The Song of the Cebu is the seventh Silly Song with Larry that debuted in the VeggieTales episode Josh and the Big Wall!.
Larry is presenting a “sequential image, stereophonic, multimedia event” (which is really just a slide projector and bedsheet) about the story of a boy, his three cebús, and a hippo. (A cebú is kind of like a cow.) Disorganized and unprepared, however, his presentation ends up going spectacularly off the rails. The events of this Silly Song led to the infamous Song of the Cebú incident, which lasted until 1998 with "The End of Silliness?".
Lyrics
(The Silly Song title card appears, depicting Larry with a slide projector.)
Announcer: And now it's time for Silly Songs with Larry — the part of the show where Larry comes out and sings a silly song.
(It crossfades to Larry standing on a wooden platform on the countertop; manning his slide projector in front of his audience [Junior, Jimmy and Jerry]. We see a makeshift projector screen showing various blank pastel colored slides in front of them.)
Announcer (cont'd): Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! Larry the Cucumber presents, in a sequential image, stereophonic, multimedia event: The Song of the Cebú!
Larry: Cebú!
(As Larry speaks, he shows corresponding hand-drawn slides depicting what he describes.)
Larry (cont'd): This is a song about a boy. A song about a little boy and his cebús. A song about a little boy and his three cebús. The little boy who had a sick cebú, a sad cebú, and a mute cebú. … And also a hippo.
(Larry’s slides begin to show his vacation photos instead.)
Larry (cont'd): Um... um... this is me at the airport. This is my Aunt Ruth. This is me at a bullfight. This is me fighting a bull!
Junior, Jimmy and Jerry: Ooh!
Larry: This is me and the bull.
Junior, Jimmy and Jerry: Ahh!
(The slide shows a photo of a bandaged and bruised Larry, the bull, and a cebú who looks like the sick cebú in Larry's drawing.)
Larry: This is me and the bull and … I think that's the bull's cousin. He's a cebú!
(Larry continues to show blank slides as Archibald enters from behind the projector screen.)
Archibald: Hold it! You call this a multimedia event? This is a slide projector and a bed sheet! And what on Earth is a Cebú, anyway?
Larry: It's kind of like a cow...
(Larry shows a slide of a drawing comparing a cow to a Cebú)
Larry (cont'd): See?
Archibald: Yes. Well, very good. This could be interesting. Carry on!
(Archibald leaves.)
Larry: Cebú!
Sing it with me!
Cebú!
Junior, Jimmy and Jerry: Cebú!
(The screen shows slides of the boy riding with his three Cebú in a canoe)
Larry: Boy is riding with Cebú
Junior, Jimmy and Jerry: Boy is riding with Cebú
Larry: Into town in his canoe
Junior, Jimmy and Jerry: Into town in his canoe
Larry: Sick Cebú is rowing and sneezing. Achoo moo moo, achoo moo moo, achoo moo moo, achoo moo moo moo moo.
Junior, Jimmy and Jerry: Achoo moo moo, achoo moo moo, achoo moo moo, achoo moo moo, achoo moo moo, achoo moo moo moo moo.
(The screen shows slides of the Hippo chewing on bamboo shoots.)
Larry: Hippo chewing on bamboo
Junior, Jimmy and Jerry: Hippo chewing on bamboo
Larry: Can't see boy and three Cebú
Junior, Jimmy and Jerry: Can't see boy and three Cebú
Larry: Sad Cebú is rowing and crying. Boo-hoo moo moo, boo-hoo moo moo, boo-hoo moo moo, boo-hoo moo moo moo moo.
Junior, Jimmy and Jerry: Boo-hoo moo moo, boo-hoo moo moo, boo-hoo moo moo, boo-hoo moo moo, boo-hoo moo moo, boo-hoo moo moo moo moo.
Larry: Cebú!
Junior, Jimmy and Jerry: Cebú!
Larry: Cebú!
Junior, Jimmy and Jerry: Cebú!
All: Achoo moo moo, boo-hoo moo moo, boo-hoo moo moo, achoo moo moo, achoo moo moo, boo-hoo moo moo, Cebú!
(Sheet shows a drawing of the Mute Cebú turning his attention towards the Hippo.)
Larry: Hippo seen by Mute Cebú.
Junior, Jimmy and Jerry: Hippo seen by Mute Cebú.
Larry: Tries to tell the other two.
Junior, Jimmy and Jerry: Tries to tell the other two.
Larry: Mute Cebú is waving and grunting Mmm-hmm mmm mmm, mmm-hmm mmm mmm, mmm-hmm mmm mmm, mmm-hmm mmm mmm mmm mmm.
Junior, Jimmy and Jerry: Mmm-hmm mmm mmm, mmm-hmm mmm mmm, mmm-hmm mmm mmm, mmm-hmm mmm mmm, mmm-hmm mmm mmm, mmm-hmm mmm mmm mmm mmm.
(Suddenly, a squeak is heard. Junior, Jimmy and Jerry look around in confusion as Larry tries to fix the slide projector.)
Larry: Uh-oh.
(Archibald re-enters, now very invested in the song.)
Archibald: Wait! What happens next?
Larry: Um ...
Archibald: Does the hippo see them? Is the poor Mute Cebú successful in communicating the imminent danger to the other passengers? Is the boy injured? Why is the Sad Cebú sad? Is the canoe wood or aluminum?
