Lyrics & Music by: Bob Dorough
Performed by: Bob Dorough and chorus of kids
(Drum riff)
We went to the four-legged zoo
To visit our four-footed friends.
Lions and tigers, cats and dogs,
A goat and a cow and a couple o' hogs.
A rhinoceros and of course a hippopotamus
And, oh yes, a horse!
There were elk and bison, a gnu or two,
Giraffes and elephants, quite a few,
A llama, alpaca, vicuna too,
Zebras, Ibexes, and one big kudu.
It was swell.
I liked the gazelle.
Now Miss Simpson said ...
She teaches school, you know-
Yeah, she took us there.
Well, Miss Simpson said-
If we counted every head on these
quadrupeds,
Then multiplied that number by four,
We'd know how many feet went through the
door,
If we turned 'em all loose.
Oh no, don't do that!
It's really a groovy zoo.
But anyway, what Miss Simpson said,
It was a good chance to work on our fours in
our head.
1-2-3-4!
I'll take a lion ... 1 X 4
He's got four legs and maybe a roar.
Gimme 2 camels ... that's 2 x 4
8 legs walking 'cross the desert floor.
A tiger and a lamb and a fat kudu,
Would be 3 x 4 equals 12 legs too.
But we might have to subtract
When that tiger was through! (Rrarr!)
Four 4-footed friends, no matter who,
Would have sixteen legs, and It's always true
That 4 X 4 equals 16,
And 5 x 4 is 20.
Now a coach and six, If you were Cinderella,
Would have you home by midnight
If those twenty-four legs ran fast as light ...
6 x 4 equals 24 and 7 x 4 equals 28
Anyone knows that, who cares about seven
...
And eight antelope have thirty-two legs
'cause 8 x 4 is 32.
Here come a small herd of buffalo.
They say they're getting extinct, you know.
I can count nine-that's thirty-six legs.
9 x 4 equals 36.
Here comes a baby buffalo.
That's good! That's ten!
And 10 x 4, you know, is 40.
Eleven coyotes ... 11 X4
Went slinkin' over the prairie floor
On all of their legs ... equals 44.
Now 12 X 4 is as high as we go ...
12 x 4 equals 48.
But there were so very, very, many, many
more
Animals standing there by the gate,
That we'd have to use a pencil if we counted
them all.
And we really had fun,
And we saw every one.
A bear, a cougar, a jackal, a yak,
A fox, some deer, and a sweet giraffe.
And I can't remember how many, many more,
But we multiplied them all by four.
And some of them thanked us with a roar.
