Help: Poem:The Titanic & homeless polar bears

Subject: Poem:The Titanic & homeless polar bears
From: geo45
Date: 27 Feb 01 - 09:18 PM

Two or three years ago, on NPR, I heard a poem recited which related the plight of a survivor searching for relatives lost in the Titanic/iceberg collision. The survivor was a polar bear whose family lived on the iceberg. I would really appreciate if anyone could help me locate the words for this poem. It was quite well done.

Thanking you all in advance,

George, aka geo45

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Subject: RE: Help: Poem:The Titanic & homeless polar bears
From: katlaughing
Date: 27 Feb 01 - 10:56 PM

Well, I didn't have much luck. I did find this article about "Polar, the Titanic Bear" a children's book about a stuffed bear which survived the disaster.

I didn't have time to search NPR's archives, but a LOT of stuff come up when I put "titanic" in their search box, which you can find by clicking here.

I'd like to read this, good luck in finding it.

kat

Subject: RE: Help: Poem:The Titanic & homeless polar bears
From: Bugsy
Date: 27 Feb 01 - 11:17 PM

I think you may be looking for "Have you got any news of the Iceburg" a poem by Les Barker on his album, "Up the Creek Without A Poodle".

Here's his website.Click here

Unfortunately the words are not there.

Cheers

Bugsy

Subject: RE: Help: Poem:The Titanic & homeless polar bears
From: hesperis
Date: 28 Feb 01 - 12:42 AM

It's a song!!! I've heard it! It's so funny!

I think Hawster has the lyrics, or knows someone who does...

Subject: RE: Help: Poem:The Titanic & homeless polar bears
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Feb 01 - 12:55 AM

I am sure, knowing Barker, that it is hilarious, but the original posting didn't sound as though it was a humourous piece. Any other ideas out there?

Subject: RE: Help: Poem:The Titanic & homeless polar bears
From: Metchosin
Date: 28 Feb 01 - 01:19 AM

Check out this thread here

Subject: RE: Help: Poem:The Titanic & homeless polar bears
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Feb 01 - 01:29 AM

Well done, Mets! Sheesh, I feel like an idiot..for the first time in ages, I didn't use super search first! That is a great poem. I don't think I could do it without bawling my eyes out, though!

kat

Subject: RE: Help: Poem:The Titanic & homeless polar bears
From: Metchosin
Date: 28 Feb 01 - 01:36 AM

Barker's gift is such that you manage to laugh through your tears on this one kat, despite the subject matter.

Subject: RE: Help: Poem:The Titanic & homeless polar bears
From: geo45
Date: 28 Feb 01 - 06:20 PM

That's the one!!

Thank you all for your help. I will try to get the CD, if the rest of his stuff is comparable it will be well worth having.

geo45

Subject: RE: Help: Poem:The Titanic & homeless polar bears
From: tiggerdooley
Date: 28 Feb 01 - 06:35 PM

We are in TEARS round at my house!

Subject: RE: Help: Poem:The Titanic & homeless polar bears
From: JenEllen
Date: 28 Feb 01 - 06:43 PM

"Awwwwwwww," and the tears just well.

Subject: RE: Help: Poem:The Titanic & homeless polar bears
From:
Date: 28 Feb 01 - 06:46 PM

The Titanic and the Polar Bears poem is definately Les Barker's. It's in one of his booklets and I have seen him perform it numerous times. Indeed I've even been heckled by Les as he performed it while I was MC at Upton on Severn (UK) Folk Festival.

If you use a search engine and ask for Mrs Ackroyd/Les Barker you should find it.

Cheers,

Russ Franklin.

Subject: RE: Help: Poem:The Titanic & homeless polar bears
From: GUEST,Willa
Date: 28 Feb 01 - 07:14 PM

geo 45, There's loads more where that came from; all of the same quality, including "Cosmo, the almost accurate knife thrower", and "I can't find my camouflage net"

Subject: RE: Help: Poem:The Titanic & homeless polar bears
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Feb 01 - 07:18 PM

Deja Vu is another which is absolutely hilarious.

Subject: RE: Help: Poem:The Titanic & homeless polar bears
From: Kim Hughes
Date: 28 Feb 01 - 07:27 PM

http://www.waterbug.com used to carry lots of Les Barker CD's (if you're shopping in the US) -- don't know if they still do.

"Cosmo, The Fairly Accurate Knife-Thrower" is a perennial favorite, as is "Dachsunds With Erections Can't Climb Stairs."

Subject: RE: Help: Poem:The Titanic & homeless polar bears
From: Jeri
Date: 28 Feb 01 - 07:27 PM

Click here for Les Barker's web page. If you click on "Poems," there's usually a funny and a serious one up, and he changes them every so often. (He has 'Dipsticks and Seals' and 'Wall of Death' up there as I write this.)There's also information on how to order books/CDs/T-Shirts.

