Lyr Req: Everybody's Rich but Us (Rod McKuen)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Everybody's Rich but Us (Rod McKuen)
From: GUEST,JC
Date: 21 Oct 14 - 08:32 PM

The poor folks live on gravy,
The rich folks dine on steak.
The rich folks all have swimming pools,
but we all go swimming in the lake.


I have the music book at home. Will look up and publish the lyrics as they are recorded there...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Everybody's Rich but Us (Rod McKuen)
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 01:47 AM

My dad had the Glen Yarbrough album with this on it in the 60's. Always thought it was titled "Picadilly Circus" since that is what stood out to me as a little kid. Fun song.

samhansdad

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Everybody's Rich but Us (Rod McKuen)
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 11:59 AM

Everybody's forgotten the last verse!!!

I went hunting tigers,
I got a tiger's tail instead,
When folks say "Hey, where's your tiger's tail?"
I reply, "Four foot from his head!"

(Chorus)

Rod McKuen wrote and performed it. I saw him at the old Front Row Theatre in Cleveland that they tore down about 15 years ago.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Everybody's Rich but Us (Rod McKuen)
From: Leadfingers
Date: 31 Aug 11 - 04:52 PM

Almost as much fun as Shel Silverstein's 'Everybody's Making It Big'

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Everybody's Rich but Us (Rod McKuen)
From: GUEST,carol
Date: 31 Aug 11 - 04:24 PM

I learned this from a book of poetry, one of my sisters had, Poetry of Rod Mckuen   It was from the early 60's I lost in in a move. It was my favorite, would love to have another copy.
The rich folks all have swimming pools but they all go swimming in the lake. and there was another one about The poor folks live on gravy, the rich folks live on Steak, and something about pass the biscuit's please!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Everybody's Rich but Us (Rod McKuen)
From: GUEST,Sbtraum
Date: 20 Aug 11 - 09:28 PM

Used to sing this song in the car with my Mom, brothers and sister as kids. Forgot the lyrics. Thanks!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Everybody's Rich but Us (Rod McKuen)
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Dec 10 - 09:16 PM

The song I learned growing up also included the following verse:

I went hunting tigers;
Got a tiger's tail instead;
When folks say "where's your tiger's tail"
I reply: "Four feet from its head."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Everybody's Rich but Us (Rod McKuen)
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Dec 09 - 09:22 PM

There's not much fuzz on an apple,
Very little hair on a grape.
It's only the lack of a beard on a peach,
That keeps it from being an ape.

Oh, one more time around Piccadilly Circus
Driver, follow that bus.
It's a shame the way the rich folks work us.
Everybody's rich but us.

I bought my doggie a muzzle
So he wouldn't bite the man with the mail.
But there was the mailman dead on the walk.
He'd killed him with his tail.

Oh, one more time around Gooseberry Junction
Driver, follow that bus.
It's rather hard for us to function
Everybody's rich but us.

I gave my son a pep-talk
About the birds and the bees.
He understood so quickly,
He took off with a breeze.

First, he chased a chipmunk,
Then he chased a bird.
Now, he's married to a bumblebee,
He, That is abserd.

Oh, one more time around Buckingham Palace
Driver, follow that bus.
There's a blister growin' on my callus.
Everybody's rich but us.

My brother had a haircut..,
Done with pinking shears..,
He looks just like a beatle,
With rather fancy ears.

Oh, one more time around Piccadilly Circus
Driver, follow that bus.
It's a shame the way the rich folk work us.
Everybody's rich but us.

Yes, Everybodys rich,
Everybodys rich,
Everybodys rich but us,
OH YEA.

I wrote this down as I was listening to the song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Everybody's Rich but Us (Rod McKuen)
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Jul 09 - 02:00 PM

I know this song with another verse:

My brother got a haircut
Done with pinking shears
He looks just like a beatle
With rather fancy ears.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Everybody's Rich but Us (Rod McKuen)
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Jan 08 - 10:28 AM

WOOPS! I was WRONG! It IS "an Ape" Sorry!!!! Hahahaahaha! Anyway, this song can be found on the Baby the Rain Must Fall Album. Ah...Mom is playing it over the phone for me right now. Bless her heart! She's going to spill her martini on the laptop she is laughing so hard.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Everybody's Rich but Us (Rod McKuen)
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Jan 08 - 10:24 AM

There's not much hair on an apple
There's very little fuzz on a grape.
It's only the lack of a beard on a peach
That keeps it from being an ape.

(That keeps it from being a GRAPE)

I'm talking on the phone with my 77 year old mom. She used to sing this song all the time when I was growing up. It's a family treasure right up there with Alice's Restaurant - A's R is pretty funny when you hear it from someone who is to the right of Atilla the Hun)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Everybody's Rich but Us (Rod McKuen)
From: GUEST,Geoff
Date: 16 Apr 06 - 06:54 PM

I remember listening to the song on the radio in the sixties but I don't know who sang it. Jim Dixon has most of the lyrics but his last verse should finish

Now he's married to a bumblebee

......That's absurd!

The verse

My brother had a haircut

Done with pinking shears

He looks just like a Beatle

With very fancy ears

mentioned by someone else is also in there somewhere, but I am not certain of the verse order.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'One more time around Piccadilly Circle'
From: Snuffy
Date: 31 Mar 06 - 07:35 AM

Pure guesswork - Random House Dictionary of American Slang??

