Monday, March 19, 2007

Animal Farm or Cuckoo's Nest?

Beasts of England, beasts of Ireland,
Beasts of every land and clime,
Hearken to my joyful tidings
Of the golden future time.

--George Orwell, "Animal Farm"

For some extremely bizarre reason (which I'm going to go ahead and say is a side effect of NyQuil Sinus) I thought of these words verbatim around 7:00am. The weird thing is, I haven't read "Animal Farm" in nearly 15 years. What's more, is that not only did I recall these words, but I got the distinct impression that they should be sung to the tune of "La Cucaracha."

Just to make sure I was quoting those four lines correctly, I did a quick literature search. To my amusement (or was it chagrin?) this wonderful little ditty is supposed to sound something like La Cucaracha or Clementine. I guess my subconscious had stored that information somewhere in the deep recesses of my brain. I must have sung the full tune to myself in order to study for a test or something back when I was forced to read such leftist nonsense.

Seeing as how I've got the song in my head, I'm going to foist it upon you as well. So, here are the full lyrics. Belt it out loudly and proudly to the tune of your choosing (I prefer Clementine.) Make Snowball and Old Major proud, now!

Beasts of England, beasts of Ireland,
Beasts of every land and clime,
Hearken to my joyful tidings
Of the golden future time.

Soon or late the day is coming,
Tyrant Man shall be o'erthrown,
And the fruitful fields of England
Shall be trod by beasts alone.

Rings shall vanish from our noses,
And the harness from our back,
Bit and spur shall rust forever,
Cruel whips no more shall crack.

Riches more than mind can picture,
Wheat and barley, oats and hay,
Clover, beans, and mangel-wurzels
Shall be ours upon that day.

Bright will shine the fields of England,
Purer shall its waters be,
Sweeter yet shall blow its breezes
On the day that sets us free.

For that day we all must labour,
Though we die before it break;
Cows and horses, geese and turkeys,
All must toil for freedom's sake.

Beasts of England, beasts of Ireland,
Beasts of every land and clime,
Hearken well and spread my tidings
Of the golden future time.

Comments:
That's a hoot. I think "La Cucaracha" works too. I taught a class of 1st grade ESOL kids for four years, and they could really sing about the old cockroach.

I never read Animal Farm, but my field leader in Haiti used to always refer to his statement, "All men are created equal. Some are just created more equal than others."
 
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