Comments on: So what color were dinosaurs really?

By: 12-stringer

12-stringer — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 22:48:00 +0000

This reminds me of a poem by musician Billy Crockett. I searched for appropriate copyright information at the US Copyright Office, but alas, to no avail. I do know that it is present on his 1998 live recording, "In These Days", although I know it predates that release by a good five years, as there is a YouTube video from 1993 that references the poem, and even shows him displaying a t-shirt (he used to peddle them on a previous website), which even had the poem printed on it as well. Whatever — here is my transcription of it. (By the way – for those who may be unfamiliar with the animal or the artist, the name of the beast is derived from the author's last name.)

"The Crockosaurus"

by Billy Crockett

They handed out the crayons

to each of us first-graders.

Then the teacher passed between us

and gave each a piece of paper.

"Put aside your problems," she said,

"feet flat on the floor.

We're going to have fun now,

and draw a dinosaur!"

So, I quickly grabbed the crayon

and I drew his big green eyes,

the purple on his earlobes,

his polka-dotted thighs,

the pink and orange spikes

that ran all down his tail,

and as I colored in his toes,

the teacher turned quite pale.

"The colors are all wrong," she said.

"That isn't how they look."

Then she held up some gray monster

that she'd found in a book.

"If you wouldn't draw so fast," she said,

"you might learn a lot from science."

She really didn't want my art;

her interest was – COMPLIANCE.

Well, I finished up his toenails,

and I drew in his moustache,

and I decked him out in pinstripes,

and, yes, I flunked the class.

But that teacher is extinct now,

and the scientists are dead,

and I still have my Crockosaurus —

he's dancing in my head.

By: 12-stringer

12-stringer — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 21:48:00 +0000

This reminds me of a poem by musician Billy Crockett. I searched for appropriate copyright information at the US Copyright Office, but alas, to no avail. I do know that it is present on his 1998 live recording, “In These Days”, although I know it predates that release by a good five years, as there is a YouTube video from 1993 that references the poem, and even shows him displaying a t-shirt (he used to peddle them on a previous website), which even had the poem printed on it as well. Whatever — here is my transcription of it. (By the way – for those who may be unfamiliar with the animal or the artist, the name of the beast is derived from the author’s last name.)

“The Crockosaurus”
by Billy Crockett

They handed out the crayons
to each of us first-graders.
Then the teacher passed between us
and gave each a piece of paper.
“Put aside your problems,” she said,
“feet flat on the floor.
We’re going to have fun now,
and draw a dinosaur!”

So, I quickly grabbed the crayon
and I drew his big green eyes,
the purple on his earlobes,
his polka-dotted thighs,
the pink and orange spikes
that ran all down his tail,
and as I colored in his toes,
the teacher turned quite pale.

“The colors are all wrong,” she said.
“That isn’t how they look.”
Then she held up some gray monster
that she’d found in a book.
“If you wouldn’t draw so fast,” she said,
“you might learn a lot from science.”
She really didn’t want my art;
her interest was – COMPLIANCE.

Well, I finished up his toenails,
and I drew in his moustache,
and I decked him out in pinstripes,
and, yes, I flunked the class.
But that teacher is extinct now,
and the scientists are dead,
and I still have my Crockosaurus —
he’s dancing in my head.