Song of the Week: Dinosaurs in Cars

Since I just featured Nancy Stewart in yesterday's edition of Spinning Wheel, I thought it appropriate to feature one of Nancy's tunes for Song of the Week. I first heard a version of this song from my sister-in-law in 2001. She'd just had a baby eight months before and had learned "Dinosaurs in Cars" from the leader of her parent group. However, the song ended with one dinosaur and no resolution. My sister-in-law wondered where the song came from, and thought that perhaps it had been translated from another language. "It just stops in the middle and then goes on," she said.

A few years later, I bought Nancy's "Plant a Little Seed" cd and booklet set, which had the song my sister-in-law mentioned. Soon after, Nancy made it her song of the month, which you can listen to here and print out sheet music plus chords here. I sent it to my sister-in-law, who said, "No, this is not the song-- the tune was different." However, the words and music were indeed Nancy's compositions. Somewhere between Seattle, Washington, and Victoria, British Columbia, someone altered the tune and forgot the final verse.

Here are the lyrics:
There were five dinosaurs riding in cards
Havin a "wheely" good time
They said, "Step on the gas, we'll go really fast!"
And they did until one had a flat tire
Ca-chunk, ca-chunk, ca-chunk, ca-chunk
Whooosh---
And he said, "Go on without me!"

After counting down to one, the last dinosaur realizes that leaving his friends behind wasn't the only option after all. He fixes his car, picks up his friends, and they all go off having as much fun as before. However, now they are now a little bit the wiser for having figured out how to fix a flat tire. I am reminded of what Nancy told us in guitar clinic: Knowing how to change a tire on a car and a string on a guitar are two necessary life-skills.

Ahem. I have helped to change two flat-tires in my life, and one time I was the one holding the manual. As Bede lay on his back under the car, I said, "Now, the manual says to make sure you get the widget in the right place or the entire car will break into two parts."

If you need your guitar strings changed, I can definitely help you out with that project (and your guitar won't be at risk of breaking in half).