"My uncle Walter is missing some wares.                           12
He's been that way all his life, mother declares.
It's not that he's violent or falls down the stairs --
It's just that he waltzes, he waltzes with bears."

Interesting! My verse (with changes) has been picked up by others. In fact, the change from what I originally wrote is incorporated in the parody version by Bob Townshend, it seems.

I originally wrote (actually, just sang, one day while shaving):

"My Uncle Walter's not right in the head;
He's been that way all his life, my mother said.
It's not that he's violent or falls down the stairs --
It's just he goes waltzin, waltzing with bears."

At the time I wrote that, the Uncle Terwilliger song hadn't even been noticed by the folk community. And the Uncle Terwilliger lyrics noted above aren't much like Geisel's original, if I recall those lyrics correctly, so Joe's surprise at the copyright decision (two separate songs) is based on a mistaken idea of the original lyric.

Anyway, it's interesting that my parody verse moved into the "tradition."

Bob