Shel Silverstein

Having learned of the death of Dennis Locorriere, a few months ago, I find myself remembering the songs of Shel Silverstein. He was a comedy genius, who wrote sentimental stories for children... and also wrote racy and suggestive lyrics for songs and was a friend of Hugh Hefner. Dr Hook started off by performing a lot of his songs and it was only later that they began to do love ballads which were more commercially successful. Shel did an album of his own comedy songs, with Dr Hook backing him. One of my favourites is "Polly in a Porny", about a man who takes out a girl who is very prim and proper. Then he goes to a porn cinema to watch a movie.. and he sees Polly, taking part in the film with a pony. Another is called "Stacy Brown got two".. about a man with 2 penises. Another is titled, "Ever since my Masochistic baby went and left me, I got nothing to hit but the wall". Shel's most famous comic song is probably the Johnny Cash hit, A Boy named Sue. Shel wrote it as a poem and Johnny liked it, so he told his band, at a concert that he was going to sing it and they should follow his tune. He didn't even know the words, but he had a great hit with it. Its about a young man whose father "went and named me Sue" so he was teased all through his childhood. He goes in search of him, and finds him at a bar dealing stud, and challenges him. They have a fight, but his father tells him that he only named him Sue because he wanted to make him tough... and all ends happily. Another very popular song was Freaking at the Freakers Ball", which is about a dance for sexually weird people. The FBI attend and are dancing with the junkies, gay men and lesbians boogie together, sadists and masochists do the same...singing "Please hit me, and I'll hit you." Another song I like is "A Front Row seat to hear old Johnny sing". It's a comic song about a redneck guy who has only wanted a few simple things out of life, including "A TV set and a truck and a wife".. and the big one was "a front row seat" to hear Johnny Cash. So he drives to Nashville and tries to get a ticket. He keeps being moved around to different places and finally he gets to the Opry, and is told that the show is booked up, and he will have to wait for months. One of the staff says "We've been booked up for months and months, and this poor insane fella wants, a Front row seat to hear old Johnny sing." The guy gets angry and draws his gun and shoots - and he winds up in jail. And Lo and behold, the prisoners have a show, and it's Johnny Cash.. so he finally has his front row seat to hear him.