From the recording The Flip Side: Well, what do we have here!
Tadpole Blues was the title of a completely unrelated instrumental played by a jazz combo where I was the drummer. It seemed to me a title like that deserved to be a song with its own lyrics. Why might a tadpole have the blues? (Or, rather, “the greens”?) Check out the video Scott and I made too, with Scott’s video editing skill and my costumed antics as “Lily and the Pads”. Lily is quite a diva and keeps stepping in front of me. https://youtu.be/BWiiSklHcHM
Lyrics
Tadpole Blues
by Karen Robinson
When I woke up this mornin’ I had a body and a tail
When I woke up this mornin’ I had just a body and a tail
Now I’ve got two legs...an’ I cry an’ wail
Won’t you tell me .....what is happenin’ to me?
Please tell me what...what is happenin’ to me?
I’m singin’ the tadpole blues, ‘cause I liked the way I used to be
Oh no, oh no, would you want this to happen to you?
I say, Oh no, oh no, would you want this to happen to you?
Now I’ve got two more legs, sproutin’ on the front end too
SCAT & solo
I think my tail is getting smaller...an’ I can’t look
I’m sure my tail is getting smaller and smaller, an’ I just can’t look
Well I just took a look…... How will I swim in the brook?
Oh no, oh no, would you want this to happen to you?
I say, Oh no, oh no, would you want this to happen to you?
Now I’ve loooonnng legs, an’ my colour is changin’ too
When I woke up this mornin’ I had a body and a tail
Mmmmm, I woke up this mornin’. Now I cry and wail
‘Cause I’m a frog, I’m a frog, but I liked the way I used to beeeee
I’m a frog, I’m a frog, with an awful case of the greeeeens
© 2009 Karen Robinson