Biff, The Friendly Purple Bear

(album: All The Love In The World - 1974)

Now I was a play horse you pulled with a string
On wheels where my legs should be
And he was the boy who pulled the toy
Around the tree house tree
And for the longest time it was just us two
The boy and the horse that was me
Until the day the purple bear came
To live in the tree house tree

Now it was early one spring
And I was tied by my string
In a field of a make believe farm
When around the house the boy and the bear
Came marching arm in arm
'This is Biff', said the boy to me
'He's the friendly, purple bear'
And Biff stooped down and stroked my mane
With a ball of purple hair
'Biff has come to stay,' said the boy
'To pretend with me and you
And he can do anything a boy and a toy
Believe purple bears can do'

And taking a cue, Biff bowed from the waist
Then leaped and clicked his heels
Then down to the ground with three somersaults
That ended in four cartwheels
He whirled and twirled and stood on his head
The boy giggled and slapped his thighs
And I laughed so hard that wooden tears
Rolled out of my painted eyes

So Biff came to stay in the tree house tree
And long days came without end
For the boy and the toy and the purple bear
And serious games of pretend

Like the cowboy game
Where the boy is the sheriff
And Biff is the bandit king
It always seemed to end
With the outlaws down in the jail
By the long rope swing

And you know there was this great pony race
That lasted for days around the flower bed
Boy, that was a tough one
Lucky for us, though, I won by a wooden head

And then one day we entered a pirate's cove
Beneath a bush on the alley side
Ol' Biff had a sword and a paper hat
And a patch across a purple eye

And there was always the danger
Of outlaws or Indians
And creatures from outer space
And without the courage of the three of us
We might have lost the whole darn place

But we were bound by the code of the Musketeers
Such golden hours were shared
By the freckled face boy and the wooden horse toy
And Biff, the friendly, purple bear

But as summers passed the boy grew taller
And his voice took a strange new ring
And his visits were few to the tree house tree
And never to the long rope swing

Biff, the purple bear grew sad
As he climbed down the tree house tree
He shook his head
'I'm afraid,' he said
'He's forgotten you and me
It seems old wooden friend of mine
We've outlasted his boyhood years'
And he turned and he was gone across the lawn
In a trail of purple tears

Now I've been put to pasture in the old tree house
But at times I've seen from afar
A strange, tall boy who mowed the lawn
And tinkers about this old car
But just today I saw a new little boy
Coming down the sidewalk
I swear he was headed straight for me
In the tree house tree
Followed by Biff, that old friendly, purple bear