At The Zoo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"At the Zoo" was one of Simon and Garfunkel's single releases in 1967. The song is one of Paul Simon's many tributes to his home town of New York City. The narrative tells the story of a trip to the Central Park Zoo; when the singer reaches the zoo he anthropomorphizes the animals in various amusing ways, with a resulting cynical eye towards human life. Such statements as "elephants are kindly, but they're dumb", "antelopes are missionaries" and "pigeons plot in secrecy" reflect more about man than they do about the menagerie.
[edit] Releases
"At the Zoo" was first released as a single in 1967, reaching #16 on the Billboard Hot 100. After that, it was released in the following albums:
- Bookends (1968)
- The Best of Simon and Garfunkel (1999)
- Tales from New York: The Very Best of Simon & Garfunkel (2000)
[edit] The Book
In 1991 Paul Simon released a children's book titled At the Zoo (ISBN 0-385-41771-3) which combines the lyrics of the song with the very detailed illustrations of Valerie Michaut. To make this book appropriate for children, Simon made changes and additions, including identifying Rum as a beaver (because the original lyric states that "the zookeeper is very fond of rum") and giving the hamsters headlights (because they "turn on frequently").
