Ogden Nash - The Fanciful World of Ogden Nash
God in his wisdom
Made the fly
Then forgot to tell us why
-Ogden Nash
On this April Fool’s Day I present for your enjoyment something a little different for Free Albums Galore. A spoken word album from America’s foremost poet of the absurd.
Ogden Nash exceled in the light verse. His poetry is full of puns and light-hearted wit to the point that you may not realize he is also blightly satiring and questioning 20th century culture and norms. On The Fanciful World of Ogden Nash, he reads 26 of his poems observing everything from flies to insomnia to the difficulty of getting coffee with a meal. His readings are charmingly accompanied by a woodwind and harp score by composer Glenn Osser.
The album is available in 192kbps MP3.
Thanks for posting this–I enjoy Nash’s poetry a lot, but never got around to hearing him read.
Comment by Chris — April 4, 2006 @ 3:43 am
Thank you! This is great - first of all because it’s Ogden Nash, and second of all because it doesn’t include that awful, awful, awful one called “The Kitten” which just serves to bring down the rest of his brilliant work.
Comment by Lethe — September 16, 2008 @ 12:12 pm
You mean even worse than “Rice is nice but liquor’s quicker”?
Comment by Marvin — September 17, 2008 @ 5:25 am
Ha ha - yes. Though I always heard it as “Candy is dandy.”
Comment by Lethe — September 22, 2008 @ 3:49 pm
There’s more than one version, I think. He even wrote a later version ending with “Pot is not.”
Comment by Marvin — September 23, 2008 @ 4:38 am
But hmmmm . . . candy bowls yes . . . preprandial cocktails sure . . . passing a joint okay (well, not personally, but it’s been done) . . . but the title is “Breaking the Ice,” and who on earth gets a party started with rice?
Comment by Lethe — September 23, 2008 @ 7:53 pm