The Tiger Lillies "Learned Pig"

In their 2003 collaboration with the artist Edward Gorey and the Kronos Quartet, the English avant-cabaret trio The Tiger Lillies recorded a song about the wonderful pig of knowledge. You can find it on their cd The Gorey End. The lyrics are as follows, though you've really got to hear their music...

The Learned Pig

At the turn of the last century an unusual pig was reared.
While others wallowed in the mud on vans' letters he peered,
While others wallowed he taught himself to read
From an abandoned library edition the works of Regera Dowdy.
To escape the usual fate of pigs he fled to London town,
He lived off garbage here and there and read every poster found.
One day he answered the rhetorical question of a passing boy,
Now in the fairground his skills they are employed.
He was put to sit on a bucket in front of a banner
To answer stupid questions in a profound manner.
Soon he'd heard each question, each question before,
So now in the fairground he's starting to get bored.
One day in mid-answer passed a troupe of festive pigs,
He got down, got run over and now no longer lives.
He's up there in pig heaven, up there in the sky,
He reads to all the other pigs, the other pigs who have died.

Thanks to Josh Peralta for turning me on to this band and their homage to the pig of knowledge. I'm headed down to Anaheim later today for the National Pork Industry Forum. More about that later...