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about

Barnum Brown, perhaps the greatest dinosaur bone hunter of the 20th century, was lucky - but not the way that you'd think. In this song Barnum introduces himself and explains the three ways that he was, indeed, lucky. We also hear Barnum's mom calling him to dinner - once when he's 5 years old and again when he's 16 and going off to college.

lyrics

[NARRATOR]
"Barnum Brown, born in 1873, was lucky to live during an unprecedented age of scientific discovery. By this time, most scientists accepted Darwin's theory of evolution as a fact. But not everyone did. Some folks disagreed.
As the arguments raged, scientists kept discovering the stoney remains of ancient remarkable dinosaurs."

SONG 1. Barnum Brown Introduces Himself
Some said I was lucky
or had X-ray vision
or great wits to escape every storm.
But lucky I am - not the way that you think. It's the luck
that I got when I 's born.

For the time and the place:
The late 1800's,
And for me in that very
location...
With pioneer parents
in Carbondale KS,
I developed my unique vocation.

[Barnum's mother calls]
"Barnum, Barnum, Barnum come home. He's a good boy but he sure likes … he sure likes to roam. He's a smart one does his chores - I don't mind when he's out the back door. Say's 'there's some treasure to find…'"

By the hand I'd walk with mom or dad,
not more than 5 years old.
I would help them hold the can
and we'd collect some coal.

On the ground: stone mollusks
would pique curiosity
How could I find sea shells
when I'd never seen the sea?

[ the roar of dinosaurs interrupts]
"Oh no - I was only 5 years old and certainly did NOT know about you fellows yet. Get back underground ! You've been hiding for over 66 million years. You can wait a few minutes longer!"

So the first extra luck
were those fossilized shells,
the second: living in Darwin's own time.
The third - at 16 Pa took me
camping out West
living 4 months outdoors
was sublime!

[ mother calls again…]
"Barnum, your dinner is getting cold. Can you hear me, child?"

[Barnum answers…]
"Mom- I'm a young man now. Going to college next. Love you, mom!"

In college I developed a predilection
to study geology;
and paleontology - life buried in stones - and the
recent discovery of dinosaur bones.

[ dinosaurs roaring again]
"Okay, you terrifying giants -

I see you: meat eaters, plant eaters, some flying, some floating, running on 2's or 4's, chasing or being chased;

I see you slicing with teeth, grasping your prey, enormous feet traipsing through the mud, caught in tar traps, escaping death, succumbing to death.

I see you covered with mud turned to stone.

Submerged - hidden - thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of years.
And sometimes - just sometimes - found.
So now, there's a new 'big game hunter' around.

It's me: Barnum Brown."

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The Wing Nuts Austin, Texas

This husband and wife team from Austin, Texas tackles the loved, hated, or forgotten classics of English literature.

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