The Green-Eyed Dragon - 1926

by James Pitt-Payne, London and Ian Cousins, Opera Australia - 28 Feb 2002

Once upon a time lived a fair princess
Most beautiful and charming.
Her father the king was a wicked old thing,
With manners most alarming.
And always on the front door mat
A most ferocious dragon sat,
It made such an awful shrieking noise,
So all you little girls and boys,
Beware. Take care
Of the greeneyed dragon
with the thirteen tails.
He'll feed, with greed,
On little boys, puppy dogs and big fat snails;
Then off to his lair each child he'll drag,
And each of his thirteen tails he'll wag.
Beware! Take care,
And creep off on tiptoes,
Then hurry up the stairs
And say your pray'rs,
And duck your heads, your pretty curly heads
Beneath the clothes, the clothes, the clothes.
That dragon he lived for years and years,
But he never grew much thinner.
For lunch he'd try A policeman pie
Or a roast M.P. for dinner.
One brave man went round with an axe,
And tried to collect his income tax,
The dragon he smiled with fiendish glee,
Then sadly murmur'd R.I.P.
Beware. Take care
Of the greeneyed dragon
with the thirteen tails.
He'll feed, with greed,
On little boys, puppy dogs and big fat snails;
Then off to his lair each child he'll drag,
And each of his thirteen tails he'll wag.
Beware! Take care,
And creep off on tiptoes,
Then hurry up the stairs
And say your pray'rs,
And duck your heads, your pretty curly heads
Beneath the clothes, the clothes, the clothes.
That dragon went down
to the kitchen one day
Where the fair princess was baking,
He ate by mistake Some rich plum cake
Which the fair princess was making;
That homemade cake he could not digest,
He moaned and he groaned
and at last went west,
And now his ghost, with bloodshot eyes,
At midnight clanks his chains and cries:
Beware. Take care
Of the greeneyed dragon
with the thirteen tails.
He'll feed, with greed,
On little boys, puppy dogs and big fat snails;
Then off to his lair each child he'll drag,
And each of his thirteen tails he'll wag.
Beware! Take care,
And creep off on tiptoes,
Then hurry up the stairs
And say your pray'rs,
And duck your heads, your pretty curly heads
Beneath the clothes, the clothes, the clothes.

Soft karaoke
Words
treble clef 1
treble clef 2
lyric line
bass
Lyric Line
*
The Green-Eyed Dragon 1926
Music by Wolseley Charles
Lyric by Greatrex Newman
copyright 1926 by Boosey and Co. Ltd.
sequence by Dr. Pitt-Payne in London UK
and Ian Cousins, Opera Australia
with special thanks to Ian for the great deal
of time he put into this file and the tempi changes needed.
completed on Thursday 28 February 2002 at 07.24
in association with Doug Grierson
*