This little piece of silliness has undergone a few changes over the years in my mind, so I thought I'd bring them together.
The original anonymous poem went:
A centipede was happy quite,
Until a frog in fun said:
"Pray tell which leg comes after which?"
This raised her mind to such a pitch,
she lay distracted in a ditch,
considering how to run.
....to which David Dunning added this second verse:
She stopped and thought and mystified
She lifted one leg slowly
Put right foot first and found it left
Her left leg wrong right side
This raised her mind to such a pitch,
she lay distracted in a ditch,
considering how to run.
....and I set it for two altos as follows:
The Centipede and the Frog - Duet version - mp3 (early recording please excuse the artificial echo!)
Score available from MyScoreStore
Centipede Gallery
The tune remained with me and resurfaced some years later as an instrumental piece, in which the centipede gets his/her own back by tap dancing:
The Centipede dreams of tap dancing - mp3 (recorded with an antique Roland sound canvas).
Enjoy his/her little self-satisfied giggles!
Then this summer (2005) I thought more could be made of the left-right joke and rewrote it for 5 altos and double bass,
with some very complex left-right fun:
and of course the words were given a little more philosopical intensity (ahem!)
A centipede was happy quite (so happy)
Until a frog in fun said:
"Pray tell which leg comes after which?"
with a left right right left right
This raised her mind to such a pitch,
she lay distracted in a ditch,
considering how to... run.
(left left right right....now right left, now left right etc)
She stopped and thought and mystified
and put her best leg down there
Put right foot first and found it wrong
And she left it on the right
and the right she put it on the left
And she found she'd turned around
(left left right right....now right left, now left right etc)
Let me find my left foot
Let me find my right feet
I was happy then,
When I didn't have to.... think!.
The Centipede and the Frog - five altos and double bass - mp3