Shorty The Elephant Keeper by Bradypus


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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 The Elephant Keeper by Bradypus
(Tune: 'Nellie the Elephant')

Chorus:
Shorty the elephant keeper died
While travelling round with the circus
Back he came in an ice-cold trunk
Trunk, Trunk, Trunk

Then back home
The circus folk gathered round
They held a big party for Shorty, then
They buried him in the ground
For

Chorus:
Shorty the elephant keeper died
While travelling round with the circus
Back he came in an ice-cold trunk
Trunk, Trunk, Trunk

No more tusks
For Shorty to clean and buff
An elephant keeper for forty years
Has had enough of that stuff
For

Chorus:
Shorty the elephant keeper died
While travelling round with the circus
Back he came in an ice-cold trunk
Trunk, Trunk, Trunk