Lyrics Man Piaba - Harry Belafonte

This song is dedicated to all the parents whose children have reached the age of curiosity

When I was a lad of three-foot-three
Certain questions occurred to me
So I asked me father quite seriously
To tell me the story 'bout the bird and bee
He stammered and he stuttered pathetically
And this is what he said to me

He said, "The woman piaba and the man piaba
And the Ton Ton call baka lemon grass
The lily root, gully root, belly root, ugh
And the famous grandy scratch-scratch"

It was clear as mud but it covered the ground
And the confusion made the brain go 'round
I went and ask a good friend of mine
Known to the world as Albert Einstein

He said, "Son, from the beginning of time and creativity"
There existed the force of relativity
Pi r square and a minus ten is a rooted only when
Hey, the solar system in one light year
Make the Hayden planetarium disappear
So if Mount Everest doesn't move
I am positive that it will prove"

That the woman piaba and the man piaba
And the Ton Ton call baka lemon grass
The lily root, gully root, belly root, ugh
And the famous grandy scratch-scratch

It was clear as mud but it covered the ground
And the confusion made the brain go 'round
I grabbed a boat and went abroad
In Baden Baden asked Sigmund Freud

He said, "Son, from your sad face remove the grouch
Put the body down up on the couch
I can see from your frustration a neurotic sublimation
Hey, love and hate is psychosomatic
Your Rorsach shows that you're a peri pathetic
It all started with a broken sibling
In the words of the famous Rudyard Kipling"

Hey, woman piaba and the man piaba
And the Ton Ton call baka lemon grass
The lily root, gully root, belly root, ugh
And the famous grandy scratch-scratch

Well, I traveled far and I traveled wide
And I don't even have me self a bride
All the great men upon this earth
Have confused me since my birth

If the woman piaba and the man piaba
And the Ton Ton call baka lemon grass
The lily root, gully root, belly root uhmm
And the famous grandy scratch-scratch