Subject: RE: Help: Poem:The Titanic & homeless polar bears
From: lamarca
Date: 01 Mar 01 - 06:34 PM

We had the extreme good fortune to hear Mr. Barker in concert last Saturday night (a rare opportunity for those of us in the US). My husband and I were both laughing to the point of tears.

I have all the albums done by The Mrs. Ackroyd Band, where Les has recruited his friends (like Martin Carthy, June Tabor, Leslie Davies, etc) to sing his great humorous poems and parodies set to music, but I had never heard him doing a reading before. His timing and delivery are exquisite, and his approach to humor is definitely my favorite kind of warped.

When you listen to his more serious work (such as the anti-war songs collected on "Wings of Butterflies") you realize that he is an extremely talented writer, not just a classy clown!

I believe that "Have You Got Any News of the Iceberg" has been recorded as a song on "Tubular Dogs", the newest Mrs. Ackroyd Band album...

Subject: RE: Help: Poem:The Titanic & homeless polar bears
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 02 Mar 01 - 05:40 PM

"Iceberg" is on "Tubular Dogs", along with "Sloop John A", "The Grey Tunnel Line (sung by some bloke named Tawney), and a bunch of others (including "Will That Turtle Be Unbroken"). Available at Camsco (800/548-FOLK)

Subject: RE: Help: Poem:The Titanic & homeless polar bears
From: JohnH
Date: 07 Jan 12 - 07:37 AM

It's on Youtube.

Subject: RE: Help: Poem:The Titanic & homeless polar bears
From: GUEST,John Foxen
Date: 07 Jan 12 - 07:44 AM

It's worth mentioning that the poem was inspired by a cartoon by the great Bill Tidy, creator of The Cloggies.

Subject: RE: Help: Poem:The Titanic & homeless polar bears
From: GUEST,999
Date: 07 Jan 12 - 08:43 AM

From

http://www.angelfire.com/yt/anneblair/lyrics50.htm

HAVE YOU HEARD ANY WORD OF THE ICEBERG?
By Les Barker

On a cold rainy night on a Liverpool quayside
In the years before the Great War
The world 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 Polar Bear,
And to the clerk at the counter he said…

Chorus:

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 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
He covered his face with his paws.

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.
There'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.
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.

Chorus:

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.

Subject: RE: Help: Poem:The Titanic & homeless polar bears
From: GUEST,Captain Farrell
Date: 07 Jan 12 - 09:35 AM

Great poem but I think Bill Tidy had an earlier cartoon on same theme

Subject: RE: Help: Poem:The Titanic & homeless polar bears
From: gnomad
Date: 07 Jan 12 - 10:23 AM

Clicky to the cartoon

Subject: RE: Help: Poem:The Titanic & homeless polar bears
From: autoharpbob
Date: 07 Jan 12 - 11:52 AM

Doesn't diminish for me the wonder of the poem. I have heard Les do it a couple of times. The last one he berated the audience for laughing - "Heartless Baestards!" was his comment. Which of course got an even bigger laugh!

Subject: RE: Help: Poem:The Titanic & homeless polar bears
From: Charley Noble
Date: 08 Jan 12 - 11:21 AM

gnomad-

Thanks for posting the link to the original Punch cartoon.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Help: Poem:The Titanic & homeless polar bears
From: GUEST
Date: 28 May 15 - 12:11 PM

Les Barker - Do you have any news of the Iceberg?

Subject: RE: Help: Poem:The Titanic & homeless polar bears
From: EBarnacle
Date: 28 May 15 - 03:53 PM

Having gone through most of the online archive, I have not found the cartoon.

Subject: RE: Help: Poem:The Titanic & homeless polar bears
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 28 May 15 - 03:55 PM

Might have melted by now, since this thread started over 14 years ago, and the poem was correctly identified then!
Now so well known to Les Barker fans that the whole audience joins in with the words of "the chorus"!

Subject: RE: Help: Poem:The Titanic & homeless polar bears
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 28 May 15 - 08:14 PM

" EBarnacle - PM 
Date: 28 May 15 - 03:53 PM 
Having gone through most of the online archive, I have not found the cartoon."


I found a couple of cartoons, 1968.
Half way down the page here
"Is there any news of the Iceberg?" © Bill Tidy 
and
Animals-Pets-Cartoons-Punch-1968.05.01.652.tif 

Subject: RE: Help: Poem:The Titanic & homeless polar bears
From: EBarnacle
Date: 30 May 15 - 04:43 PM

Thanks,FreddyHeadey. That is one worried looking polar bear.

Subject: RE: Help: Poem:The Titanic & homeless polar bears
From: Little Robyn
Date: 30 May 15 - 08:58 PM

Thanks Freddy - I couldn't find it until I clicked your Animals link.
Robyn