Lyrics & Music by: Bob Dorough
Performed by: Bob Dorough, Blossom Dearie, Essra Mohawk, and Jack
Sheldon
Mother Necessity
With her good intentions,
Where would this country be
Without her inventions?
Oh, things were rotten in the land of cotton
Until Whitney made the cotton gin
Now old times there will soon be forgotten
For it did the work of a hundred men
Mother Necessity, where would we be?
Mother Edison worked late each night
It went well until the fading light
Little Thomas Alva Edison said, "I'll grow up to be
A great inventor and I'll make a lamp to help my mommy see,
Wowee! What an excellent
application of electricity!"
He worked hard and pulled the switch
He was smart and very rich
Mother Necessity, help us to see
Now, the mother of Samuel Morse
Always sent the lad out on a horse
"Take a message to Ms Peavy on
the far side of the pike;
Spread the word about the quilting
bee next Saturday night!"
Little Samuel started thinking of a
way to send a message,
Though he'd never met a horse he
didn't like Uh!
Mother Necessity!
Elias, can you help me with my sewing?
Mother dear, I'll fulfill your fondest wishes
Elias, how?
This machine I've made will keep
your sewing really flowing
In fact, we'II keep the whole nation in stitches Ah!
Mother Necessity, where would we be?
Ring me on the Alexander Graham Bell
Thank you Alexander for the phone
I'd never get a date, I'd never get a jo
Unless I had a telephone
Mother Necessity!
"Orville, Wilbur, go outside this minute,
And there continue with your silly playing!
Take these plans and take those blueprints
Take that funny looking thing,
Take that wheel, take that wing,
I can't hear a thing that Mrs
Johnson's saying
Orville! Wilbur! Come back, boys!
Orville! Wilbur!"
Mother Necessity, where would we be?
When Robert Fulton made the steamboat go,
When Marconi gave us wireless radio,
When Henry Ford cranked up his first automo,
When Samuel Slater showed us
how the factories go,
And all the iron and oil and coal and
steel and Yankee don'tyou know,
They made this country really grow,
grow, grow, grow,
With Mother Necessity and where
would we be
Without the inventions of your
progeny?