Amos and I have been visiting Dani Black in North Carolina since the Getaway. Dani's housemate is a young woman who sings at the drop of a hat - our kinda people. She's been trying to come up with songs that I don't know, and today she stumped me with Nero's Expedition. Mark Cohen posted the lyrics at Mudcat years ago, and the song has been included in the Digital Tradition.
Was it really written by Moondog? Anybody have alternate versions to post?
Here's Mark's post:

Thread #42454   Message #623222
Posted By: Mark Cohen
08-Jan-02 - 04:24 AM
Thread Name: BS: The Invasion of the Manatees
Subject: RE: BS: The Invasion of the Manatees


I knew there was a reason I'd been avoiding this thread...but here's my chance to turn it into a musical one! Seems there would have been a call for manatees in ancient Egypt, as evidenced by this round, which was created by Moondog, evidently after reading a history book while in an altered state of consciousness:

Nero's expedition up the Nile
Failed
Because the water hyacinths
Had clogged the river
Denying Nero's vessels passage
Through the Sud of Nubia

If you ever get a chance to hear this sung, it's awesome--the only round I know with jazz chords!

Aloha,
Mark
(you remember, manatees eat water hyacinths, and...oh, the hell with it, you figure it out)

---

Here's an interesting citation from Historical Dictionary of Ancient and Medieval Nubia, by Richard A. Lobban, Jr. [Scarecrow Press, 2003, page 280]:

Nero, Emperor (54-58 CE) Nero sent an exploratory expedition up the Nile to Meroe and beyond into the Ethiopian highlands, viewing various flora and fauna. For example, rhinoceros, elephants, monkeys, green grass; and a description of the Sudd [a vast swamp in South Sudan] was recorded. The purpose of the expedition is not clear, but historians believe Nero was intending to organize a military quest of Nubia. His assassination aborted whatever plans he may have had, and Nubia was spared Roman Domination. Pliny and Seneca have recorded the details of the expedition undertaken under the rule of Nero, a contemporary of St. Mark. Nero's brutal oppression of Christians and Jews was notorious, including the martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul in the context of finding someone to blame for the burning of Rome in 64 CE.

Can't say much for the author's grammar, but the information he provides in interesting. But is there truth in the part about the hyacinths described in the song and not mentioned here?