Yip Harburg
Rhymes
for the
Irreverent
Illustrated by Seymour Chwast
FFRF, Inc., Madison, Wisconsin
Contents
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31
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35
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37
38
40
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42
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47
Acknowledgment
Preface
Introduction
Agnostic
Atheist
Take Two Tablets And Call Me In The Mornin
Realist
Truth
A Nose Is A Nose Is A Nose
Lead Kindly Light
Life Is Liveable
Before And After
Repent In Pleasure
Response
Pennies For Heaven
Do Unto Others?
Three Bolts, No Strikes
Devout Seeker
Federal Reserve
Candle Power
Mutual Admiration
Back To The Drawing Board
We Must Have A National Goal
The Welfare (Island) State
Fission Fashion
For The Man Of Extinction
Red, White And Blue Cross
48
49
51
53
55
56
57
58
60
61
63
64
65
67
68
69
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
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82
84
85
87
88
89
90
An Atom A Day Keeps The Doctor Away
Sudden Future
Go To The Lexicon, Thou Sluggard
Achtung!
Chutzpah
Warning: Read Small Print On The Placenta
Pox Or Pax
Oh Solar Mio
History
Yevtushenko?
Less Majeste
Integration Please
Kith And Kinsey
Dig You Later
Belchsmerz
I Read Shapley, Most Unhap'ly
Biography Of An I. G. C.
Small Comforts
Name Your Beneficiary
Diagnosis
Don't Look Now, But Your Psyche's Showing
Full Circle
"What Is Truth?" . . . Pontius Pilate
For The Birds
On That Great Civilized Morning
For Want Of A Nail
Shall I Write A Letter To My Congressman?
Foreign Policies
Nursery Rhyme
Die Now, Pay Later
Three Steps Forward — Six Feet Under
Of Galbraith And Gall-bladder
91 Organization Man
92 Critical
93 The Cynic Designer
95 Twelye Days Of Christmas To Be Sung In Toyland
101 Palm Sunday 1972
103
104
,105
106
Christmas Card
Ad Libertine
Courtship In Greenwich Village
The Merry Month Of Mayhem
107 Next To Golf
108 Inscription On A Lipstick
109 Warning To My Psychiatrist
110 It Happened In Washington
112 Tennyson, Anyone?
113 The Fox To A Sour Grape
114 Prayer For The Modern Campus Girl
115 Community Property
117 Irreverent Heart
118 Rodin — Prophet Or Prankster
119 From Eternity To Here
120 Blue Chips In The Sky
121
123
124
125
127
How Odd Of God
Miracle
Heavenly Vaults
The Man Who Has Everything
A Toehold On Divinity
128 A Saint . . . H e Ain't
130 Satan To The Rescue
132 Identity Crisis
134 History Lesson
135 No Evil In The Oval Room
136 The Tapeworm Turns
137
138
139
140
142
143
144
146
147
149
150
151
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
162
164
166
168
170
172
173
174
175
177
179
180
The Enemy List
Deficit
And Now, A Message From Your Sponsor
Watergate Nursery Rhymes
The Far-Out Generation
And Never The Twain Shall Meet
The Odds-On Favorite
Music On The Rocks
Ecology In A Country Churchyard
All The News That's Fit To Print
Who's Minding The Store
In A Jocular Vein
Surefire Candidate
Letter To My Guru
Star Crossed
The Fare-Thee-Well State
Strike Three
The Pause That Depresses
Size Matters
Anagram
Of Thee I Sing — Babel
On A Clear Day From Mount Wilson You Can See Watts
My Art Belongs To Da Da
Take A Letter To Joyce Kilmer
A Pun To Ponder On
Advanced Technology And Side Effects
We've Come A Long Way, Buddy
Gerontology Or Springtime For Senility
Core Values
To Whom It May Concern
Seated One Day At The Organ
Nostalgia Ain't What It Used To Be
181,
182
183
184
185
186
188
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
198
199
200
202
204
206
207
209
210
213
To David — Just Born
From Whence To Hence
Transcendental Deviation
WelsMarchin'
Maturity
From Youth To Euthanasia
Michael, Row The Boat Ashore
About Fred Saidy
Adverbs
Said Oliver Wendell Holmes
Viva La Grappa
Inscription On A Flyleaf Of Thesaurus To An Upcoming Lyricist
Posterity Is Right Around The Coroner
Sixteenth-Century Dropout
"Grow Old Along With Me! The Best Is Yet To Be"
When The Muse Is Away For The Weekend
National Security
Fail Safe
Classified Leak
Dedication For The New Chapel Built In The Pentagon
Beware Of The Dogma
Victory March
One Sweet Morning
Simple Answers to Cosmic Mysteries
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224
225
232
Yip Harburg: Secular Songwriter
Harburg's Religion
Becoming A Poet In Yip's Own Words
About The Illustrator
233 Alphabetical Index Of Poems