"The Peppery Man"

The Peppery Man was cross and thin;
He scolded out and scolded in;
He shook his fist, his hair he tore;
He stamped his feet and slammed the door.

Heigh ho, the Peppery Man,
The rabid, crabbed Peppery Man!
Oh, never since the world began
Was any one like the Peppery Man.

His ugly temper was so sour
He often scolded for an hour;
He gnashed his teeth and stormed and scowled,
He snapped and snarled and yelled and howled.

He wore a fierce and savage frown;
He scolded up and scolded down;
He scolded over field and glen,
And then he scolded back again.

His neighbors, when they heard his roars,
Closed their blinds and locked their doors,
Shut their windows, sought their beds,
Stopped their ears and covered their heads.

He fretted, chaffed, and boiled and fumed;
With fiery rage he was consumed,
And no one knew, when he was vexed,
What in the world would happen next.

Heigh ho, the Peppery Man,
The rabid, crabbed Peppery Man!
Oh, never since the world began
Was any one like the Peppery Man.

"The Sleepy Giant"

My age is three hundred and seventy-two.
I think, with the deepest regret,
how I used to pick up and voraciously chew
the dear little boys that I met.

I've eaten them raw, in their holiday suits,
eaten them curried with rice.
I've eaten them baked, in their jackets and boots,
and found them exceedingly nice.

But now that my jaws are too weak for such fare,
I think it's exceedingly rude
to do such a thing, when I'm quite well aware,
little boys do not like being chewed.

Little boys do not like being chewed.

So I contentedly live upon eels,
and try to do nothing amiss,
pass all the time I can spare for my meals
in innocent slumber like this.

Innocent slumber like this.

(More eels my lady?
Perhaps some bubble and squeak,
or a little toad in the hole?
A Lyconshire hot pot, perhaps?
That would be nice.)

And so now I contentedly live upon eels,
and try to do nothing amiss,
pass all the time I can spare for my meals
in innocent slumber like this.

Innocent slumber like this.

Word to your mother.

"The Walloping Window Blind"

A capital ship for an ocean trip
Was the Walloping Window Blind.
No gale that blew dismayed her crew
Or troubled the captain's mind.

The man at the wheel was taught to feel
Contempt for the wildest blow.
And it often appeared when the weather had cleared
That he'd been in his bunk below.

The boatswain's mate was very sedate,
Yet fond of amusement too;
And he played hopscotch with the starboard watch
While the captain tickled the crew.

And the gunner we had was apparently mad
For he stood on the cannon's tail,
And fired salutes in the captain's boots
In the teeth of a booming gale.

The captain sat in a commodore's hat
And dined in a royal way
On toasted pigs and pickles and figs
And gummery bread each day.

But the rest of us ate from an odious plate
For the food that was given the crew
Was a number of tons of hot cross buns
Chopped up with sugar and glue.

We all felt ill as mariners will
On a diet that's cheap and rude,
And the poop deck shook when we dipped the cook
In a tub of his gluesome food.

Then nautical pride we laid aside,
And we cast the vessel ashore
On the Gulliby Isles, where the Poohpooh smiles
And the Anagzanders roar.

Composed of sand was that favored land
And trimmed in cinnamon straws;
And pink and blue was the pleasing hue
Of the Tickletoeteasers claws.

We climbed to the edge of a sandy ledge
And soared with the whistling bee,
And we only stopped at four o'clock
For a pot of cinnamon tea.

From dawn to dark, on rubagub bark
We fed, till we all had grown
Uncommonly thin. Then a boat blew in
On a wind from the torriby zone.

She was stubby and square, but we didn't much care,
And we cheerily put to sea.
We plotted a course for the Land of Blue Horse,
Due west 'cross the Peppermint Sea.

"The Worst Thing"

So you're in love, that's so good for you
Live it up girl 'cause it never lasts too long
It's heaven for now, but not for long
It's gonna hurt you
It's gonna make you feel so bad

Once I could love, I could trust, I could not doubt
But that was just about the worst thing that I could do
It was just about the worst thing that I could do

Maybe not now, but it won't take long
Before it's gonna hurt you
And truly do you some harm

Once I was open, could hope, I had no doubt
But that was the worst thing that I could do
It was just about the worst thing that I could do

Once I came close to that most elusive fire
Burning with hopeless love and desire
But it was just about the worst thing that I could do
It was just about the worst thing I could do

En el pasado que estuve ciega como tu
Atrapada y perdida, como tu
Embelesada y suspendida en mi jaula de plata
Esos recuerdos me accompanaran toda la vida

(in the past I was blind as you,
Trapped and lost like you with no escape
Suspended in my silver cage
These memories will remain with you forever.)

