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Peter and Clarissa

from Mordecai by Dr. Fruit

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about

“Peter and Clarissa” was inspired by “Journey to the Place,” a story by Amy Kass (age 10) that first appeared in The New Left: A Collection of Essays, ed. Priscilla Long, Extending Horizons Books (1969). The story was reprinted April 11, 1971 in FPS (vol. 10), an underground high school and junior high newspaper published by Cooperative High School Independent Press Syndicate (CHIPS). FPS stands for something involving public schools, though its editors sometimes explicitly deny this. The publication eventually merged with Youth Liberation of Ann Arbor, a 1970s youth movement run by teenagers.

lyrics

Peter and Clarissa,
In that small town Harringsville,
They, like all the other children,
Hated their daily drill.

It was every day the same thing,
Schedule so inflexible,
So they went to find this unnamed place
You get to by animal.

Well they sought out the most bizarre
Animal, but couldn’t find
One that looked or sounded weird enough
So they left them all behind.

And they walked and walked and walked
Until they came up to a cat,
With her kittens, she didn’t lead them,
For three hours, they just sat.

Until they found themselves behind
A unicorn, like a horse with one big horn,
It led them to a key,
They put the key into a door.

And then they saw it,
That special place,
That unnamed place,
That they were looking for.

And it was beautiful!
With so much food and birds and cats,
And there was something called the mischief room
With stuff to break and crash.

There was a room for taking showers,
And a room for learning, too,
And the toy store took no money,
And you could choose the outdoor room.

All the children entered cautiously,
So adults wouldn’t find out,
But one day, Clarissa’s mom appeared
And Clarissa let it out.

And then her mom got other mothers
And they came to fix it up.
And a teacher with a schedule
Saw the mischief room and locked it up.

And then parents kept appearing,
Making changes as they liked.
And the children sneaked out one by one,
They left for good, resigned.

And now they see it,
That special place,
That unnamed place,
Only in their dreams.
[Repeat]

credits

from Mordecai, released September 3, 2019

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all rights reserved

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Dr. Fruit Durham, North Carolina

Intelligent kids' tunes that combine Dr. Fruit’s youthful passion for social change with playful attitudes towards gender, vegetables, and biology.

Dr. Fruit lives in Durham, NC with their dog, Mordecai.

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