Classic Poem

BY Our O WN I RVING Berlin .

I like to hear — yes, yes! — I like to hear
The music of a big brass band.
I love the tone
Of the slide trombone
And the saxophone
So grand.
But I want to be
General utility —
I want to try
That baby-cry;
Want to play the rattle and the castanet;
Want to bang the tom-tom and the tambourette;
Want to jangle
That old triangle;
Cut a caper
With the old sandpaper;
Ring those sleighbells and those chimes
And crack that whip about a million times.
I want to beat that thunder-sheet
I like the smash of the old glass-crash
I want to go on — yes, go on —
I want to go on — yes, go on —
I want to go on a musical jag!
I want to have a symphonical souse
Like a syncopated Richard Strauss.
I want to play — hooray! —
All day — hooray! —
With facility
And agility
That General Utility
Ra-a-a-g!