The Merry Minuet - A Fitting Song For Yesterday and Today....

[global1]

They're Rioting in Africa (original version)

Intro:
There are days in my life when everything is dreary
I grow pessimistic, sad and world weary.
But when I'm tearful and fearfully upset
I always sing this merry little minuet:

They're rioting in Africa
They're starving in Spain
There's hurricanes in Florida
And Texas needs rain.

The whole world is festering
With unhappy souls
The French hate the Germans,
The Germans hate the Poles

Italians hate Yugoslavs
South Africans hate the Dutch
And I don't like anybody very much

But we can be grateful
And thankful and proud
That man's been endowed
With a mushroom shaped cloud

And we know for certain
That some happy day
Someone will set the spark off
And we will all be blown away

They're rioting in Africa
There's strife in Iran
What nature doesn't do to us
Will be done by our fellow man.

Comment:

All we need to do is add a couple of more contemporary verses. I hope other DU'ers take a crack at a verse or two - here's my version:

Same Intro (as it still is fitting and proper):

There are days in my life when everything is dreary
I grow pessimistic, sad and world weary.
But when I'm tearful and fearfully upset
I always sing this merry little minuet:

They're rioting in Mexico
Iraq is in flames
Kim Il Jong is threatening
In Mumbai those trains!!!

The whole world is tetering
Gore says on thin ice
And Hollywood's next remake
D.Johnson's Miami Vice

The Dems hate Republicans
The repubs have the touch
And Dick Cheney hates everybody very much

George Bush can be grateful
For votes he don't lack
That man's been endowed
With a Diebold made hack

And we know for certain
That some crazy day
He'll push the button
And we will all be blown away

They're rioting in Mexico
There's strife in Iran
What nature doesn't do to us
Will be done by chimpman.

[Bjornsdotter]

1. Crap

I'm old enough that I started singing the song as soon as I saw the title.

Cheers

[Hissyspit]

2. The Kingston Trio "From The Hungry i" (1959)

It was written by the guy who did 'Fiddler On The Roof.'

[OneBlueSky]

3. the very first vinyl record album I purchased was . . .

the Kingston Trio album that included this song . . . I still have it somewhere, stored away with about a thousand others . . .