# Any Silverstein fans? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 3, 2003, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-silverstein-fans/216780 "2003-12-03T21:05:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Poetgrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@Poetgrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poetgrrl)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-silverstein-fans/216780/1 "2003-12-03T21:05:38Z")
I own a copy of Where the sidewalk ends and also A light in the attic, and even after ten years I still love reading these books. Silverstein really has a way with words, IMO. But have you heard him talk? His poems are great, but I think his voice is _reeeeeally_ creepy! ---
**Author:** ![Jadis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@Jadis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jadis)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-silverstein-fans/216780/2 "2003-12-03T21:11:25Z")
I think I started a thread a long while back about my favorite Shel Silverstein poems…lots of great stuff, but my all time fav is still this one: **The Hat** Teddy said it was a hat So I put it on. Now Dad is saying Where the heck’s the toilet plunger gone? Heh. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-silverstein-fans/216780/3 "2003-12-03T21:15:07Z")
One sister for sale! One sister for sale! One crying and spying young sister for sale! We are now 33 and 30, and I still get that quoted at me. Silverstein is great. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![International\_Playboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/48db29/32.png) [@International\_Playboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/International_Playboy)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-silverstein-fans/216780/4 "2003-12-03T21:27:07Z")
I became a fan through the songs of his covered by Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show. The one album of his that I own, **Freakin’ at the Freaker’s Ball** , where he sings his own songs and recites poetry is kind of strange, though I do like it. Haven’t read any of his books though. While verifying the album title online just now, I was reminded that he also wrote **A Boy Named Sue**. [This site](http://www.banned-width.com/shel.html) “celebrates” his adult writings and says that “he penned nearly 800 songs for the adult market.” ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-silverstein-fans/216780/5 "2003-12-04T03:30:28Z")
Oh, _that_ Silverstein. I though you meant Andrew [Dice Clay] Silverstein, who had some great poetry of his own: _Ole Mudda Hubbud Went tooda cubbud Ta fetch her old dog a bone. But when she bent over Rover took over Cause he had a bone of his own._ ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-silverstein-fans/216780/6 "2003-12-04T03:35:32Z")
Heh, have you read _Uncle Shelby’s ABZs_? Definately the funniest not-for-children children’s book ever. _I is for ink. Ink is black and wet. Ink is fun. What can you do with ink? What rhymes with ink? “DR—”_ ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-silverstein-fans/216780/7 "2003-12-04T03:56:45Z")
Another classic by Shel O’Silverstein was “The Unicorn,” made famous by the Irish Rovers. He also did a neat, but obscure, song for Tex Ritter called “Comin’ after Jinny.” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-silverstein-fans/216780/8 "2003-12-04T05:00:04Z")
And don’t forget “I’m being swallowed by a boa constrictor”! Silverstein is still one of my favorite poets, and I don’t even know how many of his poems I’ve memorized. I’ve got _Where the Sidewalk Ends_, _A Light in the Attic_, and _Falling Up_ all sitting on my bookshelf. ---
**Author:** ![HDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/bb73d2/32.png) [@HDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HDS)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-silverstein-fans/216780/9 "2003-12-04T12:55:56Z")
Oh my yes - my son and I love to read his poem books and snuggle. My favourite is Hug O’ War. ---
**Author:** ![N.Sane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f19dbf/32.png) [@N.Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N.Sane)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-silverstein-fans/216780/10 "2003-12-04T13:43:32Z")
(Forget the kid’s name) thought he’d get a free bath here at the launderette. Round he goes now, slippy slappy, looking clean, but not too happy. I also love the one about the pet snowball that ran away during the night, after first wetting the bed. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![saramamalana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@saramamalana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saramamalana)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-silverstein-fans/216780/11 "2003-12-04T21:50:40Z")
Ahh, fond memories of my youth. In 3rd grade we had an assignment to write a fan letter to an author we liked and I picked him. What I didn’t know was that we weren’t supposed to actually send the letter, just write it! I got a form letter back thanking me for my appreciation or interesting or something. _ahem_ _Mrs. McTwitter, the babysitter, I think she’s a little bit crazy. She thinks a babysitter is s’posed to sit upon the baby!_ and _Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout would not take the garbage out she’d scour the pots and scrape the pans (something something) and candy the yams_ I wish I remembered all of that one…I remember bits and pieces of other ones. Another favorite is “The Mee Who with an Exactly-What.” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-silverstein-fans/216780/12 "2003-12-04T22:32:40Z")
Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout is certainly a classic, but my all-time favorite is _Sick_. Unfortunately it’s not very amenable to memorization; it doesn’t have enough large-scale structure to it. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-silverstein-fans/216780/13 "2003-12-04T23:12:28Z")
IIRC, the missing bit from Sara is “scrub the floors and candy…” And who was that evil little girl that wanted a particular pancake from the middle of the stack? ---
**Author:** ![YellowTail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b5ac83/32.png) [@YellowTail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YellowTail)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-silverstein-fans/216780/14 "2003-12-05T00:05:13Z")
I bought _Falling Up_ for my nephew when he was 5 or 6 hoping he would like it. To my delight he repeatedly reads the whole thing from back to front (he’s 7 now) and asks people if he can read them some poems! ---
**Author:** ![Abe\_User](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@Abe\_User](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abe_User)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-silverstein-fans/216780/15 "2003-12-05T00:18:29Z")
> [@](#): > > Kid flicks his magic fingers once and ZAP! that first joint’s rolled. > Pearl takes one drag with her mighty lungs and WOOSH! that roach is cold. > Then The Kid he rolls his Super Bomb that’d paralyze a moose. > And Pearley takes one super hit and SLURP! that bomb’ defused. > Then he rolls three in just ten seconds and she smokes ‘em up in nine, > And everybody sits back and says, “This just might take some time.” > See the blur of flyin’ fingers, see the red coal burnin’ 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 > But 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, “Goddamn 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 fuck around, man, I come here to SMOKE!” > And she reaches ‘cross the table And grabs his bony sleeves > And she crumbles his body between her hands like dried and brittle leaves > Flickin’ 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. [http://www.banned-width.com/shel/works/smokeoff.html](http://www.banned-width.com/shel/works/smokeoff.html) Shel is a total freak! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Lucki\_Chaarms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lucki\_Chaarms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucki_Chaarms)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-silverstein-fans/216780/16 "2003-12-05T00:28:13Z")
Abe, that rocks. And let’s not forget that brother Shel wrote the words to that classic Johnny Cash tune “A Boy Named Sue”. Therefore, Shel is on my cool list for keeps. LC ---
**Author:** ![Live\_Better\_Electrically](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/46a35a/32.png) [@Live\_Better\_Electrically](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Live_Better_Electrically)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-silverstein-fans/216780/17 "2003-12-05T02:03:09Z")
Bobby Bare recorded three albums of Shel’s songs in the mid '70s. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-silverstein-fans/216780/18 "2003-12-05T02:47:56Z")
And, as always, Silverstein was the man who wrote the lyrics for the classic 70s “piss off the feminists” song, _Put Another Log on the Fire_. Dr. Demento could base an entire show just on songs with Silverstein lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![SpectBrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@SpectBrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpectBrain)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-silverstein-fans/216780/19 "2003-12-05T03:01:24Z")
And let’s not forget that he was a prolific cartoonist who’s work frequently appeared in Playboy Magazine.