i love this guy, but considering his history, how the fuck did he end up having such an impact on my childhood? Maybe if I do some more drugs, sell a lot of hot dogs, work for Playboy for the better part of two decades and then release Freakin' at the Freaker's Ball, I can pop something like The Giving Tree to make people weep for the rest of their lives? Just a thought.

I don't think his history is as scandalous, but I can't help think the same thing about Jim Henson RE: drugs. Is it possible to write something like "Mahna Mahna" clean and sober?

EDIT: and yes, Shel is awesome.

Just saw the 30th anniversary edition on "Where the Sidewalk Ends" at the bookstore the other day. What a great book! It's gonna be a pleasure for me to give that book to my child just like my father did for me.

It will also be a pleasure for me to beat that child if he doesn't read it in a timely fashion, like my father did to me.

This is a thread that Todd would start.

I love him too.

"Greasy Grit Gravy" is one of my favorite songs from my childhood.

he just had a book come out last tuesday which very well might have been penned un an opium-induced stupor.

Ive been listening to the cassette i have of him reading his poems lately and shocking myself but remembering every single syllable from this. Great stuff. I should send this down to my new nephew in Atlanta.

play it for your little monkey puppet, sicko.

boy named sue

Beat me to it! Always got a kick out of that.



...ouch!

has anyone read his new one "Runny Babbit"? it's a billy sook.

i'll have you know he's been grounded for ordering Most Valuable Primate on Pay Per View last week.

My son and I have been reading A Light in the Attic for a little while now. We read some each night. He loves it and while reading it to him I remembered how much I loved his work.

Just the other day I was considering buying the other books as though I had them growing up I have no clue where they are now. I'm planning on waiting til we're done with the above before I pick up the others!

I think I actually did start a Shel Silverstein thread over at CMJ, back in the day.

He also wrote:

"5 Minutes To Go", which Johnny Cash also recorded. (There's a version on Live At Folsom.) He must've been a fan, too.

for a second, i thought this was the name of vinnick's VP choice from last nite's west wing.

It's an interesting fact, actually, that Mahna Mahna was written by an Italian composer known as Piero Umigliani. The song was featured in a lighthearted porn film in Italy I believe in the 60's.

I would not have known this other than this song being severely trapped in my head and needing to find its origins in order to be released from its burgeoning grasp into the depths of my consciousness. In light of my discovery, I think it peculiar that Mr. Henson recreated it for a children's program.

and yes, Shel is awesome.