The Benefits of Langauge

When you've got some seasoning that I need
I just ask you to pass it and you hand it to me
And I can put it on my sandwich
This is a benefit of language

When Glinda saw Dorothy fall out of the sky
She didn't know how, she had no idea why
But she could ask "Are you a good witch or a bad witch?"
This is a benefit of language

Contracting your diaphragm
forces a column of
air through your larynx and
your vocal cords which can
vibrate at one of a
number of frequencies

When you broke my heart and you threw it away
I checked into the hospital the very next day
And I asked the doctor for a bandage
This is a benefit of language

But when colorless green ideas sleep furiously
Well, it just sounds like bad Bob Dylan to me
There's no deep structure from my vantage
Although syntactically it's language

Using your lips and your
tongue, not to mention your
uvula, you can pro-
duce many sounds which are
then strung together and
turned into human speech

When I'm feeling hungry but I don't want to cook
I just sit on my couch and I pick up a book
And then I soon forget I'm famished
Another benefit of language

And when I got some subject that I hold dear
I just put it in a song and I know that you'll hear
And then I don't feel so much anguish
The biggest benefit of language

If it's a benefit
Then I'll take ten of it
These are the benefits of language

Copyright © 1998 Dan Schmidt