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'One more time around Piccadilly Circ
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 31 Mar 06 - 05:27 AM

Garg (or anyone), what's R.H.D.O.A.S. ?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'One more time around Piccadilly Circ
From: Bert
Date: 31 Mar 06 - 02:40 AM

Oh ho, They borrowed Benny Hill's Rhyme

You never find hairs on a duck egg
you always find hairs on an ape
and it's only the hairs on a gooseberry
that prevent it from being a grape.

Subject: Lyr Add: EVERYBODY'S RICH BUT US (Rod McKuen)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 31 Mar 06 - 12:22 AM

I've been piecing together lyrics from sound samples again. Some of these are from Rod McKuen's recordings; some from Glenn Yarbrough's. There is a lot of overlap, but not enough to be sure I've got it all, or that the verses are in the right order. For that matter, I'm not sure McKuen and Yarbrough sing the same verses in the same order, but this is the best I can do for now.

EVERYBODY'S RICH BUT US
Rod McKuen

There's not much hair on an apple
There's very little fuzz on a grape.
It's only the lack of a beard on a peach
That keeps it from being an ape.

Oh, one more time around Piccadilly Circus
Driver, follow that bus.
It's a shame the way the rich folk work us.
Everybody's rich but us.

I bought my doggie a muzzle
So he wouldn't bite the man with the mail.
But there was the mailman dead on the walk.
He'd killed him with his tail.

Oh, one more time around Gooseberry Junction
Driver, follow that bus.
It's rather hard for us to function
Everybody's rich but us....

Oh, one more time around Buckingham Palace
Driver, follow that bus.
There's a blister growin' on my callus.
Everybody's rich but us.

I gave my son a pep-talk
About the birds and the bees.
He understood so quickly,
He took off in the breeze.

First, he chased a chipmunk,
Then he chased a bird.
Now, he's married to a [bumblebee?]....

[p.s. Gooseberry Junction is:
a gift shop in Rockport Massachusetts
a webhosting service
the locale of a children's book]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'One more time around Piccadilly Circ
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 29 Mar 06 - 09:25 PM

Lots of queer stuff out there that goes un-noticed.

Even in Omaha, much less California, this was "known" as a homosexual, UK-Wilde, type song. (Same as the DragonPuff is MaryJane)

Supporting evidence (something usually lacking on the MC)

WIKIPEDIA

Because of its proximity to Soho, the Circus was a significant meeting point in the underground history of homosexuals in Britain, especially as a focus for prostitution and informal encounters. When Alfred Kinsey visited London to study English sexual attitudes, he immediately asked to be taken on a sexual tour of Soho. The world around Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square astounded him. Comparing London to the Hispanic sexual cultures of Central America, Kinsey claimed that he had never seen so much street prostitution, except in Havana.

R.H.D.O.A.S.

A brothel...the origin [probably] lies in the verb "to goose," meaning to tickle....film 1971, McCabe and Mrs Miller You thing I'm gonna let some goddam chippy come up here and tell me how to run a gooseberry ranch?

And thirty more references to "goose."

Sincerely,

Gargoyle

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'One more time around Piccadilly Circ
From: pdq
Date: 29 Mar 06 - 08:50 PM

"My brother had a haircut

Done with pinking shears.

He looks just like a Beatle

With rather fancy ears!"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'One more time around Piccadilly Circ
From: pdq
Date: 29 Mar 06 - 04:02 PM

There is a similar song done by Glen Yarbrough that is credited to Rod McKuen.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'One more time around Piccadilly Circle'
From: Snuffy
Date: 29 Mar 06 - 03:52 PM

Bloomsbury?
Dewsbury?
Tewkesbury?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'One more time around Piccadilly Circ
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 29 Mar 06 - 12:36 PM

Ahh Feathers, thanks for this thread! It allows me to ask something that's been bugging me for DECADES. I first heard this song when I lived in California, and no one there knew where Gooseberry Junction was. Well, OK, it's six thousand miles away - but later I moved to London and lived there for 20 years and no one I spoke to there could tell me the answer either. Now I live in the wilds of rural Ireland, no wiser in my quest. So Mudcat you are my last hope:

WHERE (not to mention what) is Gooseberry Junction? Did it disappear under the rubble of the blitz? Or does it still exist in some parallel universe like El Dorado & Tir na nOg?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'One more time around Piccadilly Circle'
From: GUEST,kenny
Date: 29 Mar 06 - 05:16 AM

"Everbody's Rich But Us" - I think it was Ray Stevens who recorded it and had a minor hit with it in the 70s [?]. Don't know if he wrote it or not.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'One more time around Piccadilly Circle'
From: GUEST,Cockney
Date: 28 Mar 06 - 04:38 PM

I always sang it this way...

It's true in a way what the rich folks say
cause everybodys rich but us

Subject: Lyr Req: 'One more time around Piccadilly Circle'
From: GUEST,2feathers
Date: 28 Mar 06 - 04:11 PM

These are the words I know, but I don't go any further. Can someone fill in the missing pieces?

"I bought my doggie a muzzle
So he wouldn't bite the man with the mail
They found the mailman dead on the walk
He'd killed him with his tail

"Oh, one more time around Piccadilly Circus
Driver Follow that Bus
It's a shame the way the rich folk work us
Everybody's rich but us."

"There's not much hair on an apple
There's verey little fuzz on a grape.
It's onlly the lack of a beard on a peach
That keeps it from being an ape.

Oh, one more time around Goosebury Junction
Driver follow that bus
It's a shame the way that we can't function
Everybody's rich but us."

THERE HAS TO BE MORE THAN THIS! WHO WROTE IT?