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Thread: Shel Silverstein's "Great American Smokeout"

  1. #1
    Forum Member sabby's Avatar
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    Shel Silverstein's "Great American Smokeout"

    Does anyone know where I can find this? I know it was first published in Playboy, but I have no idea what issue. It was recorded, too. I know because I had a friend in fifth grade who knew every word of it and recited it in a convincing faux Shel voice. And I'm pretty he couldn't read. :hee

    All google gives me are references pages that have mention of the American Lung Association's quit smoking day and scedules for readings of The Giving Tree or Where the Sidewalk Ends.

    Any leads? Anyone?

  2. #2
    Forum Member Wilko's Avatar
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    Re: Shel Silverstein's "Great American Smokeout"

    In the laid back california town of sunny San Rapheal
    Lived a girl named Pearly Sweetcakes,
    you probably knew her well...

    (I love the old Shel Silverstein stuff. He wrote all of the old Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show stuff -- My uncle was the Steel guitar player with the real deep voice)

  3. #3
    Forum Member Wilko's Avatar
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    Re: Shel Silverstein's "Great American Smokeout"

    I'll look for it...

  4. #4
    Forum Member Wilko's Avatar
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    Re: Shel Silverstein's "Great American Smokeout"

    Here it is, along with other poems by Silverstein (some were recorded by Dr Hook)

    http://www.ihatemen.com/poems.cfm?catid=13&status=1

  5. #5
    Forum Member sabby's Avatar
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    Re: Shel Silverstein's "Great American Smokeout"

    You're my hero, Wilko. Thanks!!!

  6. #6
    Forum Member NeoFauve's Avatar
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    Re: Shel Silverstein's "Great American Smokeout"

    I was just reading "Runny Babbit" with my niece this weekend. :lol

    Nothing like a little balking tackwards for a few laughs.:yay
    Not quite on par with "Rindercella and Her Sisty Uglers" but lotsa fun for a kid book.
    "Well, I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused..."
    Elvis Costello

  7. #7
    Forum Member sabby's Avatar
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    Re: Shel Silverstein's "Great American Smokeout"

    And if anyones else is interested, it's on the Album, Shel Silverstein, Songs & Stories.

  8. #8
    Forum Member sabby's Avatar
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    Re: Shel Silverstein's "Great American Smokeout"

    Quote Originally Posted by Wilko
    My uncle was the Steel guitar player with the real deep voice
    Wow. Those guys seem like a blast to be around. That band just exuded fun. So, do you have any stories?

  9. #9
    Forum Member Wilko's Avatar
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    Re: Shel Silverstein's "Great American Smokeout"

    Quote Originally Posted by sabby
    Wow. Those guys seem like a blast to be around. That band just exuded fun. So, do you have any stories?
    I was way too young to have any stories. Plus, I was in San Diego. They were everywhere else. My mom hung around with George Cummings, AKA "Sonny" when she was kid. He left that band in the late 70s.

    We had all those old records growing up and didn't know what any of it meant. Even the title of the album with their first "big hit" was called "Sloppy Seconds". All the Shel Silverstein stuff was pretty rude. Freaker's Ball, Get My Rocks Off, Makin' it Natural.

    We just thought it was cool that he was in a fanous band and he was the guy who sang that funny line with the deep voice in "Cover of the Rolling Stone". "I got a freaky old lady named cocaine Katy..."

  10. #10
    Forum Member sabby's Avatar
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    Re: Shel Silverstein's "Great American Smokeout"

    Cool stuff. "Freakers Ball" is on my list of songs to learn. A good choice for a solo acoustic rendition.

  11. #11
    Forum Member Wilko's Avatar
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    Re: Shel Silverstein's "Great American Smokeout"

    sabby,
    You've got mail.

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