Man Piaba

Harry Belafonte

When I was a lad just three-foot-three
Certain questions occurred to me
So I asked me father quite seriously
To tell me the story 'bout the bird and bee
He stammered and he stuttered pathetically
And this is what he said to me

He said, the woman piaba and the man piaba
And the Ton Ton call baka lemon grass
The lily root, gully root, belly root uhmm
And the famous grandy scratch scratch

It was clear as mud but it covered the ground
And the confusion made the brain go 'round
I went and ask a good friend of mine
Known to the world as Albert Einstein
He said son, from the beginning of time and creativity
There existed the force of relativity
Pi r square and minus ten is routine only when
The solar system in one light year
Make the Hayden planetarium disappear
So if Mt Everest doesn't move
I am positive that it will prove

That the woman piaba and the man piaba
And the Ton Ton call baka lemon grass
The lily root, gully root, belly root uhmm
And the famous grandy scratch scratch

The mud it covered the ground
And the confusion made the brain go 'round
I grabbed a boat and I went abroad
And in Baden Germany asked Sigmund Freud
He said son, from your sad face remove the grouch
Put the body up on the couch
I can see from your frustration a neurotic sublimation, hey
Love and hate is psychosomatic
Your Rorschach shows that you're a peri pathetic
It all started with a broken sibling
In the words of the famous Rudyard Kipling

He said the woman piaba and the man piaba
And the Ton Ton call baka lemon grass
The lily root, gully root, belly root uhmm
And the famous grandy scratch scratch

Well I traveled far and I traveled wide
And I don't even have me self a bride
All the great men upon this earth
Have confused me since my birth
I've been over land and been over sea
Trying to find answer 'bout the bird and bee
But now that I am ninty three
I don't give a damn you see

If the woman piaba and the man piaba
And the Ton Ton call baka lemon grass
Hey, the lily root, gully root, belly root uhmm
And the famous grandy scratch scratch