Lyr/Chords Req: Elephant & Hippo Songs

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Elephant & Hippo Songs
From: barnacle
Date: 05 May 04 - 12:04 PM

The Jumbo the Elephant song mentioned earlier was by Leon Rosselson - a great song!!

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Elephant & Hippo Songs
From:
Date: 13 Nov 04 - 11:32 AM

Does anybody know the sone Me and the elephant? sung by various artists such as Val doonical, Gene cotton, Laudon wainwright and more. does anybody know where i can find the guitar tbs and/or chords for this song? ive looked all over the web but cannont find them.

Subject: Lyr Add: ME AND THE ELEPHANT (Benny Whitehead)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 14 Nov 04 - 06:11 PM

Copied from http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/m/meandtheelephant.shtml

ME AND THE ELEPHANT
(Benny Whitehead)

I remember the day we had nothin' to do
So we went down to the City Zoo
Just to kill an hour or two
Out in the good sunshine.

But we had so much fun, we were glad that we came.
We fed all the animals and gave each a name,
An' didn't even mind when it started to rain.
We had a real good time.

But now that it's over and you're far away,
I miss you more with each passing day,
And all my friends sympathize and say,
"He'll forget in time.
Yes, you will. Give yourself a little more time."

But it's already been well over a year,
And just in case you're interested, you might like to hear
How everybody's doing down at the City Zoo
Without you.

Well the monkeys forgot ya, and the hippo forgot ya,
And so did the kangaroo;
But me and the elephant, we still remember you.
Me and the elephant, we'll never forget you.

Well I wrote to Ann Landers and Dear Abby too,
And sought their advice as to what I should do,
And they said everything that reminds me of you
Would all have to go.

So I burned all your pictures, except two or three:
The one by my bed, and one on my TV,
And the one that I always carry with me
Everywhere I go.

Now today was so nice and since I was in town,
I thought I'd take the opportunity to go down
And see how everyone is down at the City Zoo,
And what's new.

Well the rhino forgot ya, an' the zebra forgot ya,
The polar bear and tiger too;
But me and the elephant, we still remember you.
Me and the elephant, we'll never forget you.

[Recorded by Gene Cotton, 1975; Kenny Starr, 1977; Bobby Goldsboro, 1977; Val Doonican; Roy Clark; Lena Martell.]

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Elephant & Hippo Songs
From: alanww
Date: 17 Dec 04 - 10:46 AM

We have the words for "Nellie the Elephant" here but I am finding it difficult to locate the dots.
Can anyone help me please?
" ... on the road to Mandalay!"
Alan

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Elephant & Hippo Songs
From: MMario
Date: 17 Dec 04 - 11:16 AM

Nelly the elephant sheet music

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Elephant & Hippo Songs
From: MMario
Date: 17 Dec 04 - 11:18 AM

sorry it took me so long

Subject: Lyr Add: ANIMAL FAIR (from Thomas W. Talley)
From: Azizi
Date: 17 Dec 04 - 01:50 PM

Here's a version of Animal Fair from Thomas W. Talley's 1922 book
"Negro Folk Rhymes". I believe that this answers CapriUni's question upthread from 04 Oct 01 - 12:46 AM.

Has you ever hearn tell 'bout de Animal Fair?
Dem birds an' beasts wus all down dere.
Dat jaybird a-settin' down on 'is wing!
Has you ever hearn tell about sitch a thing
As what 'us at dat Animal Fair?

Well, dem animals had a Fair.
Dem birds an' beast wys dere.
De big Baboon,
By de light o' de moon,
Jes comb up his sandy hair.

De monkey, he git drunk,
He kick up a red hot chunk.
Dem coals, dey 'rose;
An' bu'nt 'is toes!
He clumb de Elephan's trunk.

I went down to de Fair.
Dem varmints wll wuz dere.
Dat young Baboon
Wunk at Miss Coon;
Dat curled de Elephan's hair.

De Camel den walk 'bout,
An' tromped on de Elephan's snout.
De Elephan' sneeze,
An' fall on his knees;
Dat pleased all dem monkeys.

I'd be interested in knowing if there are any earlier published versions of this song.

---

Also, I would love more information about the cumulative elephant song that CapriUnit mentioned in his 28 Sep 01 post. Guest Barry on : 25 Mar 04 - 09:12 AM said that this was a well-known children's song here in Costa Rica and gave these words.

"Un elefante se balanceaba
Sobre la tela de un arana."
--
Would someone translate these Spanish words, please {if they aren't nonsense words} And does anyone have any more information about this song and Costa Rica. For instance, did the song come from Costa Rica, or from elsewhere and then was picked up in Costa Rica?

Finally, Little Robyn 25 Mar 04 mentioned that "We used to watch the Elephant Show on telly - Bram, Lois and Sharon.
Their theme song at the start was;
'One elephant went out to play,
Upon a spider's web one day....'"