(Larry continues fixing the slide projector until it displays a new photo.)
Larry: Oh look!
(The photo shows him at Sea World, with The Peach in the background wearing scuba gear. A dolphin is playing with Bob by tossing the poor tomatoes in the air.)
Larry (cont'd): There's me and Bob at Sea World!
(He displays another photo, which is shown offscreen.)
Larry (cont'd): Oh, wow.
Junior, Jimmy and Jerry: Ooh!
Larry: Forgot about that one.
(He displays another photo, which is a previous one, showing him and the bull.)
Larry (cont'd): There's me and that bull again.
Archibald: You can't just start a song and leave it hanging like that!
(Screen shows the photo of Larry and his Aunt Ruth again.)
Archibald (cont'd): You know, I've come to expect a lot more from you.
(Screen shows the first drawing of the boy again.)
Archibald (cont'd): This is quite disappointing!
(Sheet shows the photo of Larry and Bob at the airport again.)
Archibald (cont'd): I'm going to have to speak to Bob about this.
(Sheet shows a drawing of a bovine looking animal.)
Larry: Oh look! A cebú!
Junior, Jimmy and Jerry: Cebú!
(It crossfades back to the title card.)
Larry (offscreen): No, wait. ... That's a water buffalo.
Junior, Jimmy and Jerry: No more song about Cebú!
Need another verse or two!
Audience is standing and leaving,
Bye-bye moo, bye-bye moo, bye-bye moo, bye-bye moo moo moo moo.
Jimmy: I want my money back!
Jerry: Yeah. That'd be … That'd be good.
Behind the Scenes
Mike Nawrocki got the idea for this song after going on a trip to Columbia with his wife and learning about the cebú. It was also inspired by a bullfight he went to while dealing with really bad back pain.
Fun Facts
Trivia
- In the next episode, Archibald canceled Silly Songs with Larry due to The Song of the Cebu incident and replaced with Mr. Lunt's song, His Cheeseburger.
- It's unknown what the picture Larry accidentally showed and shocked the audience with was. Mike Nawrocki imagines it's Larry in his towel as seen in The Hairbrush Song.
- While looking at Aunt Ruth's obscured face in one of the slides, you can see a sequence of numbers. According to Mike Nawrocki, he says if you use the A=1 B=2 method, the numbers will encode a secret message about Aunt Ruth.
- The numbers are "[18-21-20-8|1-21-14-20 18-21-20-8] 12-9-22-5-19." Translated, it says "AUNT RUTH LIVES".
- Phil Vischer explained the reasoning behind this code in a thread of tweets. He states that he had based the character on his great aunt Ruth, however he had confused her with another of his great aunts, Helen, who had whiskers on her chin. He also believed that she had passed away, so it was okay for him to write jokes into the show. When he discovered she was still alive, however, he decided to insert this code into the song.
- The numbers are "[18-21-20-8|1-21-14-20 18-21-20-8] 12-9-22-5-19." Translated, it says "AUNT RUTH LIVES".
- A clip is featured in the end credits from Lessons from the Sock Drawer, although this Silly Song isn't included in the DVD.
- The drawings in slideshow were done by Daniel López Muñoz.
- This is the first Silly Song for several things:
- The first to feature animals (The Water Buffalo Song only mentions them)
- The first to feature Jimmy and Jerry.
- The first to not feature a music sheet stand in the title card.
- Following Oh, Santa!, Larry is again seen without his tooth in the title card.
- In the Arabic dub of Josh and the Big Wall!, his tooth does appear in the Silly Song title card.
- This was played before Esther... The Girl Who Became Queen when it premiered in select Orlando showings.[1]
- This Silly Song was subsequently featured on The End of Silliness?, The Ultimate Silly Song Countdown, Heroes of the Bible!: Stand Up, Stand Tall, Stand Strong!, Sing-Alongs: I Love My Lips, If I Sang A Silly Song, Parade of Animals, Englishman with an Omelet, and the Very Veggie Silly Stories episode, To Tell the Truth.
- This was indirectly mentioned by Larry in Pirates' Boat Load Of Fun and by Archibald in More Sunday Morning Songs with Bob & Larry.
- Junior and Laura Carrot briefly sang this song in the Very Veggie Silly Stories episode, Forgiveness.
- Cebú is the Spanish word for zebu.
Goofs
- During the opening shot, a black patch appears in the top-left corner for a millisecond (see image).
- There are a few instances of Larry missing his tooth:
- In the title card.
- After Larry shows the embarrassing photo.
- In the slide where Aunt Ruth is shown
- In some shots, part of Jerry’s body clips through Junior's chair.
Inside References
- A few nods to the first silly song were made here, such as Archibald interrupting it and it being a song about bovine creatures. A Water Buffalo is also shown at the end.
- When Larry shows a slide of him at the airport, you can see his Larry-Boy mask in his suitcase.
- Aunt Ruth is mentioned again for the third time, having previously being mentioned in the songs "I Can Be Your Friend" and "Love My Lips."
Real-World References
- The Sea World theme parks are referenced in one of Larry’s slides, depicting himself, Bob and The Peach dressed for swimming while Bob is tossed around by a dolphin.
Gallery
Song
References
- ↑ “BigIdea.com News - Esther: A Premiere Event.” BigIdea.com, 19 Oct. 2000, http://web.archive.org/web/20001019030338/http://bigidea.com:80/company/about/news/estherpremiere2.htm.