Allan Sherman The Rebel lyrics

He stood four foot eight and wore a beatnik beard
He had big thick glasses that looked real weird
He weighed ninety-eight pounds
But a whole nation feared the Rebel

He had a chick named Rhonda, a college prize
Her long hair hung down over her eyes
Kinda half Barbra Streisand and half Joan Baez
She dug the Rebel

Well, they met one day at a pop art bash
Between a painting of a can of succotash
And a high camp sculpture of a pile of trash
It was groovy

Rhonda dug the Rebel and the Rebel dug Rhonda
So she grabbed her guitar and roared off on his Honda
To a discotheque called the Anaconda
With the Rebel

When the frugging was over at the discotheque
The Rebel was a-tryin' to pay his check
But his pockets they were empty so he yelled, "Oh, heck!"
"Heck," said the Rebel

Well, the Dean walked by just as that occurred
He said, "You can get expelled for what I just heard
Don't you realize 'Heck' is a four-letter word
You Rebel?"

But the Rebel said to his old adversary
"Just as long as that word's in the slang dictionary
I swear by Peter, Paul and Mary
I'll use it"

"Furthermore," said the Rebel, "I won't let the issue pass
The whole student body's gonna sit down en masse
Besides, that way we don't have to go to class
We're gonna clew it"

Well, the sit-in started 'bout 7:15
The whole thing was covered by Time Magazine
They even took Batman off the TV screen
To show the Rebel


Out came the captain of the state police
Arresting lots of students for disturbing the peace
Including his own son, his daughter and his niece
And the Rebel

Someone called the governor to see what he could do
The governor said, "Sorry but I cannot talk to you
'Cause I'm a-sittin' in at the state house too
Just like the Rebel"

Soon the secondary schools began to rebel
Kindergarten kids were sitting during show and tell
Then the older generation started sitting down as well
Man, what a protest

Doctors sat, firemen sat, teachers wouldn't teach
People sat at home and on the street and on the beach
Just a-sittin' and a-waitin' for freedom of speech
Nobody was talkin' to anybody

The nation was in trouble, there wasn't any doubt
The President went on TV to try to pull us out
And the President shouted, "What the heck's it all about?"
"Heck," said the President

Soon everyone was saying 'Heck', they said it everywhere
And the Rebel said to Rhonda, "This is terribly unfair
Being hip is getting middle class, let's you and I be square"
And they did, they squared it up

Rhonda got a haircut, the Rebel shaved his beard
They were married and had children
Which they subsequently reared
They moved out to the suburbs and they really disappeared
Wow, did they conform

Folks built a statue of the Rebel
Just to prove the people's love but the public soon forgot it
Just the pigeons up above seem to know the right location
They've all found that statue of the Rebel