A Million Little Pieces Of My Mind

The words here are Charles Edward Carryl's "The Camel's Complaint" (1885), a nonsense poem in which a thoroughly put-upon camel runs down every other animal's cushy arrangements—canaries with their sugar, poodles with their noodles, cats dozing in chairs—before landing on the joke: he can make do with anything, anywhere, any shape at all. It scans so naturally to a tune that I couldn't resist setting it, unchanged, to music for this album.

Nancy Porter sings lead—you'll find her biography over on "The Dog Died."

Canary-birds feed on sugar and seed,
Parrots have crackers to crunch;
And, as for the poodles, they tell me the noodles
Have chickens and cream for their lunch.
But there's never a question
About MY digestion—
Anything does for me!

Cats, you're aware, can repose in a chair,
Chickens can roost upon rails;
Puppies are able to sleep in a stable,
And oysters can slumber in pails.
But no one supposes
A poor Camel dozes—
Any place does for me!

Lambs are inclosed where it's never exposed,
Coops are constructed for hens;
Kittens are treated to houses well heated,
And pigs are protected by pens.
But a Camel comes handy
Wherever it's sandy—
Anywhere does for me!

People would laugh if you rode a giraffe,
Or mounted the back of an ox;
It's nobody's habit to ride on a rabbit,
Or try to bestraddle a fox.
But as for a Camel, he's
Ridden by families—
Any load does for me!

A snake is as round as a hole in the ground,
And weasels are wavy and sleek;
And no alligator could ever be straighter
Than lizards that live in a creek.
But a Camel's all lumpy
And bumpy and humpy—
Any shape does for me!