Ray Stevens › Lyrics › Harry the Hairy Ape

Well, a strange thing happened the other night
You won't believe it, but I swear it's true
Harry the hairy ape made his escape
From the city zoo

And under cover of darkness he made his way
To the middle of the municipal park
And he hid in the bushes and waited for somebody to come
Walkin' along by his self in the dark

Then along come somebody not suspectin' nothin'
Harry jump out of the bushes all of a sudden
Beat on his chest jump up and down and he say

Which is Harry-Ape talk for
"Boo, I betcha I scared you, ha ha"

Waaa! Scared that poor cat so bad
His eyes bugged out his hair turned white
And he ran off through the municipal park
Screamin' and hollerin', tearin' up the shrub and diggin' up the lawn

And knock down the "Keep off the grass" sign
Run through the hurricane fence
Fell into the municipal swimming pool
And drowned his self

Well, Harry thought this was the funniest thing
That he had ever seen
And he laughed, jumped back in the bushes
And got ready to do it again

The next guy to come along was the near-sighted local DJ
Just boppin' down the sidewalk on his way to work
With a box of records on his arm
That he was gonna play

So here he come, not suspectin' nothin'
Harry jump out of the bushes all of a sudden
Beat on his chest, jump up and down and he say

Which is Harry-Ape talk for
"Boo, I betcha I scared you, ha ha"

Man, that radio announcer didn't even bat an eye
He was so near sighted, he thought Harry was a Rock n' Roll singer
So he gave him the old glad hand, slapped him on the back
Smiled and say, "Don't worry, baby, I'm gonna play the record"

And then he say, "Bye" bopped on off down the sidewalk
Every 4 or 5 steps he'd stop and do the little mash potatoes
Harry just stood there, watchin' 'til he got out of sight
Man, he didn't know what to think, I mean it really shook him up

And he run back to his cage as fast as he can go
And jump up on his little swing
Put both hands over his eyes
And didn't look for 3 hours and 45 minutes

But that's not the end of our story
No!
Here's what happened

Well, the DJ played Harry's record, what record?
Shut up! It was a hit and he became a star
He got him some tight britches, got him a manager
Went on a promotion tour, combed his hair back

And took up playin' the guitar
And every Sunday afternoon you can go and see Harry at the zoo
And the girls'll scream and he'll sit on his swing
And pick and sing his hit record for you