"Thick As Thieves"

Remember how it all began
The apple and the fall of man
The price we paid
So the people say
Down a path of shame it lead us
Dared to bite the hand that fed us
The fairy tale
The moral end
The wheel of fortune
Never turns again

The worst of it has come and gone
In the chaos of millennium
In the falling out of the doomsday crowd
Their last retreat is moving slow
They burn their bridges as they go
The heretic is beatified
He'll teach the harlot's child to smile

Wracked again by indecision
Should we make that small incision
Testify to the bleeding heart inside?
We cut, we scratched
We rent, we slashed
And when he opened up at last
Found a cul-de-sac
Deep and black
Of smoke and ash

The wicked king of parody
Is kissing all his enemies
On the seventh day
Of the seventh week
The tyrant's voice is softer now
But just for one forgiving hour
Before the rise of his
Iron fist again

I've come tonight
I've come to know
The way we are
The way we'll go
Come to measure this
The width of the wide abyss

I come to you in restless sleep
Where all your dreams turn bitter-sweet
With voodoo doll philosophies
And day-glo holy trinities

The crooked raft that leaves the shore
Ferries drunken souls aboard
Pilgrims march to Compestela
Visions of their saint in yellow

All follow deep in trance
Lost in a catatonic dance
Know no future
Damn the past
Blind, warm, ecstatic
Safe at last...

"This House Is On Fire"

This House is on fire!
Kick off your boots, come and sit a spell
Listen to me worry, come and listen well
All you better best come and lean in boys
Cause I don't dare to raise my voice

I've been sitting here for the longest time
Reading all the warning and the danger signs
I don't have the gift of the prophecy
Telling everybody how it's gonna be

Soon come, soon come the day this tinderbox
Is gonna blow in your face
I don't have the gift of the prophecy
Telling everybody how it's gonna be
You go passing wrong for right and right for wrong
People only stand for that for just so long

It's all gonna catch like a house on fire
Spark an evil blaze and burn higher
Well, I don't have the gift of the prophecy
Telling everybody how it's gonna be
You go passing wrong for right and right for wrong
People only stand for that for just so long

I don't have the gift of the prophecy
Telling everybody how it's gonna be
There's a wild fire catching in the whip of the wind
That could start a conflagration
Like there has never been.

This house is on fire!

"Topsyturvey-World"

If the butterfly courted the bee,
And the owl the porcupine;
If churches were built in the sea,
And three times one was nine;
If the pony rode his master,
If the buttercups ate the cows,
If the cat had the dire disaster
To be worried by the mouse;
If mama sold the baby
To a gypsy for half a crown;
If a gentleman was a lady,-
The world would be Upside-Down!
If any or all of these wonders
Should ever come about,
I should not consider them blunders,
For I should be Inside-Out!

"Vain And Careless"

Lady, lovely lady,
Careless and gay!
Once when a beggar called
She gave her child away.

The beggar took the baby,
Wrapped it in a shawl,
"Bring her back," the lady said,
"Next time you call."

Hard by lived a vain man,
So vain and so proud,
He walked on stilts
To be seen by the crowd.

Up above the chimney pots,
Tall as a mast,
And all the people ran about
Shouting till he passed.

"A splendid match surely,"
Neighbours saw it plain,
"Although she is so careless,
Although he is so vain."

But the lady played bobcherry,
Did not see or care,
As the vain man went by her
Aloft in the air.

This gentle-born couple
Lived and died apart.
Water will not mix with oil,
Nor vain with careless heart.

"Weeping Pilgrim"

If you see them father
Please tell them
I'm a poor mourning pilgrim
Bound for Canaan land

Well I weep and I moan
And I move slowly on
I'm a poor mourning pilgrim
Bound for Canaan land

If you see them sister
Please tell them
I'm a poor mourning pilgrim
Bound for Canaan land

Well I weep and I moan
And I move slowly on
I'm a poor mourning pilgrim
Bound for Canaan land

If you see them brother
Please tell them
I'm a poor mourning pilgrim
Bound for Canaan land

Well I weep and I moan
And I move slowly on
I'm a poor mourning pilgrim
Bound for Canaan land

If you see them mother
Please tell them
I'm a poor mourning pilgrim
Bound for Canaan land

Well I weep and I moan
And I move slowly on
I'm a poor mourning pilgrim
Bound for Canaan land

"When They Ring The Golden Bells"

There's a land beyond the river
That they call the sweet forever
And we only reach that shore by faith's decree
One by one we'll gain the portals
There to dwell with the immortals
When they ring the golden bells for you and me

Don't you hear the bells now ringing
Don't you hear the angels singing
'Tis the glory hallelujah Jubilee
In that far off sweet forever,
Just beyond the shining river
When they ring the golden bells for you and me

We shall know no sin or sorrow
In that heaven of tomorrow
When our hearts shall sail beyond the silvery sea
We shall only know the blessing
Of our Father's sweet caressing
When they ring the golden bells for you and me

Don't you hear the bells now ringing
Don't you hear the angels singing
'Tis the glory hallelujah Jubilee
In that far off sweet forever
Just beyond the shining river
When they ring the golden bells for you and me

When our days shall know their number
When in death we sweetly slumber
When the King commands the spirit to be free
Nevermore with anguish laden
We shall reach that lovely Eden
When they ring the golden bells for you and me
When they ring the golden bells for you and me