Little Robyn, do you remember if that television song had the same cumulative words as the song that CapriUnit's uncle sung?

I would love to use this song in my children's programming, and would appreciate any information on its' history.

Thanks.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Elephant & Hippo Songs
From: Cool Beans
Date: 17 Dec 04 - 03:05 PM

Then there's Michael Mish's "Charlie the Elephant," thematically similar to "Puff, the Magic Dragon" except that Charlie reappears and the adult singer/narrator goes for a ride on his back. Either tnat, or it's the narrator's child. The memory aint what it used to be.
It's a fine song and it's on Mish's children's recording "We Love the Animals."

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Elephant & Hippo Songs
From: alanww
Date: 17 Dec 04 - 07:43 PM

Thanks for your efforts, MMario.
While it has most of the tune, after a closer look I see that bars 15 to 24 are missing from it. Or are they a repeats of an earlier section?
Can anyone help, please?
"Off she went with a ...!"
Alan

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Elephant & Hippo Songs
From: Snuffy
Date: 18 Dec 04 - 09:09 AM

Azizi

I'm no Spanish speaker, but it looks to me like
"Un elefante se balanceaba
Sobre la tela de un arana."
is about the same as
'One elephant went out to play,
Upon a spider's web one day...."

Alan. I'll see if I can get them done before I see you on Monday

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Elephant & Hippo Songs
From: wysiwyg
Date: 18 Dec 04 - 03:53 PM

hEAR IT FOR YOURSELF:

HOLE IN THE ELEPHANT'S BOTTOM

~S~

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Elephant & Hippo Songs
From:
Date: 31 May 05 - 10:24 PM

The lyrics to Dat Dere posted by Cool Beans a year ago are *NOT* the original lyrics. Oscar Brown, Jr wrote the words to Timmon's instrumental as a tribute to his son Bo Bo in the 50's and recorded them on Sin and Soul. Among other things, they are the words of a little boy to his father, not his mother. As one reviewer commented, "some clever hipster dialog between a daddy-o and his very young son".

The words cited are the ones used by Rickie Lee Jones.

Don C

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Elephant & Hippo Songs
From: RobbieWilson
Date: 01 Jun 05 - 07:25 AM

An effervescing elephant
by Syd Barrett
Wonderful stuff

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Elephant & Hippo Songs
From: harpgirl
Date: 05 Aug 05 - 10:46 AM

hippo songs

Subject: Lyrics Add: Jumbo Says to Alice
From: Bard Judith
Date: 14 Oct 05 - 11:06 AM

A bit of background here: My mother lives in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada - noted, among other things, as being the place where the famous Jumbo the elephant of Barnum-&-Bailey's, imported from England, lost his life. He is remembered there by a life-size statue overlooking the highway, and plenty of folklore and stories.   While visiting last year we were discussing the story and Mom dredged this little song up from her childhood memories. She tells me that Gran taught it to her.



Jumbo says to Alice,
"I love you."
Alice says to Jumbo,
"I don't believe you do!
For if you really loved me,
As you ought to do,
You wouldn't've gone to Americay
And left me in the zoo!"

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Elephant & Hippo Songs
From: MoorleyMan
Date: 07 Jan 07 - 06:18 PM

And here's a new one for the Hippo Songs list: The Adventures of Harry The Hippopotamus by Mark Lunn - available on his CD-EP That's The Style ! Fab!

Subject: Lyr Add: EXECUTION OF BLACK DIAMOND (Curtis Eller)
From: Cluin
Date: 07 Jan 07 - 06:58 PM

The Execution of Black Diamond
by Curtis Eller

October twelfth is hotter than Hell in Texas
I guess elephants just go bad this time of year
And Clara James had no idea what hit her
Well we coulda done something if we had our shotguns here
But Corsicana, Texas
Is a town without no shade
And we never shoulda let that freak-show pass through here

(You got to) send a telegram off to P.T. Barnum
'Cause somebody's gonna take the blame and it might be you
Well, send a telegram off to P.T. Barnum
'Cause the old man always knows what to do

Well, I swear to God I never seen nothin' like it
That fender folded up like a valentine
And the trainers broke their necks but they couldn't do nothin'
That elephant's gonna be himself just one time
And the day will fall upon you
And the autumn will start to burn
And you can wash your hands but this stain is worse than wine

(You got to) send a telegram off to P.T. Barnum
'Cause somebody's gonna take the blame and it might be you
Send a telegram off to P.T. Barnum
'Cause the old man always knows what to do

Well they marched Black Diamond through the streets of Corsicana
Oh, but they could not chain that ghost up to the trees
He shook his head and he stumbled after the first shots
Even the bullets wilted in shame like a nest of bees
There's a funeral born in the circus
Like a stone baked in the bread
It was fifty bullets `fore that elephant fell to his knees

(You got to) send a telegram off to P.T. Barnum
'Cause somebody's gonna take the blame and it might be you
Oh, send a telegram off to P.T. Barnum
'Cause the old man always knows what to do
The old man always knows what to do


MP3 file here.

