Shel Silverstein Appreciation

"PotbellyJoe and 42 others" (potbellyjoe) 02/01/2016 at 12:35 • Filed to: Shel Silverstein, Kids books

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Not that this is because of a specific date, but $kay’s comment in the Barracuda thread with the mermaid reminded me of the song The Mermaid written by Uncle Shelby and performed by Bobby Bare and later Great Big Sea. Here’s the GBS version:

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When you think about, here is a guy who was expelled from high school, joined the army and then went on to write some of the funniest and yet most poignant work of his generation. On one hand he writes The Giving Tree and on the other he writes A Boy Named Sue and The Unicorn. Songs that are solidly witty and also practically known by every household.

The guy convinced Playboy to send him around the world to draw cartoons. He must have been the greatest salesman ever to live.

I won’t post a ton, but this was always one of my favorites from “Where the Sidewalk Ends.”

Oh, if you’re a bird, be an early bird

And catch the worm for your breakfast plate.

If you’re a bird, be an early early bird—

But if you’re a worm, sleep late.

Nibby > PotbellyJoe and 42 others 02/01/2016 at 12:37

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0pihl > PotbellyJoe and 42 others 02/01/2016 at 12:52

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I used to be an engineer at Columbia Records and worked with Shel both on his stuff and Dr. Hook. He was fun to be around.

PotbellyJoe and 42 others > 0pihl 02/01/2016 at 12:55

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I can imagine.

luvMeSome142 & some Lincoln! > PotbellyJoe and 42 others 02/01/2016 at 17:28

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I love his stuff. I’ve got “Where the Sidewalk Ends” and “A Light in the Attic”. I read them when I was a kid. Now I read them to my kids.

Some of the poems are profound and some are profoundly silly.