The Serpent (Ned Rorem)

There was a Serpent who had to sing.

There was. There was.

He simply gave up Serpenting.

Because. Because.

He didn't like his Kind of Life;

He couldn't find a proper Wife;

He was a Serpent with a soul;

He got no Pleasure down his Hole.

And so, of course, he had to Sing,

And Sing he did, like Anything!

The Birds, they were, they were Astounded;

And various Measures Propounded

To stop the Serpent's Awful Racket:

They bought a Drum. He wouldn't

Whack it.

They sent, —you always send, —to Cuba

And got a Most Commodious Tuba;

They got a Horn, they got a Flute,

But Nothing would suit.

He said, "Look, Birds, all this is futile:

I do not like to Bang or Tootle."

And then he cut loose with a Horrible Note

That practically split the Top of his Throat.

"You see," he said, with a Serpent's Leer,

"I'm Serious about my Singing Career!"

And the Woods Resounded with many a Shriek

As the Birds flew off to the end of Next Week.

(Theodore Roethke)

Soprano: Pamela Andrews

Pianist: Alan Hicks

Filmed and recorded in Llewellyn Hall, Canberra, by the Australian National University, November 2010, on behalf of Pamela Andrews.

Edited for YouTube by JRR4FILM Productions.

© JRR4FILM Productions 2011