Great Grey-Green Greasy Limpopo River

by @pippa

Liner Notes

I thought I'd be able to redo the recording, but turns out I don't know how to do that on SoundCloud. So this will have to do. When I get it transcribed, then anyone who can read notes will see more clearly what this tune is meant to be.

Transcription now at https://pippaletsky.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Great-Grey-Green-Greasy-Limpopo-River.pdf

#solo mandolin #girl-with-mandolin #Rudyard Kipling #Elephant's Child #acoustic-one-take #original fiddle tune #Pippa tune #folk

no transcription with notes or chords yet

Lyrics

I cannot download the drawing of the elephant's child getting his nose pulled by the crocodile, but I can include Rudyard Kipling's caption to his drawing, so I will:

THIS is the Elephant’s Child having his nose pulled by the Crocodile. He is much surprised and astonished and hurt, and he is talking through his nose and saying, ‘Led go! You are hurtig be!’ He is pulling very hard, and so is the Crocodile: but the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake is hurrying through the water to help the Elephant’s Child. All that black stuff is the banks of the great grey-green greasy Limpopo River (but I am not allowed to paint these pictures), and the bottly-tree with the twisty roots and the eight leaves is one of the fever-trees that grow there. Underneath the truly picture are shadows of African animals walking into an African ark. There are two lions, two ostriches, two oxen, two camels, two sheep, and two other things that look like rats, but I think they are rock-rabbits. They don’t mean anything. I put them in because I thought they looked pretty. They would look very fine if I were allowed to paint them.

Comments

[avatar]

Hey, Pippa - It's so good to hear you again. There's a jaunty conflict in the music, maybe between what I want to paint, and what I dursn't paint, but it sure feels like the want to carries the day...That urge to create and share just shines through. It'll be dancing in my forehead all day.

[avatar]

Love the referent and how you represented that river musically. It's a jaunty river!

[FAWM]