Talk To The Animals - Original - Sammy Davis, Jr.

If I could talk to the animals, just imagine it

Chattin' with a chimp in chimpanzee

Imagine talking to a tiger, chatting with a cheetah

What a neat achievement it would be!

If we could talk to the animals, learn all their languages

I could take an animal degree

I’d study elephant and eagle, buffalo and beagle

Alligator, guinea pig, and flea!

I would converse in polar bear and python

And I would curse in fluent kangaroo

If people ask me «can you speak rhinocerous?»

I’d say «of courserous!

Can’t you?»

If I conferred with our furry friends, man to animal

Think of the amazing repartee

If I could walk with the animals, talk with the animals

Grunt and squeak and squawk with the animals

And they could talk to me!

If I consulted with quadrupeds

Think what fun we’d have asking over crocodiles for tea!

Or maybe lunch with two or three lions, walruses and sea lions

What a lovely place the world would be!

If I spoke slang to orangutans

The advantages why any fool on earth could plainly see!

Discussing Eastern art and dramas

With intellectual llamas

That’s a big step forward you’ll agree!

I’d learn to speak in antelope and turtle

And my Pekinese would be extremely good

If I were asked to sing in hippopotamus

I’d say «whynotamous» and I would!

If I could parlay with pachyderms

It’s a fairy tale worthy of Hans Anderson and Grimm

A man who walks with the animals and talks with the animals

Grunts and squeaks and squawks with the animals and they could talk to him!

Let me hear ‘em talk

I’d study every creature’s language

So I could speak to all of them on site

If friends said «can he talk in crab or maybe pelican»

You’d say «I canny can» and you’d be right!

And if you just stop and think of it

Ain’t no doubt of it

I’m gonna win a place in history

If I could walk with the animals

Talk with the animals

Grunt, squeak, squawk with the animals

And they could squeak and squawk and speak and talk to me!