A song from long ago comes into your head. You quiz all you meet to see if they remember it too. The facts are sketchy. Did you dream it, or is it from the depths of your memory bank? If so, how did it stick there for a half century while volumes of other information vanished, leaving room for "A Horse in Striped Pajamas"?
Thank goodness for the affirming power of the internet made possible by kindred baby boomer kids who sat for hours in front of early day educational TV, and then grew up to be creative YouTube uploaders. Captain Kangaroo, Mr. Greenjeans, Mr. Moose, and Mr. Bunny Rabbit made quite an impression on us and we are thinking that it was not a bad formative influence really.
THE HORSE IN STRIPED PAJAMAS
Well here we are at the zoo Mr. Greenjeans
Say Captain, I've never been here before. Do you know the names of all these animals?
Well, I do, Mr. Greenjeans, but do you?
Well, now, let me see…
Say there, Captain, do you see? There's a horse in striped pajamas
No, that's not what it is at all. That's an animal people call a zebra
I see, but it still looks like a horse in striped pajamas to me
Say there, Captain, do you see? There's a bird in his tuxedo
No, that's not what it is at all. That's an animal people call a penguin
I see, but it still looks like a bird in his tuxedo to me
There's a fish with whiskers on
That's a seal, for real
There's a teddy with two black eyes
That's how they planned the little panda
Hey there, Captain, do you see? There's a cat with polka dots on
No, that's not what it is at all. That's an animal people call a leopard
I see, but it still looks like acat with polka dots on to me
Well, look there, Captain, do you see? There's a bird with a big umbrella
No, that's not what it is at all. That's an animal people call a peacock
I see, but it still looks like a bird with his umbrella to me
Well, do you think you know them now?
Well, no matter what you say, Captain, when I get home this afternoon
I'll say to everyone there:
I saw a fish with whiskers on
You saw a teddy with two black eyes
I saw a cat with polka dots
You saw a bird in his tuxedo
And of course, the horse in striped pajamas
©1948 zell/kreeb
As kids Laural and I had this song on a record that came with a read-along book. Ours was a little boy and his father going to the zoo together, same lyrics though. We played it on our little record player that was built into a plastic case with handles.
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