Song for Henri Rousseau
By: Chaim
Genres
Description
Who was Henri Rousseau? He was a French "primitive" (untrained) painter who died about a hundred years ago. This video shows what we're singing about.
Lyrics
He was an ordinary man A customs clerk somewhere in France Till he retired at forty-nine He lived a life inside his mind He never left his native land To paint what he had never seen The sleeping gypsy in the sand The world suspended in a dream. He holds a staff still in his hand A lion sniffs around his head Is he asleep or just pretend His lute is silent as the dead The moon is watching from the sky The stars are peering through the dawn The lion gazes with his eye The gypsy sleeps until the morn. And there is even more to tell The mountains rising from the plain They play their part they cast their spell A world where nothing is mundane. The coat he wears like Joseph's own Also a dreamer he was called Of many colors it was sewn Will it be torn will he be mauled They say that always in the dream Each thing you see is only you Things are not always what they seem Or what at first we may construe A nude reclining on a chair Where jungle vegetation grows The creatures deep within all stare Regarding Henri Rousseau.
