A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor

Hand Jive Lyrics
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Listen (MP3)

A piano player named Rockin' Richie
Came from up north near Bemidji
Had dark glasses and long hair
Played one night at the State Fair.

Played the bop and he played the stroll
Played the blues and rock and roll
In the cattle barn all the cows and steers
Were tapping their hooves and shaking their rears

State Fair….State Fair…State Fair….dancing at the old State Fair

Music was rocking in the Grandstand
And all of the livestock loved that Band
Horses were dancing in a line
So were the sheep, so were the swine

That Rockin Richie band was hot
Turkeys were doing the turkey trot
Henny Penny and Goosey Loosey
Doing the frug and the Watusi

State Fair….State Fair…State Fair….dancing at the old State Fair

At first the farmers called the cops
Tried to get the band to stop
Put that Richie under arrest
Our animals are getting out of their nest

But music was just what they were needing
To encourage animal breeding
Two by two by two by two
The ram was dancing with the ewe

The bull was dancing with the cow
The boar was getting down with the sow
The rooster dancing with the hen
Again and again and again

Everywhere that Richie went
Egg production up 50 percent
He became a big sensation
Encouraging propagation

Chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese
Need to be fruitful and increase
And that's the purpose of the dance
Encourage pigs toward romance

A dance band if it's any good
Should urge a cow toward motherhood
The production of our meat
Depends on keeping up a beat.

State Fair….State Fair…State Fair….dancing at the old State Fair