Time Machine – 1970s – Shel Silverstein – Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout – MP3

I first heard about Shel Silverstein in 1981 when I was taking a Children’s Literature class in college, someone read the book “The Giving Tree” out loud to the class and I was instantly hooked on his writing. He actually has some famous songs but he didn’t sing them, i.e.: The Unicorn, A Boy Named Sue, etc. Below is more information on him. The article below doesn’t mention what “adult magazine” he wrote for, but I know that he was writing for Playboy for awhile, that must be the one they are referring to.
Thanks for the great music.
Here is the article:
Shel Silverstein (1932-1999) By Inez Ramsey
Shel passed away from a heart attack on May 10, 1999. Shelly Silverstein, most commonly known as Shel Silverstein, was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1932. He is best known in children’s literature for his poetry; however, he was also a cartoonist, composer, lyricist and folksinger. His poem, The Unicorn Song, was recorded by the Irish Rovers. Other hit songs included “A Boy Named Sue” and “The Cover of the Rollin’ Stone” for Dr. Hook. He composed the music for the movies, Ned Kelly (1970), Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Such Terrible Things About Me? (1971), and Thieves (1977). He composed the music for the film, Postcards from the Edge for which he received a nomination for an Academy Award in Music for the song, “I’m Checkin Out.” A man of many talents, he wrote the screenplay for the film, Things Change (1988).
Shel began writing as a young boy in Chicago. Although he would rather have been playing baseball or chasing girls, he could not catch or hit a ball, and the girls were not interested in him. He gave his energies to writing. He developed his very own writing style at a young age and was unfamiliar with the poetry of the great poets of his time. “I was so lucky that I didn’t have anyone to copy, be impressed by. I had developed my own style, I was creating before I knew there was a Thurber, a Benchley, a Price and a Steinberg. I never saw their work until I was around thirty (1)” By the time girls were interested in him he was involved in his work.”
Silverstein’s work goes beyond writing children’s literature. He began his career as a writer and cartoonist for an adult magazine in 1952. He had served as a member of the U. S. military forces in Japan and Korea during the 50’s. While in the military, he was a cartoonist for the military newsletter, Pacific Stars and Stripes. In 1980, he produced a new folksong album entitled The Great Conch Train Robbery. His first play, The Lady and the Tiger, was produced at the Ensemble Studio Theater’s annual festival of one act plays.
Silverstein never planned on writing and drawing for children. His friend, Tomi Ungerer, brought him to Ursula Nordstom’s office where she convinced him to do children’s books. One of his earliest and most successful books, The Giving Tree, was rejected by editor William Cole. Cole felt that the book fell between adults’ and children’s literature and would never sell. In Silverstein’s eyes, it was a story about two people; one gives and the other takes. Ultimately, both adults and children embraced the book. He hoped that people, no matter what age, could identify with his other books as well. His works include Falling Up (1996), Where the Sidewalk Ends (1981), A Light in the Attic (1981), The Missing Piece (1982), The Missing Piece Meets the Big O. He won awards for all three books: The Michigan Young Readers Award for Where the Sidewalk Ends (1981); a School Library Journal Best Books (1982) for A Light in the Attic, an International Reading Association’s Children’s Choices Award for The Missing Piece Meets the Big O.
Some of Shel’s Works:
Books: A Giraffe and a Half, A Light in the Attic, Falling Up, Lafcadio, the Lion who Shot Back, The Giving Tree, The Missing Piece, The Missing Piece Meets the Big O, Where the Sidewalk Ends.
Songs: I’m my own Grandpa, The Boa Constrictor Song, Unicorn Song
Composed Music For: Ned Kelley, Who is Harry Kellerman and why is he Saying Such Terrible Things about me?, Thieves, Postcards from the Edge.
Screenplay: Things Change
Plays: The Lady and the Tiger
Albums: The Great Conch Train Robbery

Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take The Garbage Out was written by Shel Silverstein, and is printed in one of his best selling books of kids poetry (A Light in the Attic?). My kids grew up laughing and giggling about his poems (such as “There’s Too Many Kids in This Tub”). Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show recorded several of his poems and songs (“On the Cover of the Rolling Stone” is their most famous one), as did Three Dog Night (“Mama Told Me Not to Come”) and the Irish Rovers (“The Unicorn”). “Uncle Shelby” died a couple of years ago.