ecn-ec:mj@pur-ee.UUCP (08/11/83)
#N:ecn-ec:14100009:000:3620
ecn-ec!mj Jun 26 13:43:00 1983
In response to the request for REAL poetry, I shall now
quote Ogden Nash. These verses were written
to accompany the music of Tchaikovski's NUTCRACKER SUITE,
in a joint venture with Andre Kostelanetz directing and with
Peter Ustinov as orator on the Columbia label. The album
is called 'Nutcracker and Between Birthdays Suites', I
think, and it is the best combination of music and elocution
I have ever heard. (Having this record as a child is one of
the reasons I like classical music and poetry.) Sooooooooo....
The Nutcracker
--------------
A little girl marched round her Christmas tree,
And many a marvelous toy had she.
There were cornucopias of sugar plums,
And a mouse with a crown that sucked its thumbs,
And a fascinating Russian folderol
Which was a doll,
Inside a doll,
Inside a doll,
Inside a doll.
And a posey (?) as gay as the Christmas lights,
And a picturebook of the Arabian Nights,
And a painted silken Chinese fan,
But the one she loved was the Nutcracker-Man.
She thought about him when she went to bed,
With his great long legs and his funny little head,
So she crept downstairs for a last goodnight,
And arrived in the middle of a furious fight!
The royal mouse that sucked its thumbs led
An army of mice with swords and drums,
They were battling to seize the toys as slaves
To wait upon them in their secret caves.
The Nutcracker-Man cracked many a crown,
But they overwhelmed him, they whelmed him down.
They were cramming him into a hole in the floor
When the little girl tiptoed to the door.
She had one talent which made her proud:
She could meow like a cat, and now she meowed
A meow so fierce, a meow so feline,
That the mice fled home in a squealing bee-line.
The Nutcracker-Man cracked a hickory nut
To see if his jaws could open and shut,
Then he cracked another, and he didn't wince,
And he turned like that! into a handsome prince.
And the toys came dancing form the Christmas tree
To celebrate the famous victory.
[music]
======
Dance of the Chinese Fan
------------------------
You wouldn't think a Chinese fan could dance,
But in her way, she can.
To strange expedience she is put
Because she only has one foot
Where other folk have left and right,
And her one foot is bound up, tight.
With courage her confusion hiding
She bobs and bows instead of gliding.
Her dainty gestures never stop,
Her little foot goes hip-hop-hop,
And this must be a harder trick
Than dancing on a pogo-stick!
[music]
======
(I'm not sure of the spelling, the word is pronounced
MOO-zhik, but I will spell it mujik)
The russian mujik
Is mad for music
For music the mujik
Is most enthusic.
Whenever an instrument twangs or toots
He tucks his trousers into his boots,
He squats on his heels (but his knees don't crack),
And he kicks like a frenzied jumping-jack!
My knees would make this performance tragic
But his have special mujik magic.
[music]
======
(This one introduces a song from the BETWEEN BIRTHDAYS
suite, on the flip side)
Hurdy-gurdy, organ grinder,
Lost his wife and couldn't find her,
He sought her late, he sought her early,
With hurdy-gurdy hurly-burly.
Found her in a gingerbread house,
Waltzing with a waltzing mouse.
He locked them in his hurdy-gurdy,
Which gave the plot of 'Aida' to Verdi.
(That last line.... GROAN!)
I'll post the Columbia record number soon... I don't even know if it's
still in print, but I think it is.
________
Mark A. Johnson Purdue University decvax!pur-ee!mj
(317) 743-2548