The Tales of Huckleberry Hound: Season 2

9. Music to My Ears

It was a humdrum day with not a lot of sunshine. A day like this was as good of a day as any to clean and tidy the house, so that's exactly what Huckleberry Hound was doing. As he slowly made his way around the living room with a feather duster, he was singing to himself in a low, slow voice.

"An island king with big earrings fell in love with a beautiful maid
And ev'ry night by the pale moon light, 'cross the bay he came
He hugged and he kissed his pretty miss in the shade of the bamboo tree
And ev'ry night by the pale moon light, it sounded like this to me

Ba-rum (kiss kiss)
Ba-rum (kiss kiss)

Ba-rum ba-dee-ah-dee-ay!

Ba-rum (kiss kiss)

Ba-rum (kiss kiss)
Ba-rum ba-dee-ah-dee-ay!

We'll build a bungalow big enough for two,

Big enough for two, my honey, big enough for two

And when we're married, happy we'll be

Under the bamboo, under the bamboo tree."

He paused to think about what he just sang. "But then again, I'm not planning to be married anytime soon!" he chuckled. "But what I wouldn't give just to have Hilda let me take her on just one date."

But then, he heard an announcement on his radio.

"Step right up folks! A fortune of fabulous prizes could be yours when you enter the Hill Street Neighborhood All Star Talent Show!"

"Talent show?!" Huck exclaimed, his ears perking up in excitement. "Hot diggity dog! That sounds like fun!! I could win a million bucks! Or maybe a new car!"

Huck was so excited that he just had to stop cleaning his house to think of an act right away.

"I love to sing and dance, but when I do that at the jazz club, everything I sing was something that someone else already wrote. Maybe if I wanna do really well in this talent show, I should write and perform my very own song!"

So he went over to his piano and started playing it in an off key tone.

"Twinkle twinkle little star!" he sang. "If I were you, I'd travel far!"

He then stopped as he shook his head. "Nah," he said. "Maybe I need to try something better."

He scratched his head as he thought for a moment, then he started plunking a few keys until he started to try and play the familiar melody of "Pop Goes the Weasel." Of course, this time he tried to create entirely new words.

"Walkin' to the candy shop
Just rolling with my yo-yo
It came around and bumped my head
Ouch! Stop and go...uh...go."

He stopped playing and laughed. "Stop and go-go? Those have gotta be the corniest words I ever thought of! Hmm...does a song always have to rhyme? Maybe as long as it's got a good beat, it don't matter."

So this time he tried to play his own version of "Fly Me to the Moon".

"Fly me to the moon and back
I'll stuff some bones in my big backpack
And we'll drift into hog heaven for some ribs and steaks..."

Huck's mouth was watering as he sang. "Shucks, that won't do!" he laughed. "I'll make myself too hungry to sing!"

So he tried playing some random notes, but he just couldn't think of a song to sing for the contest. "Golly," he said to himself. "How am I gonna be able to write this song? I need something better than my own version of another song! I reckon I should write a song of my own, but I've got no ideas!"