This song purports to be the deservedly little-known first draft of "Cranes Over Hiroshima".
Someone once came up to me after I performed this and said, "You really don't like Fred Small, do you?" I [Alan] actually admire Fred and his music very much.
Cranes Over Hiroshima, The First Draft
copyright (c) 1996, 1999 Alan Thiesen
A babe survives the Bomb.
She sees ten years go by.
She learns to make origami cranes.
She gets real sick. She dies.
I tried to write a poignant song
For a little girl who's dead.
How come I wrote this piece of... work instead?
What rhymes with "origami"?
"Salami" just won't do.
What rhymes with "silver" or with "orange"?
I really wish I knew.
But these lyrics are ever so awful.
If I sing this, I'll sound like a jerk.
And the phrase that I hear is, "You idiot, this needs work."
Brains undergo atrophy,
My brain more than most.
I once wrote "Everything Possible,"
But now my mind is toast.
I will put these words on paper,
Write the verses down, and then,
I will tear them up and try again.
My analyst knows the legend:
If a million marmosets
Had a million laptops, they might write
"Romeo and Juliet,"
Or maybe "Cranes Over Hiroshima,"
Or maybe "A Modest Proposal".
So how come this song belongs in the garbage disposal?
Brains undergo atrophy,
Pickled in more than beer.
I'll sing this in the shower,
So no one else can hear.
I will put these words on paper,
Write the verses, one by one.
They will line the bird cage when I'm done.
If you gave a million PowerBooks
To a million or so slow lorises
They just might write the songs of Fred Small
And sing along on the choruses.
Monkeys from everywhere gathered,
Together a song they'd write.
So why is this song so tasteless and pointless and trite?
This is the dream
For which I long:
If I can't bring
Peace to the world
Couldn't I just
Write a good song?