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The Song Challenge:   A Party for the Passing of Popular Popsicled Pachyderm Poop Picker -- A memorial was held last weekend in Springfield, Missouri, for a popular circus elephant groomer whose body was frozen when he died three months ago so his friends could attend the funeral.   The funeral was held under the big top and included circus music, food and even an elephant-drawn wagon carrying the casket. In the center ring, the main attraction was Albert "Shorty" Sharp, who stood 4 feet, 7 inches tall, when he wasn't on his tiptoes grooming pachyderms. Sharp, who spent 50 years in the circus, died May 12 of heart failure while traveling through Wisconsin with George Carden Circus International. After the funeral festivities, Sharp's body was taken to a cemetery on the wagon, drawn by the elephants he cared for.   "My circus was out on the road when Shorty passed away and only a few of his friends would have made the funeral," said ringmaster and owner George Carden. So he decided to freeze Sharp's body at a Springfield funeral home until all of his friends could come. "This is not so much a funeral as it is a celebration to say 'thank you' to Shorty for his dedication," Carden said Thursday. "Shorty was a little man with a great big heart." Like most circus employees, Carden said, Sharp was completely dedicated to his work. Sharp groomed elephants for circuses in Florida and Texas, and even tended to Bimbo, a water-skiing elephant who appeared in a 1950s TV series called "'Circus Boy.' "In the circus, there is no such thing as calling in sick or getting tired, the show must always go on," Carden said. "Shorty was always there. He had no family, so he lived and breathed the elephants."

Shorty's Packed His Trunk by Lox

(Chorus):
Well poor old Shorty's packed his trunk
he's said his last goodbye
He's gone to care for Jumbo
In the circus in the sky

There was a man called Shorty
(he wasn't very tall)
He didn't know his future
until he heard the call

A herd of wandering elephants
were trumpeting his name
so he packed up his belongings
and went in search of fame

(Chorus)

He found them in a clearing
he said "how do you do"
they answered him with tearful eyes
much better for seeing you

He gave them food and water
and washed them, head to toe
they thanked him there and then, and said
they planned to make some dough

(Chorus)

And so they joined the circus
and their partnership was sealed
they rolled in muck to please the crowd
and when it was congealed

He scrubbed and washed and hosed them down
until they gleamed and shone
and they shouted "dearest Shorty"
"we'll miss you when you're gone

(Chorus)

And then one day, one dreadful day
Shorty's big old heart
stopped its' mighty rhythm
and then refused to start

the elephants stopped skiing
their skin went cold and pallid
as their trusted keeper was carried away
and his body frozen solid

(Chorus)

Finally the big day came
when they could say goodbye
crowds came down from near and far
to remember and to cry

But what a guard of honour
standing tall and proud and strong
a life must be really something
to be remembered in a song

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