Entertainment For Lively Minds
Dr. Seuss is so punk rock!
Second verse of the Dead Kennedys' Holiday In Cambodia
You're a Star-Belly Sneetch,
You suck like a leech,
You want everyone to act like you.
Kiss ass while you bitch,
So you can get rich,
But your boss gets richer off you.
For as long as I've known this song I have been bemused by the odd lyric at the start of the second verse. It's taken two children and twenty-three years for it finally to make sense. It was well worth the wait.

Now, the Star-Belly Sneetches had bellies with stars.
The Plain-Belly Sneetches had none upon thars.
Those stars weren’t so big. They were really so small.
You might think such a thing wouldn’t matter at all.But, because they had stars, all the Star-Belly Sneetches
Would brag, “We’re the best kind of Sneetch on the beaches.”
With their snoots in the air, they would sniff and they’d snort
“We’ll have nothing to do with the Plain-Belly sort!”
And, whenever they met some, when they were out walking,
They’d hike right on past them without even talking.
I'm not sure what the point of discussion is: Any other examples of inspired lyrical dexterity fusing punk rock and children's verse?
Holiday In Cambodia - damning indictment of preening white rich kids? Or a rotten un-PC racist rant?
Perhaps you'd just like to take four minutes out and listen to one of the greatest punk rock songs of all time...(cue wisecracks, "And this wasn't it!")
- More from roryks.
- Login or register to post comments










Jello Hears A Who
I hadn't noticed the Seuss link before - thanks!
It is one of the greatest punk songs of all time. It's challenging and thrilling and everything punk should be.
Hearing it bashed out on a pub piano helped me appreciate it musically:
(The "studio" version of this is also on YouTube, by D.J. Lebowitz).