The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #14921   Message #4043465
Posted By: Jim Dixon
31-Mar-20 - 09:24 PM
Thread Name: Atheist Hymns
Subject: Lyr Add: POOR LITTLE ME (D Barker, C Strouse)
I copied and pasted these lyrics from the website of the Freedom from Religion Foundation. You can hear a performance by Dan Barker at YouTube:


POOR LITTLE ME
Words by Dan Barker, music by Charles Strouse, ©2012.

The multitudes mumble mythologies without end,
But me, I have trouble with "ologies" that pretend
To show what can't be shown,
To know what can't be known.

Lutherans have liturgies. Calvinists have creeds.
Muslims have their minarets. Catholics have their beads.
Methodists have methods, holy truth to ascertain,
But poor little me, I only have a brain.

Bishops transubstantiate. Shintos ring their bells.
Transcendentalists meditate. Wiccans weave their spells.
Hindus chant a mantra when they can't relieve the pain,
But poor little me, I only have a brain.

So fearful of the nether land, believers band together.
Unhappy with the weatherman, the Zunis wave a feather.
They dance in circles to demand: "Great Spirit, send some rain!"
But what do you do if you only have a brain?

Quakers quake and Shakers shake. Jews eat kosher food.
Rastafarians wear their hair in pious gratitude.
They all boast of miracles that no one can explain,
But poor little me, poor little me, I only have a brain.

- - - - -
Dan Barker is co-president of the Freedom from Religion Foundation and has written many songs and poems. Charles Strouse wrote the music for Annie, Bye Bye Birdie, and many other musicals.