Put Me In The Zoo Lyrics - Singles - Bryant Richard

Richard Bryant 

There was a white man from South Carolina 

Dabbled in anthropology 

He took ship to the African continent 

In the year of 1903 

Will you lead me through the jungle 

He asked the man who met him there 

To the pygmy man and woman do you dare 

Ota Benga measured four foot ten 

From his head down to his toe 

He could split the eye of the elephant 

With his poison arrow and bow 

And feed the village three times over 

On Father Elephant's jungle steak 

Wash it down with good palm wine down by the cane break 

He heard Phillips Verner and his guide 

Wriggle in the bush one day 

He'd never seen a man with skin like milk 

He could not turn his gaze away 

Phillips spoke to him in his own tongue 

I've been searching for a man like you 

Come sail away with me and I'll put you in the zoo 

Ota looked into his pale blue eyes 

As the man did cast his spell 

How else to explain when they started next day 

For the land where the white men dwell 

Yes I will travel with you, Verner 

But there is one thing you must do 

Return me safely home so I can put you in the zoo 

Forty thousand people in New York 

Traveled to the Bronx one day 

And stood in line in front of the monkey house 

To see the pygmy on display 

Ota Benga put on quite a show 

Said the Times in a mixed review 

But we're not sure we approve of a pygmy in the zoo 

They say that Phillips Verner was half mad 

But he was a man of his word 

He took Ota back to his jungle home 

A land that himself preferred 

They built a pen, put his rocking chair right in 

And his books and his magazines too 

Then Phillips Verner said now you can put me in the zoo 

The forest people came from miles around 

To see the cage Phillips occupied 

We leave him there as he rocks and he reads out loud 

To the assembled countryside 

Ota Benga never received his degree in Caucasian anthropology 

But he did get a laugh or two when he put Phillips Verner in the zoo 

He did get a laugh or two when he put Phillips Verner in the zoo 

And we dance like demons 

Down in the furnace room 

Spill red wine, green weed we might