"Sheep with Stripes"
lyrics by Benjamin Newman based on Genesis 30:25-43
ttto: "Cows with Guns" by Dana Lyons

/ Am - / / Am -G / Am - / 

This tale of my cunning and biotech ventures
Starts when I fell in love and then got myself indentured
To earn a wife!

For each daughter I married, seven years was the trade
Well, I've worked six years extra, and I haven't been paid
Jack's got gripes!

I'll go to my uncle, wits girded for battle
He'll get his comeuppance, and I'll get his cattle
Serves him right!

I'll tell him, come on, let the flock be divided
Each sheep's pelt's pattern will be how it's decided
Sort by type!

I'll just take the striped ones, I don't want any grief
If you catch me with a plain one, you can call me a thief
It was swiped!

I'm not telling my uncle the rest of my plan:
I'll take branches and peel them in strips and in bands
Dark and light!

I'll go down to the well where the cattle are watered
And lay down the striped sticks where they're sure to be spotted
In plain sight!

Then, in theory, the lambs' coats will be correlated
To the striped sticks their parents looked at while they mated

	/ F - C - / E - Am - / F - C - / E - - - / Am ... /

	For twenty years I've pastured your flocks
	Well, I think I've done my time
	From now on, the furry fortune will be mine...
	Sheep with stripes!

The tale you've just heard has been told and retold
But some genetic experiments weren't recorded on the scrolls
Records wiped!

If sheep can get stripes from what's seen by their mothers
Is that just black and white, or will it work with colors?
It just might!

My son Joe is a smart one, big dreams are his element
I'll put him in charge of research and development
Joe's real bright!

Our first big success that was vibrant, not dingy
Was an ayil techelet -- now that's really fringy!
Blue and white!

We eventually worked up to a striped combination
Using all of the colors G-d made at creation
There was light!

Now, this full-color process, it was Joe who discerned it
So if he wears the product with pride, well, he earned it

	For a coat of many colors
	Some dye a plain, white fleece
	We use wool straight from our multi-colored beasts...
	Sheep with stripes!