Look at the Animals

"The tiny ant leaves his tiny ant drops in the sand,
And makes his home inside a rusty watering can,
Occasionally going out to look for bread and jam.

He runs into a sparrow who hasn't eaten for a week,
And later, quite contented, the sparrow cleans his beak,
Failing to notice pussy cat has come out to take a leak.

Our cat partakes of dinner when a sodden kangaroo
Emerges from the undergrowth and asks to use the loo.
Kangaroos aren't usually dangerous,
for that would never do...

...This kangaroo's a lunatic and his pouch is very full
Of pussy cats and penguins who can't fly as a rule,
But then neither could the pussy cat:
he never went to school.

The kangaroo gets nervous when confronted by the size
Of an elephant named Simon who is always telling lies;
He swears he wears green corduroys
and can button up his fly.

Presently, a fatter Simon's indigestion fails.
He regurgitates the whole damn mess
into an aluminum pail,
And the tiny ant scuttles back inside his watering can
Occasionally going out to look for bread and jam."

This delightful song, written by Ian Anderson, is from Jethro Tull's previously unreleased "Chateau d'Isaster" tapes, from 1972-73ish, that finally (and most thankfully) saw the public light of day in JT's 1993's "Nightcap" album.

This before the release of "A Passion Play," and so "Look at the Animals" is perhaps a bit inspired by/inspirational in that album's longer, spoken and more famous animal tale, "The Hare Who Lost His Spectacles" (the vinyl album's intermission twixt Side A and Side B).

And maybe some Lewis Carroll.

With a pinch of "Aesop's Fables" and a dash of "Old Mother West Wind 'when' stories".

I don't know.

But I do know this is a clever little song with some wonderful imagery (and the tune is grand too). But then, I wouldn't expect anything less from Anderson... then or now.

Check back... I just might have to throw some illustrations in...