Anyone else love this guy? One of my favorites. His style is extremely unique. Here's one of my favorites of his. If you can d/l this do it. It's a hundred times better listening to it. Awesome song. The Smoke Off Now in the laid-back California town of sunny San Rafael Lived a girl named Pearly Sweetcake - you probably knew her well She was stoned 15 of her 18 years, and her story was widely told That she could smoke 'em faster than anyone could roll Well, her legend finally reached New York, that Grove Street walk-up flat Where dwelt the Calistoga Kid, a beatnik from the past He'd been rollin' dope since time began, now he took a cultured toke And said "Jim, I can roll 'em faster than any CHICK can smoke" So a note gets sent to San Rafael for the championship of the world The Kid demands a smoke-off; "Well bring him on!" says Pearl "I'll grind his fingers off his hands! He'll roll until he drops!" Says Calistog, "I'll smoke that chick till she blows up and pops". So they rent out Yankee Stadium, and the word is quickly spread Come one, come all, who walk or crawl, tickets just two lids a head And from every town and hamlet, over land and sea they speed The world's greatest dopers, with the world's greatest weed. Hashishers from Morocco, hemp smokers from Peru And the Shashniks from Bagun (who smoke the deadly Pu-ga-ru) And those who call it "light of life" And those that call it "boo". See the dealers and their ladies, wearing turquoise lace and leather See the narcos and the closet smokers, puffing all together From the teenies who smoke legal, to the ones who've done some time To the old man who smoked "reefer", back before it was a crime. And the grand old House That Ruth Built is filled with the smokes and cries Of fifty thousand screaming heads, all stoned out of their minds And they play the national anthem, and the crowd lets out a roar As the spotlight hits the Kid and Pearl, ready for their smoking war. At a table piled up high with grass, as high as a mountain peak Just tops and buds of the rarest flowers, not one stem branch or seed I mean, Maui Wowie, Panama Red, Acapulco Gold Kif from East Afghanistan, and that rare Alaska Cold And there's sticks from Thailand, ganj from the island, And Bangkok's blooming best (and some of that wet imported **** That capsized off Key West). There's Oaxacan tops and Kenya bhang, and Riviera fleurs And that rare Manhattan Silver, that grows down in the New York sewers. And there's bubblin' ice cold lemonade, and sweet grapes by the bunches And there's Hershey bars and Oreos (in case anybody gets the munches) And the Calistoga Kid he smiles, And Pearly she just grins And the drums roll low, and the crowd yells "GO GO GO!!" And the world's first smoke-off begins. Well, the Kid he flicks his fingers once, and ZAP that first joint's rolled Pearl takes one toke with her famous lungs, and WHOOSH that roach is cold Then the Kid he rolls his super-bomb, that would paralyze a moose And Pearl takes one mighty hit, and ... that bomb's defused And then he rolls three in just ten seconds, and she smokes them up in nine And everybody sits back and says "Hey... this just might take some time" See the blur of flying fingers, see the red coal burning bright As the night turns into mornin', and the mornin' fades to night And the autumn turns to summer, and a whole damn YEAR is gone And the two still sit, on that roach-filled stage, smokin', and rollin' on With tremblin' hands he rolls his jays, with fingers blue and stiff She coughs and stares with bloodshot gaze, and puffs through blistered lips And as she reaches out her hand for another stick of gold The Kid, he gasps, "Damn it, bitch! There's nothin' left to roll!" "NOTHIN' LEFT TO ROLL!" screams Pearl. "IS THIS SOME TWISTED JOKE?" "I DIDN'T COME HERE TO **** AROUND, MAN, I COME HERE TO SMOKE!" And she reaches 'cross the table and grabs his bony sleeves And crumbles his body between her hands, like dried and brittle leaves Flicking out his teeth and bones like useless stems and seeds And then she rolls him in a Zig-zag, and lights him like a roach And the fastest man, with the fastest hands, goes up in a puff of smoke. In the laid-back California town of sunny San Rafael Lives a girl named Pearly Sweetcake - you probably know her well She been stoned 21 of her 24 years, and her story is still widely told How she still can smoke 'em faster than any dude can roll While, off in New York City, on a street that has no name There's the hands of the Calistoga Kid, in the Viper Hall of Fame And underneath his fingers, there's a little golden scroll That says "Beware of bein' the roller When there's nothin' left to roll".
I always liked Shel Silverstein as a kid, ESPECIALLY the book "Uncle Shelby's ABZ's." But looking back now at the subject material and the illustrations (Which I used to love but now think are creepy- and still love anyway) I can't help but think, what was he smoking? But it's a "What was he smoking" in a good way, like with Christopher Moore or Douglas Adams. The one thing I can't stand is listening to him read his poems. I positively hate the way he reads his poems aloud. But everytime I read them to myself, I do get a good laugh, so...yeah.
he's dead and gone, sad to say, but he was a genius and a great writer/illustrator for sure... his best work ever, imo, was 'the giving tree'...
