The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #24930   Message #529708
Posted By: GUEST,Kim
16-Aug-01 - 07:19 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Don't Go in the Lion's Cage Tonight
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Go In the Lion's Cage Tonight
Here is (most of) a somewhat more gruesome version. I can probably recall the tune if anyone desperately needs to know (khughes@verio.net).I put an underline where I couldn't remember the words.

Don't Go in the Lions' Cage Tonight

A mother once she had a lovely daughter,
The mother was an actress on the stage;
She traveled with a troop of well-trained lions,
And every night she went into their cage.

One night the daughter had a premonition,
That everything that night would not go right--
______________________________________,
"Please, don't go in the lions' cage tonight!"

"Don't go in the lions' cage tonight, mother darling,
For the lions look ferocious, and may bite,
And when they get their angry fits, they may tear you all to bits;
Don't go in the lions' cage tonight!"

The mother did not heed the daughter's warning,
But turned to her, and softly said, "Pooh, pooh.
I think that I should know what I am doing;
When I'm around, the lions all feel blue."

That night ________________,
And the lions, they decided they would eat,
And as they bit the dear old mother's head off,
These words came back to her, so clear and sweet:

"Don't go in the lions' cage tonight, mother darling,
For the lions look ferocious, and may bite.
And when they get their angry fits, they may tear you all to bits;
Don't go in the lions' cage tonight!"

As I recall, the singer inserted a pretty maniacal "Ha ha ha ha ha!" right before the very last line -- totally reversing your previous impression of the sweet young child pleading with her mother.