- "Oh, that's a nice one. The Grandfather of silly songs, the one that started the whole thing!"
- — Captain Pa Grape
The Water Buffalo Song is the aptly named Silly Song about water buffaloes from the first VeggieTales episode, "Where's God When I'm S-Scared?." It is sung by Larry in an oversized cowboy hat, who is quickly interrupted and chastised by a very frustrated Archibald Asparagus due to the falseness of Larry's lyrics. Larry then starts singing that "everybody's got a baby kangaroo," which makes Archibald so exasperated that he charges at Larry while screaming in frustration and tackles him off the screen.
According to Pa Grape in "The Ultimate Silly Song Countdown," the song is considered "the grandfather of Silly Songs" due to being the first Silly Song in the series. It has been subsequently featured on many VeggieTales albums, sing-along videos, and live shows and has also been covered by Superchick for the album Veggie Rocks.
Lyrics
Announcer: And now it's time for Silly Songs with Larry, the part of the show where Larry comes out and sings a silly song. So without further ado, Silly Songs with Larry.
Larry: The Water Buffalo Song!
Everybody's got a water buffalo.
Yours is fast but mine was slow.
Oh, where'd we get them? I don't know
But everybody's got a water buffalo-oooooooooo!
I took my buffalo to the store,
Got his head stuck in the door.
Spilled some lima beans on the floor.
Oh, everybody's got a...
Archibald: Stop it! Stop! Stop right this instant! What do you think you're doing? You can't say everyone's got a water buffalo when everyone does not have a water buffalo! We're going to get nasty letters saying, "Where's my water buffalo?" "Why don't I have a water buffalo?" And are you prepared to deal with that? I don't think so! Just stop being so silly!
Announcer: This has been Silly Songs with Larry. Tune in next time to hear Larry sing...
Larry: Everybody's got a baby kangaroo,
Yours is pink but mine is blue.
Hers was small but...
Archibald: (charging at Larry): Ahhhhhh!!!! (tackles Larry off the screen)
Larry: Everybody's got a water buffalo.
Yours is fast but mine was slow.
Oh, where'd we get them? I don't know
But everybody's got a water buffalo-oooooooooo.
I took my buffalo to the store,
Got his head stuck in the door.
Spilled some lima beans on the floor.
Oh everybody's got a water buffalo!
(instrumental break)
Everybody's got a water buffalo.
Yours is fast but mine was slow.
Oh, where'd we get them? I don't know
But everybody's got a water buffalo-oooooo!Fun Facts
Trivia
- This is the only Silly Song in the original series to be written by Phil Vischer. To date, the only other Silly Song in the VeggieTales franchise written by Vischer is "Wanna Wallaby."
- Vischer produced this song without the help of musical director Kurt Heinecke.
- Mike Sage is credited playing the acoustic guitar for this song.
- Larry holding out the last note in the phrase "everybody's got a water buffalo" was originally meant to be much shorter. However, Mike Nawrocki insisted on sustaining it as a homage to The Three Amigos theme song. Nawrocki stated that it took a couple of takes to get it right.
- The song is reused in VeggieTales Live! On Stage, with some of the Silly Song Announcer, Archibald and Larry's re-recorded lines (including Larry's current voice).
- For the 15th anniversary re-release of "Where's God When I'm S-Scared?," a new recording of the song (with Larry's modern voice) is used in place of the original audio. The new audio comes from a version that was first used in the VeggieTales Live! show "Rockin’ Tour Live."
- Because of how the audio was edited, part of Archibald's dialogue is cut off at the beginning.
- In "The Ultimate Silly Song Countdown," the video was re-exported in higher quality and Larry and Archibald's voices were pitched down by a semitone (with reverberation audio effects added in the back). However, the original pitch of Larry's voice was still used in a snippet of the song when it is played at the beginning of the video, as well as in a trailer for the video.
- For the DVD release of "Very Silly Songs," the original pitch is used and the original audio quality of the song is kept intact.
- The high quality version of the song was also featured in And now it's time for Silly Songs with Larry: The Complete Collection, but has the audio from the 15th anniversary edition of "Where's God When I'm S-Scared?."
- This song is featured in the Very Veggie Silly Stories episode, Hospitality.
- This song replaces "His Cheeseburger" on the non-religious international version of "Madame Blueberry."
- When the song was translated for the second and third Brazilian Portuguese dubs of VeggieTales, the type of buffalo mentioned in the song is changed to be an Indian buffalo.
- In the Slovenian, Greek, and second Brazilian Portuguese dubs, an alternate version of the opening card is used, although the original version is seen at the end.
- This is the only Silly Song to feature the line “So without further ado, Silly Songs with Larry.” as part of the introduction.
- At the end of the song, Larry sings "Hers was small but-" before being cut off by Archibald tackling him offscreen. In VeggieTales Live! On Stage and Silly Songs with VeggieTales, this lyric is extended to "Hers was small but then it grew".
- Phil Vischer got the idea for the song when he had some taxwork to turn in and he was walking into one of the federal buildings in Downtown Chicago.
Goofs
- On most video releases (aside from the original release of "Where's God When I'm S-Scared?" and "The Ultimate Silly Song Countdown"), a few frames are missing as Archibald turns and leaves after scolding Larry.
- When Archibald tackles Larry in the original version of the Latin Spanish dub, the Arabic dub, and the Chinese dub, Archibald enters the shot from behind the localized "Silly Songs with Larry" text due to the digitally plastering of the original English text.
Gallery
