Shel Silverstein

Elvis Fu · **Posted:** Mon Jun 13, 2005 8:53 pm

The Bobby Bare, Jr. thread got me onto "Greasy Grit Gravy", which I love, then I started running all these Shel Silverstein songs into my head.

Forget all that "Giving Tree" dogshit, and take a moment to pay respects to a hell of a songwriter and creative mind.

How about these, just to start:

Greasy Grit Gravy
A Boy Named Sue
Cover Of The Rolling Stone
Sylvia's Mother
Amos Moses

Plus a billion or so others that I'm not even remembering or I didn't even realize he wrote. Tons, really. And some of them dirty or drugged, but always smartly penned and a pantload of fun.

Well we are big rock singers, we've got golden fingers
And we're loved everywhere we go
We sing about beauty and we sing about truth
At ten thousand dollars a show
We take all kind of pills to give us all kind of thrills
But the thrill we've never known
Is the thrill that'll get you when you get your picture
On the cover of the Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone
Wanna see my picture on the cover
Rolling Stone
Wanna buy five copies for my mother
Rolling Stone
Wanna see my smilin' face
On the cover of the Rolling Stone

I've got a freaky old lady name o' Cocaine Katy
Who embroiders on my jeans
I've got my poor old gray-haired Daddy
Drivin' my limousine
Now it's all designed to blow our minds
But our minds won't really be blown
Like the blow that'll get you when you get your picture
On the cover of the Rolling Stone

We got a lot of little teenage blue-eyed groupies
Who do anything we say
We got a genuine Indian guru
He's teachin' us a better way
We got all the friends that money can buy
So we never have to be alone
And we keep gettin' richer but we can't get our picture
On the cover of the Rolling Stone

MontyTheMongoose · **Posted:** Mon Jun 13, 2005 8:56 pm

I remember "Where the Sidewalk Ends" from having heard my mother read it to me when I was four, five years old, and it was fairly comic and enjoyable, but all things Shel were ruint for me in late '99 by my friends-at-the-time's bisexual emo raver girl object-of-woo.

jewels santana · **Joined:** Thu Nov 04, 2004 2:36 pm **Posts:** 10198

25 Minutes to Go

PopTodd · **Posted:** Mon Jun 13, 2005 9:37 pm

Elvis Fu Wrote:

Forget all that "Giving Tree" dogshit, and take a moment to pay respects to a hell of a songwriter and creative mind.

As a father, I fell in love with that "Giving Tree shit" all over again. It is a helluva story and it just gets me -- every time.

And I have never stopped appreciating his children's poetry. In fact, "Poor Angus" was a selection we had read at our wedding:

Quote:

POOR ANGUS

Oh what do you do, poor Angus,
When hunger makes you cry?
"I fix myself an omelet, sir,
Of fluffy clouds and sky."

Oh what do you wear, poor Angus,
When winds blow down the hills?
"I sew myself a warm cloak, sir,
Of hope and daffodils."

Oh who do you love, poor Angus,
When Catherine's left the moor?
"Ah, then, sir, then's the only time
I feel I'm really poor."

And yeah... I pay my respects to Shel; a true quadruple threat -- music, poetry, prose, drawings and paintings.

Elvis Fu · **Posted:** Mon Jun 13, 2005 9:59 pm

That's quintuple.

pinkeyedwink · **Posted:** Mon Jun 13, 2005 10:07 pm

i had no idea he was a musician. i'm actually making a mix w/a children's book theme for a friend who loves shel silverstein. do any of his songs sound like his books? is anyone sharing his stuff on soulseek? i'm searching but nothing's coming up (also i posted about the mix in the mix section if anyone has any suggestions..)

Elvis Fu · **Posted:** Mon Jun 13, 2005 10:30 pm

Shit. Nevermind. I removed slsk.

If you get on the Colinswood deal I'll throw a few songs your way, like "Amos Moses" or "Greasy Grit Gravy".

He's also recorded a fair amount of his poems, but I don't have any of those.

PopTodd · **Posted:** Tue Jun 14, 2005 9:22 am

Elvis Fu Wrote:

That's quintuple.

Yeah, I was trying (unsuccessfully) to combine "drawings and paintings" into a single entry, Should've said "visual arts", but that sounded pretentious to me. Of course, this IS Obner, and I AM me!

Billzebub · **Joined:** Mon Oct 25, 2004 10:26 pm **Posts:** 6459

Shoot "Scum Of The Earth" his way as well. Tune's a classic.

pinkeyedwink · **Posted:** Wed Jun 15, 2005 2:20 am

elvisfu, i never made it beyond the first step to installing collinswood, but was able to find the songs you mentioned via soulseek's wishlist option, but thank you.

poptodd, you've inspired my mushpot of a brain.. think i'll try to record my niece reciting poor angus and include it in my mix

indian headdress · **Posted:** Wed Jun 15, 2005 4:13 am

you can download a couple for free from amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/searc ... 61-9463805

Shel Silverstein

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