Happy Family

Album: Lizard (1970)
Play Video
  • Happy family, one hand clap, four went by and none come back
    Brother Judas, ash and sack, swallowed aphrodisiac
    Rufus, Silas, Jonah too sang, "We'll blow our own canoes"
    Poked a finger in the zoo, punctured all the ballyhoo

    Whipped the world and beat the clock, wound up with their share of stock
    Silver Rolls from golden rock, shaken by a knock, knock, knock
    Happy family, wave that grin, what goes round must surely spin
    Cheesecake, mousetrap, Grip-Pipe-Thynne cried out, "We're not Rin Tin Tin"

    Uncle Rufus grew his nose, threw away his circus clothes
    Cousin Silas grew a beard, drew another flask of weird
    Nasty Jonah grew a wife, Judas drew his pruning knife
    Happy family one hand clap, four went on but none came back

    Happy family, pale applause, each to his revolving doors
    Silas searching, Rufus neat, Jonah caustic, Jude so sweet
    Let their sergeant mirror spin if we lose the barbers win
    Happy family one hand clap, four went on but none came back Writer/s: Peter John Sinfield, Robert Fripp
    Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 1

  • Razor from London, EnglandThe instrumental middle part sounds free-improvised, but isn't. All the "soloists" had to record short phrases, separately, and try to co-ordinate them with each other. (Well, however they did it, it sounds incredible!) The same thing happened on the "Bolero" track on the same album.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Little Big Town

Little Big TownSongwriter Interviews

"When seeds that you sow grow by the wicked moon/Be sure your sins will find you out/Your past will hunt you down and turn to tell on you."

Millie Jackson

Millie JacksonSongwriter Interviews

Outrageously gifted and just plain outrageous, Millie is an R&B and Rap innovator.

Don Dokken

Don DokkenSongwriter Interviews

Dokken frontman Don Dokken explains what broke up the band at the height of their success in the late '80s, and talks about the botched surgery that paralyzed his right arm.

Martyn Ware of Heaven 17

Martyn Ware of Heaven 17Songwriter Interviews

Martyn talks about producing Tina Turner, some Heaven 17 hits, and his work with the British Electric Foundation.

Sending Out An SOS - Distress Signals In Songs

Sending Out An SOS - Distress Signals In SongsSong Writing

Songs where something goes horribly wrong (literally or metaphorically), and help is needed right away.

John Lee Hooker

John Lee HookerSongwriter Interviews

Into the vaults for Bruce Pollock's 1984 conversation with the esteemed bluesman. Hooker talks about transforming a Tony Bennett classic and why you don't have to be sad and lonely to write the blues.