Tom Paxton - Engelbert The Elephant lyrics

When the King and Queen decided They would have a formal dance Invitations were delivered And it happened quite by chance Through an oversight of someone's Whose it was I can't recall Engelbert the elephant Was invited to the ball What excitement in the jungle What a holy hullabaloo What a race to find a costume And to learn a step or two You could feel the jungle shaking And I bet it's shaking yet While Engelbert was learning How to dance the minuet All the palace lamps were lighted As the sun was goin' down And the music of the orchestra Was heard across the town The dance was just beginning When there came a mighty roar Your Highness - there's an elephant And he's standing by the door Then the guard turned out from everywhere They came from every place To where Engelbert was standing With a smile upon his face He was dressed in latest fashion On his trunk he wore a ring He presented his invitation With the seal of the King So the soldiers formed an escort And they led him to the ball Where the orchestra stopped playing And a hush went through the hall For the King and Queen were speechless And I'm sure they're speechless now Engelbert the elephant Made a very lovely bow Then the Queen began to smile at him The band began to play And Engelbert was dancing In the very nicest way The ladies were delighted At the way he turned and spun And before the night was over He had danced with everyone When they sat down to dinner Engelbert sat on the floor He nibbled most politely Though he really wanted more When the final dance was called for Such a sight you've never seen For it was by the royal command He danced it with the Queen And when the ball was over And the guests began to go They escorted him to the city gates And he gave 'em quite a show For the band had come along with them And the band began to play And the dance he did along the road Is talked about today Yes they talked about the dancing And you know they're talkin' yet Of how Engelbert the elephant Performed the minuet