Effervescing Elephant

(album: Barrett - 1970)

An Effervescing Elephant
with tiny eyes and great big trunk
Once whispered to the tiny ear
The ear of one inferior
that by next June he'd die, oh yeah!
Because the tiger would roam
The little one said, "Oh my goodness I must stay at home"
And every time I hear a growl
I'll know the tiger's on the prowl
and I'll be really safe, you know
the elephant he told me so
Everyone was nervy, oh yeah!
and the message was spread
to zebra, mongoose, and the dirty hippopotamus
who wallowed in the mud and chewed
his spicy hippo-plankton food
and tended to ignore the word
preferring to survey a herd
of stupid water bison, oh yeah
And all the jungle took fright
and ran around for all the day and the night
but all in vain, because, you see
the tiger came and said "Who me?
you know I wouldn't hurt not one of you
I'd much prefer something to chew
and your all to scant." Oh yeah!
He ate the elephant