Lyrics Harry Belafonte

Harry Belafonte

Man Piaba

When I was a lad of three-foot-three

Certain questions occurred to me,

So I asked me father quite seriously

To tell me the story 'bout the bird and bee.

He stammered and he stuttered pathetically

And this is what he said to me.

He said, "The woman piaba and the man piaba

and the Ton Ton call baka lemon grass,

The lily root, gully root, belly root uhmm,

And the famous grandy scratch scratch.

It was clear as mud but it covered the ground

And the confusion made the brain go 'round.

I went and ask a good friend of mine,

Known to the world as Albert Einstein.

He said "Son, from the beginning of time and creativity

There existed the force of relativity

Pi r square and a minus ten means a routine only when

The solar system in one light year

Make the Hayden planetarium disappear

So if Mt Everest doesn't move

I am positive that it will prove

That the woman piaba and the man piaba

And the Ton Ton call baka lemon grass,

The lily root, gully root, belly root uhmm,

And the famous grandy scratch scratch.

It was clear as mud but it covered the ground

And the confusion made the brain go 'round.

I grabbed a boat and went abroad

In Baden Baden asked Sigmund Freud

He said "Son, from your sad face remove the grouch

Put the body down up on the couch

I can see from your frustration a neurotic sublimation

Hey love and hate is psychosomatic

Your Rorsach shows that you're a peri pathetic

It all started with a broken sibling

In the words of the famous Rudyard Kipling

That the woman piaba and the man piaba

And the Ton Ton call baka lemon grass,

The lily root, gully root, belly root uhmm,

And the famous grandy scratch scratch.

Well I traveled far and I traveled wide

And I don't even have me self a bride

All the great men upon this earth

Have confused me since my birth

I've been over land and been over sea

Trying to find answer 'bout the bird and bee

But now that I am ninety three

I don't give a darn you see

If the woman piaba and the man piaba

And the Ton Ton call baka lemon grass,

The lily root, gully root, belly root uhmm,

And the famous grandy scratch scratch.