Seven Silly Little Songs

Song Cycle by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947)

1. Animal Fair
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
I went to the animal fair,
The birds and the beasts were there.
The big baboon. by the light of the moon,
Was combing his auburn hair.
The monkey, he got drunk,
And sat on the elephant's trunk.
The elephant sneezed and fell on his knees,
And what became of the monk, the monk?

Text Authorship:

  • by Anonymous / Unidentified Author

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

2. Eve, apropos de Rien
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
It is not fair to visit all
The blame on Eve, for Adam's fall;
The most Eve did was to display
Contributory negligé.

Text Authorship:

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

3. The purple cow
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
I never saw a purple cow;
I never hope to see one;
But I can tell you, anyhow,
I'd rather see than be one.

Text Authorship:

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First published in The Lark, no. 1, 1895

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

4. Reasons for drinking
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
If all be true that I do think,
There are five reasons we should drink;
Good wine -- a friend -- or being dry --
Or lest we should be by and by --
Or any other reason why.

Text Authorship:

Based on:

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

5. Judged by the company one keeps
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
One night in late October,
When I was far from sober,
Returning with my load with manly pride,
My feet began to stutter,
So I lay down in a gutter,
And a pig came near and lay down by my side;
A lady passing by was heard to say:
"You can tell a man who boozes,
By the company he chooses,"
And then pig got up and slowly walked away.

Text Authorship:

  • by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, "Judged by the company one keeps"

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

6. The purple cow again
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Ah, yes, I wrote the "Purple Cow" --
I'm sorry, now, I wrote it;
But I can tell you anyhow
I'll kill you if you quote it!

Text Authorship:

  • by Frank Gelett Burgess (1866 - 1951), "Confession: and a portrait too, upon a background that I rue"

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First published in The Lark, no. 24, 1897.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

7. The frog
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
What a wonderful bird the frog are --
When he stand he sit almost;
When he hop, he fly almost.
He ain't go no sense hardly;
He ain't got no tail hardly either.
When he sit, he sit on what he ain't got almost.

Text Authorship:

  • by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, "The frog"

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Total word count: 275