despaired with a blood-curdling shriek
And that shop's hamburger tasted furry for a week

Chorus

They put him in a cotton sack and gave him to a girl
Who'd started on a bicycle all around the world
Well, over there in China a terrible wreck was found
She's singing now in heaven with the angels all around

Chorus

Now this cat was a terror and they thought it would be best
To give him to a feller who was going way out west
Train ran round a curve and hit a broken rail
Not a blessed soul aboard that train lived to tell the tale

Chorus

The cat was a possessor of a family all its own
With seven little kittens till there was a cyclone
Blew the houses all apart and tossed the cat around
The air was full of kittens and not a one was found

Chorus

Away across the ocean they did send the cat at last
Vessel only out a day and taking water fast
People all began to pray, the boat began to toss
A great big gust of wind came by and every soul was lost

Chorus

They gave the cat to a man in a balloon
And told him to give him to the man in the moon
But the balloon it busted and everybody said
Ten miles away they picked the man up dead

Chorus

At last they found a way this cat to really fix
They put him in an orange crate on highway 66
Come a ten ton truck with a twenty ton load
Scattered pieces of that orange crate a mile down the road

Chorus