My family was in town this weekend and many activities centered around the kids - my son and my 2 year old nephew. Not surprisingly, we opted to go to the Zoo on Sunday morning. My dad hates zoos but, being the good grandfather he is, he acquiesced and said he would go to the zoo. However, all weekend, including our couple of hours at the zoo, he sang Simon and Garfunkel's song "At the Zoo" repeatedly. For those of you (like my dad) who can't remember the lyrics, here are the relevant parts:Something tells me
It's all happening at the zoo.
I do believe it,
I do believe it's true.
The monkeys stand for honesty,
Giraffes are insincere,
And the elephants are kindly but they're dumb.
Orangutans are skeptical
Of changes in their cages,
And the zookeeper is very fond of rum.
Zebras are reactionaries,
Antelopes are missionaries,
Pigeons plot in secrecy.
And hamsters turn on frequently,
What a gas! You gotta come and see
At the zoo.
At the zoo.
Of course, my dad was only able to remember a few of the animals mentioned and kept repeating, "I know the giraffes are insincere and orangutans are skeptical, but what's the rest?" After we looked up the lyrics, he sang the whole thing all weekend. I told him to stop because he was going to get my nephew's hopes up regarding the animals at the Peoria Zoo. My nephew was going to expect giraffes, elephants, orangutans, and antelopes (like he has at his big city zoo) and he was going to be very sad when he didn't see them. Thank goodness my nephew was on a bit of a farm animal kick and was only talking about seeing cows and "cock-a-doos" a.k.a., roosters.
We spent about two hours at the zoo (it was so humid - it felt like they had imported Africa's weather for the new addition) and went home for lunch. Everyone left my house soon thereafter, leaving me in peace. I needed some serious "vegging out" time, so I watched the movie Raising Helen on cable. (I love John Corbitt!) Wouldn't you know it - there is a video montage in the movie featuring, you guessed it, Simon and Garfunkel's song "At the Zoo."
What are the odds?
3 comments:
Speaking of strange coincidences, I was goofing around at Glen Oak Park on Sunday too. I was walking around in the Botanical Gardens and checking out the progress of the new Zoo.
I honestly didn't realize how few lyrics there were to that song until I read your post. Good song.
Something tells me it's all happening at the zoo...
Don't ya just hate it when some one gets a song in their head, and then keeps singing or humming it over and over? My husband is notorious for doing that, and it drives me crazy! What is worse than his singing is when he starts whistling tunes in such a high pitch that it makes your ears bleed! He's no Elvis or for that matter Roger Whittaker...although he might think so~
Nice picture. I love camels . . . and llamas.
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