The fight between scientists who believe in evolution and the creationists continues. I’ve been reading Richard Dawkins’ “The Greatest Show on Earth” and somewhere in the middle of the book he mentions an age old hymn that I remember singing as a kid in school. They hymn was “All Things Bright and Beautiful”. The sentence was starred and accompanied by a footnote. The footnote, brought to my attention something I didn’t know about and figured it was worth sharing. It gave the lyrics to a parody written by Eric Idle and sung by the Monty Python team.
The original: All Things Bright and Beautiful by Cecil Francis Alexander written in 1848
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.
Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colors,
He made their tiny wings.
[Most hymnals omit the following verse]
The rich man in his castle,
The poor man at his gate,
He made them, high or lowly,
And ordered their estate.
The purple headed mountains,
The river running by,
The sunset and the morning
That brightens up the sky.
The cold wind in the winter,
The pleasant summer sun,
The ripe fruits in the garden,
He made them every one.
The tall trees in the greenwood,
The meadows where we play,
The rushes by the water,
To gather every day.
He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well.
The parody: All Things Dull and Ugly by Eric Idle and sung by the Monty Python team in their movie “The Meaning of Life” (For interesting video on youtube, go here)
All things dull and ugly,
All creatures short and squat,
All things rude and nasty,
The Lord God made the lot.
Each little snake that poisons,
Each little wasp that stings,
He made their brutish venom.
He made their horrid wings.
All things sick and cancerous,
All evil great and small,
All things foul and dangerous,
The Lord God made them all.
Each nasty little hornet,
Each beastly little squid–
Who made the spikey urchin?
Who made the sharks? He did!
All things scabbed and ulcerous,
All pox both great and small,
Putrid, foul and gangrenous,
The Lord God made them all.
Amen.
