An effervescing elephant
With tiny eyes, and great big trunk
Once whispered to the tiny ears
The ears of one inferior

That by next June he'd die, oh yeah!
Because the tiger would roam
And the little one said oh my goodness I must stay at home
And every time I hear a growl

I'll know the tiger's on the prowl
but I'll be really safe you know
The elephant he told me so
And everyone was nervy, oh yeah!

And the message was spread
To zebra, mongoose, and the dirty hippopotamus
Who wallowed in the mud and chewed
His spicy hippo plankton food

And tended to ignore the word
Preferring to survey a herd
Of stupid water bison, oh yeah!
And all the jungle took fright

And ran around for all the day and the night
But all in vain because you see
The tiger came and said who me,
You know I wouldn't hurt not one of you

I much prefer something to chew
and You're all too scant, oh yeah!
He ate the elephant

Writer : SYD BARRETT
Copyright : Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group