HAVE YOU GOT ANY NEWS OF THE ICEBERG?
(Les Barker)

On a cold rainy night on a Liverpool quayside
In the years before the Great War
The crowd was in shock at the loss of Titanic;
So proud had they been days before.

Relatives gathered for news of their loved ones,
To read through the list of the dead,
When into the throng came a sad-eyed old polar bear
And to the clerk at the counter he said

Have you got any news of the iceberg?
My family were on it, you see;
Have you got any news of the iceberg?
They mean the whole world to me.

My wife and my children were coming from Greenland
To be by my side in the zoo;
Belinda's my wife, and the eldest's called Bernard,
And Billy, well he's only two.

I know on the ship there were hundreds of people
And I know the iceberg's not yours...
The polar bear's eyes held the start of his teardrops
And he covered his face with his paws.

Have you got any news of the iceberg?
My family were on it, you see;
Have you got any news of the iceberg?
They mean the whole world to me.

It's been over a year since I last saw my children;
I left home to build my career;
I've worked very hard; I'm a star in the circus;
It's all been for nothing, I fear.

That's my face on the poster; we're in town this week;
My children were meeting me here.
Everyone watched as he struggled to speak,
As his paw brushed away one more tear.

Have you got any news of the iceberg?
My family were on it, you see;
Have you got any news of the iceberg?
They mean the whole world to me.

By now all the people had gathered beside him;
His grief was one they could share.
The people around him, in silence and sadness,
Listened to the sad polar bear.

I wanted my children to see me performing
And Belinda, she would have been proud;
At last lost for words, and his tears flowing freely,
The question was asked by the crowd.

Have you got any news of the iceberg?
My family were on it, you see;
Have you got any news of the iceberg?
They mean the whole world to me.

Recorded by Les Barker on'Up the creek without a poodle'
(Mrs Ackroyd Records DOG 012)
and by the Mrs Ackroyd Band on 'Tubular Dogs'
(Mrs Ackroyd Records DOG 014)

@animal @disaster
filename[ NEWSICEB
RG
mudcat.org

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