Subject: Lyr Add: BLACK DIAMOND'S SONG (Al Evans)
From: Cluin
Date: 07 Jan 07 - 08:10 PM

Another take on the same story:

Black Diamond's Song
by Al Evans

The sun is a-burnin'; the geeks are a-gawkin'
Nine tons of me walks down the street
We're in Corsicana and there's no way I'd be here
If it weren't for these chains on my feet
My name is Black Diamond; the circus can't tame me
And three men who tried to are dead
Now they've cut my tusks short, and put an iron bar on
So I can't reach my trunk to my head

And we roll across Texas and roll across Texas
And roll across Texas some more
In the heat of the midday sun and rockin' and reelin'
My feet are all chained to the floor
As we roll across Texas some more

The boxcar door opens and there stands my Curley
And elephant joy brings the tears
`Cause Curley's my buddy: the one man who knows me
My best friend for twenty-eight years
Now we're walkin' down Main Street, but we stop in the middle
It seems there's some kind of delay
And there stands Miss Eva, that elegant lady
Who's taken my Curley away

And we roll across Texas and roll across Texas
And roll across Texas some more
It's hotter than Hell here and no bath for three days
My feet are all chained to the floor
As we roll across Texas some more

She stands there, so cool and collected
She just doesn't see
How bein' alone and the chains of the circus is torturin' me
She knows she's taken my Curley
But she doesn't know
That elephants' memory and elephants' heartache is the last thing to go

Now, she comes toward us; I can feel the blood risin'
At the sound of her simperin' speech
She walks up to Curley; she says, "Can I touch him?"
She should have stayed out of my reach
If it wasn't for Curley, and knowin' he likes her
I would've just stepped on her head
But I just hit her too hard; I didn't mean to
I'm sorry she ended up dead

And we roll across Texas and roll across Texas
And roll across Texas some more
In the heat of the midday sun, with the rockin' and reelin'
My feet are all chained to the floor
As we roll across Texas some more

Back in the boxcar, I trumpet till midnight
Singin' my song of goodbye
They bring me some poison, but I do not eat it
But I know I am fixin' to die
Early next mornin', they chain me to four trees
In a forest of rifles and men
After forty-nine shots, I finally leave
And I ain't goin' back there again

To we roll across Texas and roll across Texas
And roll across Texas some more
In the heat of the midday sun with the rockin' and reelin'
My feet are all chained to the floor
As we roll across Texas some more

Yeah, we roll across Texas and roll across Texas
And roll across Texas some more


MP3 here

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Elephant & Hippo Songs
From: Mr Happy
Date: 04 Apr 08 - 10:40 AM

The original 'Nellie the Elephant' here:http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vlLIa8_pLpk

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Elephant & Hippo Songs
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 04 Apr 08 - 06:02 PM

One hippopotami
Cannot get on a bus
Because one hippopotami
Is two hippopotamus

Allan Sherman, to the tune of What Kind Of Fool Am I.
http://dmdb.org/lyrics/sherman.nut.html#8

Two elephant songs at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schoolradio/pdf/wigglewaggle_summer_2008_programme05.pdf
The first one is similar but not identical to the spider web song that has been mentioned here.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Elephant & Hippo Songs
From: GUEST,freedi4
Date: 16 Jun 08 - 02:31 AM

To Cool Beans:

It's amazing to me that this thread was going on 4 years ago. I had been searching for the exact song you had lyrics to and I was able to find at least 60 versions of the song "Dat Dere" on iTunes! It is a song that I remember my father singing to me when I was a child. Thank you so much for you helping me to find it for my own collection in remembrance of him.

Subject: Lyr Add: EFFERVESCING ELEPHANT (Syd Barrett)
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Jun 08 - 04:29 AM

Saw this had reopened so I dug out Std's song which has both an elephant and a dirty hippopotamus

EFFERVESCING ELEPHANT (Syd Barrett) 1:52

An Effervescing Elephant
with tiny eyes and great big trunk
once whispered to the tiny ear
the ear of one inferior
that by next June he'd die, oh yeah!
because the tiger would roam.
The little one said: "Oh my goodness I must stay at home!
and every time I hear a growl
I'll know the tiger's on the prowl
and I'll be really safe, you know
the elephant he told me so."
Everyone was nervy, oh yeah!
and the message was spread
to zebra, mongoose, and the dirty hippopotamus
who wallowed in the mud and chewed
his spicy hippo-plankton food
and tended to ignore the word
preferring to survey a herd
of stupid water bison, oh yeah!
And all the jungle took fright,
and ran around for all the day and the night
but all in vain, because, you see,
the tiger came and said: "Who me?!
You know, I wouldn't hurt not one of you.
I'd much prefer something to chew
and you're all to scant." oh yeah!


