Manhattan Transfer: Airegin

Wait'll y'dig it on the map - Airegin Spelled backwards Really're closin' up the gap - Airegin Gone fac'wards Back long time ago they saw a ghost Ghost made a boast Soon that ghost was host (Repeat first 8 bars) Those losing their hue They goofed 'n got the wrong view First, things reverse, last is first! Y' dig it! Whatta' y' think o'that'n get a load a' What I tell y' What this place is no one knows it There's no traces of the kind o'place it was Before it got "discovered" by the kind o' Cat that knows the earth belongs t'him Back when the world was young An' man was a living god An' he walked this earthly sod This was sod that god would trod on Till one day a stranger landed With a line o'jive Laid it on the natives till he had 'em thinkin' Maybe that they should really take five An' he quickly stole the natives' soul So he could control it An' he took care of that missionary biz Till the lan' was his Never heard a story draggy as that Tell th' truth I ain't never heard another That exasperated more What an exasperating narrative t'play Upon the sensitive and kindly soul that I am 'Way back when I was crawlin' in m'crib I was doin' all kinds o'thinkin' Aw'ready I had figured out the 'cut of m'jib' The kind o'soul that never liked t'tell 'r live a fib A body who was steadily reachin' up A min' always thinkin' on high-minded things Whee! I was always one t'be free Ain't never had a keeper why don't people Learn t'git along t'gether stead o' Meddlin' aroun' 'n fussin' with the fella nearest to 'em Me, I'm the old fashioned kind I was never good at follow-the-leader Real real real real real real real That's me, as real as a Yankee can be That's me Millions o' years ago There was a Paleolithic age on Earth An' the whole world was young And full o'the vim of constant rebirth Brontosauruses 'n dinosaurs 'n pterodactyls Ever'where abounding that was the case 'N plus the millions o' mammoths here 'n there An' in addition there were lots o'men everywhere Who had no hi-tech and no intellect 'nary a speck But in that spot Where it was so lush, where it was so hot Where many animal was roamin' An' nature was kind, life was thrivin' There livin' was actual an' the feelin' was natural I'm tellin' the truth What-a-benign livin' some livin' All's forgiven come on home Blew a truly unruly storm That wrecked a boat in a climate warm 'N full o'ashy-colored cats all lookin' White like ghosts 'N when the natives checked 'em out It blew 'em away t'find that they resembled spirits Long ago there was a legend 'Bout a spirit who would someday come A look at these cats 'N y' could see they prob'ly had some So they welcomed 'em with peace and love And everything there's plenty of 'N soon the tables had turned to rigormortis That's when the castaway had his say Like a dog had his day they told the People that they were spirits actual Y'see how perfectly a fable c'n be Incorporated into what a cat'll think is factual What was an accident turns int' something So unbelievably heaven-sent Everybody falls for it Right on down t' the militants 'N marchin' 'n the martyrs 'n the murder of Lumumba Wait'll y'dig it on the map - Airegin Spelled backwards Really're closin' up the gap - Airegin Gone fac'wards Back long time ago they saw a ghost Ghost made a boast Soon that ghost was host Wait'll y'dig it on the map - Airegin Spelled backwards Really're closin' up the gap - Airegin Gone fac'wards Those losing their hue They goofed 'n got the wrong view First, things reverse, last is first! Y' dig it!