Yak / [John Lurie introduces the band] Songtext
von The Lounge Lizards

This is a story about a small but strong and proud man
Who woke up one morning and looked at the ceiling of his bedroom
And said to himself, "What I love in this world, in this life
Is God, my farm and my family."

And on his farm he had some cows, he had some cows, he had some cows
He had some chickens, he had ducks, he had some very small barking dogs
Little tiny one-inch-long dogs that had red stripes all over them
And they lived mostly on the farmer's shoulder and when he woke up in the morning
They'd go, "Hello, good morning, hi, how are you, good morning, hey."
And he had a dog and he also had the strange and unusual beast called the yak


And one day and verily as the man was surveying the beauty of his land
Of his home, of the place where he lived, he said, with a smile on his face
He said to himself, "My life has been good to me."
And all the animals on the farm went, "Yes."
And he walked down off the porch and he noticed that a rake was facing the wrong way up
The rake could be very dangerous to his young children when they came home from school
And he must remember to fix that rake and he also walked past five hoes - ho, ho, ho, ho, ho
And he walked up onto the hill, up onto the grassy knoll where President Kennedy was shot
And he could see off yonder, off in the distance that the yak, who was tied to a chain, to a tree
Was acting strange, the yak was moving its head from side to side
The yak was making horrifying noises, the yak was going, "Raa, ra, raa, raa, raa, raa!"
And the farmer, he says, "What's wrong, what could be wrong with the yak?"
And the yak said, "I'm sick, you stupid farmer, I'm burning up with fever!"
So the yak was, the yak was acting terrifying and the farmer moved closely to the yak
Cos he was afraid of the yak cos the yak had bit him one time
So he moved up closely and he put his hand on the yak's forehead
And the yak was going, "Blaa, raa, raa!"
And he could feel that the yak was burning up with fever and it terrified the man

So he rushed down the hill, he rushed down the hill past all the animals
Who all looked nervous about the situation that was happening
And first he came up to the porch and he burst into the kitchen
And he said to his wife, who was beautiful and fair, he said
"The yak is sick, the yak is sick, the yak is burning up with fever, the yak, the yak is sick!"
And his wife, as always, put her hands on his shoulder and said
"Calm down, be calm, just be calm - the yak is sick, the yak has a fever
Just feed the yak, give the yak some toast, give the yak some toast
Give the yak some, uh, here - give it some of this oatmeal here
And give it some, uh, uh, give it some raisinettes and some, uh, pork chops from last night."
And she so ladened the man down with food that he could not see where he was going
But he knew the path and he walked out the kitchen door backwards and came down the stairs
And he walked and he stepped on the rake that was going the wrong up and the rake came up
And hit him in the head and he died immediately and the moral of the story is - feed a fever, starve the yak

And though the man is dead, to this day you can still see the yak on top of the hill
Shaking his head from side to side, going, "Raa, raa, raa, raa - I'm sick, I'm burning up with fever
Raa, raa, raa - it's my farm now, raa, raa, raa, I can have his wife, raa
Come to me on the hill, come to me on the hill, come to me on the hill."