He ate the Elephant

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Elephant & Hippo Songs
From: GUEST
Date: 25 May 09 - 09:55 AM

Do you know where I might find sheet music for "The hole in the elephant's bottom"?

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Elephant & Hippo Songs
From: Mr Happy
Date: 03 Sep 09 - 06:10 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_the_Elephant

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlLIa8_pLpk

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Elephant & Hippo Songs
From: Joe_F
Date: 03 Sep 09 - 09:07 PM

Flanders & Swann also had an elephant song, about an elephant who malingered amnesia:

I'm suffering from amnesia.
Me mind's a perfect blank.
Now life is very much easier:
Amnesia's to thank.

He went on to develop other symptoms:

I suffer from schizophrenia.
It comes on me in spells.
Sometimes I'm King of Armenia,
And others I'm Orson Welles.
I've told my psychoanalyst
That I'm a sacred cow.
I'd like to carry a howdah, but
I can't remember how.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Elephant & Hippo Songs
From: GUEST,Tom Paxton: Don't Be Rude To A Rhinoceros
Date: 05 Sep 09 - 08:54 PM

From Tom Paxton's Peanut Butter Pie album:

Don't Be Rude To A Rhinoceros

"Be careful what you grab when you help him into a cab, because you know a *** Rhinoceros *** is ticklish too!"

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Elephant & Hippo Songs
From: GUEST,Paradox
Date: 23 Jan 10 - 08:20 PM

What's the rhymeing game little kids use to play and it went something like

Tarzan Big baboon, swining from a medel spoon...

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Elephant & Hippo Songs
From: Alan Day
Date: 30 Apr 10 - 08:10 AM

Dave Toy sings "The hole in the Elephants Bottom"
Al

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Elephant & Hippo Songs
From: Mr Happy
Date: 29 Jul 10 - 05:37 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_the_Elephant

Subject: Lyr Add: MARY THE ELEPHANT (Chuck Brodsky)
From: GUEST,raredance
Date: 30 Jul 10 - 12:53 AM

MARY THE ELEPHANT
(Chuck Brodsky)

In the Sparks Brothers Circus
They smoked only cheap cigars
A two bit travelling circus.
10 to 15 railroad cars
With a not so high high wire
And some leaks around the tent
Educated sea lions
And four or five elephants

In the Clinch River Valley
A little mining town
Not too far from Kingsport
There's no one still around
That can tell it like it happened
And just stick to the facts
Not get mixed up with legends
Or start filling in the cracks

Red was Mary's handler
They'd hired him that day
He'd rode in on a box car
And he just sort of stayed
He got a job as janitor
At the Riverside Hotel
Until the circus came to town
He bid everyone farewell

He knew nothing about elephants
But what was there to know?
They were big, they were dumb
And they walked kind of slow
They had trunks for grabbing peanuts
And to stuff them in their mouths
He figured that was pretty much all
You need to know about 'em

So they handed Red a stick
For the afternoon parade
Only once did he whack Mary
It was his only mistake
She wrapped her trunk around him
Threw him to the ground
Stepped upon his head
There were children all around

Now contrary to the rumors
She was never tried
She never was convicted
Of any homicide
She never went to prison
No one sentenced her to hang
Like the storytellers told it
And the singers often sang

It was front page in the papers
From Statesville to Little Rock
From barbershops to filling stations
Mary was the talk
Sparks Brothers Circus
They just couldn't be going around
With such an unpredictable creature
They would have to put her down

It's said they fired bullets
But it was too small a gun
They tried some electricity
But she wasn't even stunned
It was all done in the spirit of
Good clean family fun
In the entertainment business
You give the people what they want

They shipped Mary in a railcar
To Erwin, Tennessee
They advertised a hanging
3000 came to see
The ringleader announced
It would be in the railroad yard
When the matinee was over
And there'd be no extra charge

They left her hanging half an hour
Till somebody got her down
The people got their money's worth
Pity the poor clowns
Who weren't really smiling
When they dumped her in a grave
That had been dug by a steam shovel
And was as big as a cave

The town won't put a marker
Above where Mary lies
They don't want the attention
Or lawsuits to arise
She never went to prison
No court sentenced her to hang
Like some storytellers told it
And some singers often sang


For the story and pictures you know what to do
http://www.blueridgecountry.com/archive/mary-the-elephant.html

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Elephant & Hippo Songs
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Nov 10 - 12:03 PM

Does anyone know the chords to "Mary the Elephant"?