254 Curiosity

About This Song: (lyrics below)
This is an old African folktale that I turned into an “olde” Irish song. Here I’m performing it live in front of an audience of 4th graders.

Curiosity

Song # 254   |   1996   |  CD: DrumSongStory Live

I woke up one morning and gave thanks for the day
Then I picked up my drum and I started to play
And I started to walk with the rising sun
And I walked and I walked til I came to a town

Now in that town the people gathered around
It seems they’d never seen a drum before
So I had so much fun as I played on my drum
And they all pushed in close to see how it was done

But then, somebody pushed my drum,
Somebody pulled my drum,
Somebody poked my drum
And pretty soon they’d broken my drum to bits…

(Aw……)

So I asked them “Why did you break my drunm?
Why did you break my beautiful drum?”
And they apologized as they answered me,
“It’s all because of our CURIOSITY!
But you won’t go away with empty hands
Stay with us and eat and then we’ll dance!”

So I stayed with them and ate and danced with them
and then they gave to me the most beautiful
Rug…

So I gave a shrug and accepted my rug
And I started to walk and I walked and I walked…
I walked til I came to a town, I walked til I came to a beautiful town

Now in that town they’d never seen a rug
They had no chairs or rugs, they just sat on the ground
And when I showed them my rug the women gave me kisses (easy ladies)
And the men gave me hugs (easy there fellas)
And they sat down on my rug and they lay down on my rug and they dance on my rug
But pretty soon they started to tug on my rug
And they tugged and they tugged til they tore it to shreds…

(Aw……)

So I asked them “Why did you tear my rug?
Why did you tear my beautiful rug?”
And they apologized as they answered me,
“It’s all because of our CURIOSITY!
But you won’t go away with empty hands
Stay with us and eat and then we’ll dance!”

So I stayed with them and ate and danced with them
And then they gave to me the most beautiful
Pot!

It was fire glazed in black and I smiled as I slung that pot across my back
And I started to walk and I walked and I walked…
I walked til I came to a town, I walked til I came to a beautiful town

Now in that town they’d never seen a pot
They had nothing to carry water in cold or hot
So I showed them my pot and they like it a lot
And they carried lots of water in it cold and hot
But then somebody touched my pot,
Somebody pulled my pot and pretty soon they’d broken my pot to bits…

(Aw….)

So I asked them “Why did you break by pot?
Why did you break my beautiful pot?”
And they apologized as they answered me,
“It’s all because of our CURIOSITY!
But you won’t go away with empty hands
Stay with us and eat and then we’ll dance!”

So I stayed with them and ate and danced with them
And then they gave to me the most beautiful…

COW!

So I started out with my beautiful cow
And we walked and we walked til we came to a town
We walked til we came to a beautiful town

Now in that town they’d never seen a cow!
I don’t know how they’d never seen a cow
But I showed them my cow and I gave them some milk
And then more and more and you know it wasn’t very long before
They started touching my cow, pushing my cow, pulling on my cow and then?

THEY ATE MY COW!

(Aw….)

So I asked them “Why did you EAT my cow?
Why did you eat my beautiful cow?”
And they apologized as they answered me,
“It’s all because of our CURIOSITY!
But you won’t go away with empty hands
Stay with us and eat and then we’ll dance!”

So I stayed with them (but I didn’t eat) and I didn’t feel like dancing
And then they tried to give me the most beautiful…

WIFE!

But I said to them [spoken] “I deeply respect your culture,
but where I am from a woman is not a THING. She should choose her own life!”

And I think she like that because it made her smile.
So I smiled at her
And she Smiled at me
And I smiled at HER
And she smiled at ME

And pretty soon we both went on a date…

And pretty soon we both chose not to separate….
(which is poetic language meaning we got married)

And we started to walk and we walked and we walked
And we walked and we walked til we came to a town
We walked til we came to a beautiful town

Now in that town they had see a wife,
But none as beautiful, intelligent, articulate, talented and creative as my wife…

But something made me worry…
Something made me want to leave that town in a hurry
As they pushed in closer towards me and my wife
Based on past experience I began to fear for her life
And then they held me down and they took my wife

They took from me my beautiful, intelligent, articulate, talented and creative wife

Who was introduce to me by those you ate my cow
Which was given to me by those who broke my pot
Which was given to me by those who tore my rug
Which was given to me by those who broke my drum
Does anyone remember my beautiful drum?

Well.
They held me down and they laughed at me…
Then they brought out my wife in a beautiful gown…

For in that town, in that beautiful town they had a saying,
“A beautiful woman should have a beautiful gown”

And seeing her alive and all in one piece made me so happy that I jumped for joy…

And when I jumped, I bumped…
And when I bumped I woke up…
You see, it had all been a dream…

So you know what I did?

I got out of bed and I gave thanks for the day
Then I picked up my drum and I started to play
And I started to walk with the rising sun
And I walked and I walked til I came to a town
I walked til I came to a beautiful town

Now in that town the people gathered around
It seems they’d never seen a drum before…

And I guess you know the rest of the story….
credits

Copyright 1996-2016 by Mark Shepard. All Rights Reserved.