The Frank Crumit recording is an abridgement of Percy French's second version of the song, which Dick Greenhaus posted above. We can fit only abridged lyrics in the upcoming Rise Again songbook, and I think I like Crumit's version. ABDUL ABULBUL AMEER The sons of the Prophet are brave men and bold And quite unaccustomed to fear But the bravest by far in the ranks of the Shah Was Abdul Abulbul Ameer. Now the heroes were plenty and well-known to fame In the troops that were led by the Czar And the bravest of these was a man by the name Of Ivan Skivinsky Skivar. One day this bold Russian had shouldered his gun And donned his most truculent sneer Downtown he did go, where he trod on the toe Of Abdul Abulbul Ameer. "Young Man" quoth Abdul "Has life grown so dull That you wish to end your career- Vile infidel know, you have trod on the toe Of Abdul Abulbul Ameer". Said Ivan: "My friend, your remarks in the end Will avail you but little, I fear, For you ne'er will survive to repeat them alive Mr. Abdul Abulbul Ameer." "So take your last look at sunshine and brook, And send your regrets to the Czar For by this I imply, you are going to die Count Ivan Skivinsky Skivar." They fought all that night 'neath the pale yellow moon The din it was heard from afar And huge multitudes came, so great was the fame Of Abdul and Ivan Skivar. [As Abdul's long knife was extracting the life (In fact he was shouting "Huzza") He felt himself struck by that wily Calmuck Count Ivan Skivinsky Skivar] The Sultan drove by in his red-crested fly Expecting the victor to cheer But he only drew nigh to hear the last sigh Of Abdul Abulbul Ameer. Czar Petrovitch, too, in his spectacles blue Rode up in his new-crested car, He arrived just in time to exchange a last line With Ivan Skivinsky Skivar. There's a tomb rises up where the Blue Danube flows Engraved there in characters clear "Ah, Stranger, when passing, oh, pray for the soul Of Abdul Abulbul Ameer" A Muscovite maiden her lone vigil keeps 'Neath the light of the pale polar star And the name that she murmurs, so oft as she weeps Is Ivan Skivinsky Skivar. [the part in brackets is not included in the Crumit recording, but I think it's needed to make sense of the story - the fact that each man killed the other is pertinent, dontchathink?]
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