Bugs for Dinner (album)

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Bugs for Dinner is a collection of whimsical songs for kids and adults alike. The music is performed by insects, or creatures relating to insects representing their viewpoint of the world. A simple thing like a raindrop may prove disastrous to a tiny bug.

This music can be educational, but mostly is meant to be silly and ridiculous, amusing and entertaining.

Sidney Vance Stephens recorded this album for his own child in his private recording studio in Nashville, Tennessee. The original intention was to counteract the unsettling singing purple dinosaur television show that was popular at the time with a touch of realism and maybe even darkness. Nowhere on this album will a giant creepy purple lizard tell your child they love them.

I Don’t Like Rain – Sidney Vance Stephens © BMI

I don’t like rain
I don’t like rain
I could easily be dead if it falls on my head
I don’t like rain

My house is gone
Washed away in the rain
I’m sure I’ll find a new one
But it won’t be the same
I don’t like rain

When you’re just a little guy
You keep your eye on the sky
Hoping that it doesn’t fall
Because that could end it all
And when you’re walking on a leaf
You have to step carefully
Cause’ If there’s just a drop of rain
It could cause a lot of pain
I don’t like rain

I’m floating like a boat
Down the street
Can’t steer myself
I Have very little feet
I don’t like rain

And when you’re just a little guy
You keep your eye on the sky
Hoping that it doesn’t fall
Because that could end it all
And when you’re walking on a leaf
You have to step carefully
Cause’ If there’s just a drop of rain
It could cause a lot of pain
I don’t like rain
I don’t like rain
I don’t like rain

It really, really hurts when the rain hits me
In the head

June Bug Boogie Rock – Sidney Vance Stephens © BMI

Well I’m having trouble flying
Ain’t had my wings too long
But I’m trying, oh I’m trying
Must be doing something wrong
If I make it past the mailbox
I’ll get to where I belong

Well I was born a grub
Deep beneath the grass
I finally made my way
To the surface at long last
It’s been a long steady travel
But I don’t think about the past

June Bug Boogie Rock
June Bug Boogie Rock
June Bug Boogie Rock
June Bug Boogie Rock

I don’t have long to live
Most of my life is underground
I got to see all that I can
Before this June Bug ain’t around
Well I got to keep on rockin’
Even though I hit the ground

June Bug Boogie Rock
June Bug Boogie Rock
June Bug Boogie Rock
June Bug Boogie Rock

Well I’m having trouble flying
Ain’t had my wings too long
But I’m trying, oh I’m trying
Must be doing something wrong
If I make it past the porch light
I’ll get to where I belong

June Bug Boogie Rock…

Hang on a second
We got us a screen door

Dung Beetle – Sidney Vance Stephens © BMI

Well they call me done Beetle
But I ain’t sure just what it is that I’ve done
Well maybe they think I’ve finished
But I got news, I’ve just begun

Well……

Bubba- “Hey Jimmie Ray, could I talk to you for a minute?”
Jimmie Ray- “Yeah, yeah, go on ahead”
Bubba- “About that song…uhhh”
Jimmie Ray-”uh huh, uh huh”
Bubba- “You ain’t been saying that right”
Jimmie Ray-”What do you mean?”
Bubba-”That’s not, that’s not ‘done Beetle’, like D-O-N-E”
Jimmie Ray-”uh huh”
Bubba-”That’s ‘Dung Beetle’ like D-U-N-G”
Jimmie Ray-”D-U-N………oh that’s horrible. That’s disgust…”
Bubba-”Yeah, you know I’m your friend, so…”
Jimmie Ray-”You mean they named me after Poop?”
Bubba-”I’m sorry man, but I just couldn’t let you go on singing like that”
Jimmie Ray-”Aw man”
Bubba-”You..you kinda look stupid”
Jimmie Ray-”You know that just changes everything at this point in my life I think I just had… an eclipse..somehow”
Bubba-”Uh yeah, yeah”
Jimmie Ray-”That’s horrible. Horrible. I can’t, I can’t go on… any more”

The Life Span of a Bug – Sidney Vance Stephens © BMI

The Life Span of a Bug
Is very, very short

One Bad Boll Weevil

Pa-”Buferd,Buferd, Come up on the porch.”
Buferd-”I got the hose pipe.”
Pa-”Don’t spray that O’Possum with the hose pipe. Get up here on the porch. Let’s play some music for these fine folk”
Buferd-”Don’t wanna play no music”
Pa-”Buferd,Buferd,Buferd,Buferd,Buferd,Buferd,Buferd,Buferd,Buferd,Buferd,Buferd”
Buferd-”Don’t want to, Pa”
Buferd-”Already done done it, Pa”

I’m one bad Boll Weevil
I’m gonna wreck your field
I’m one bad Boll Weevil
I’m gonna wreck your field
Don’t care about your money
It’s your cotton I’m gonna steal

Well, Mamma was a bad Boll Weevil
Papa was a bad one too
Well, Mamma was a bad Boll Weevil
Papa was a bad one too
They come from Alabama
And the Mississippi bayou

Gonna find me a lady Boll Weevil
Gonna start a family
Gonna add a few more branches
To that family tree

I’m one bad Boll Weevil
I’m gonna wreck your field
I’m one bad Boll Weevil
I’m gonna wreck your field
Don’t care about your conscience
Don’t care how you feel

Gonna find me a lady Boll Weevil
Gonna start a family
Gonna add a few more branches
To my family tree
To my family tree
To my family tree
Working on a family tree

Buferd-”Can’t hardly hear ya Pa”

Mexican Jumping Bean – Sidney Vance Stephens © BMI

I am a Mexican Jumping Bean
I live beneath the Sebastiana Paviana
I wait for the rains to come
I wait for life

There will be a day when I escape
The fruit of the Sebastiana Paviana
There will be a day when I can fly
Into the Desert with my wings

Until then, I will eat a the seed
Of the Sebastiana Paviana
I will carve out a doorway
For when I’m grown I can leave

Fly into the Desert
Fly into the sky
Remember Mother Sebastiana Paviana
Remember Father Moth

There’s a Spider in the Vine – Sidney Vance Stephens © BMI

Guy Butterfly-“….Fly away, fly away, then he died”

Mitch Bedbug-”Yeah, Yeah, everybody give it up for Guy Butterfly with his wonderful poetic rendition of “Incandescent Firefly That Objectifies Existence”. Now if you don’t mind everyone, I would like myself to come up here and give a crack at a poem. This is called, The Spider in the Vine.

There’s a Spider in the Vine
It’s messing with my mind
And there’s bees and wasps and they’re flying

Don’t want to get too close
Don’t want to be a host
Don’t want to get stung and start crying
There’s a Spider in the Vine
Messing with my mind
That Spider in the vine

I’m really not afraid to touch the web it made
But I’ll hollar if that spider comes my way
I may look like food from my hat to my shoes
But I won’t fit in it’s mouth, no way
There’s a Spider in the Vine
Messing with my mind
Spider in the vine
Messing with my mind
That Spider in the vine

It’s big, and long and colorful
Orange, Black, Green, and White
It scares me to think it’s out there
When I’m in my bed at night
Spider in the vine
Messing with my mind
That Spider in the vine

Zombie Caterpillars – Sidney Vance Stephens © BMI

Zombie Caterpillars
Coming up from the ground
Zombie Caterpillars
Coming up from the ground
You don’t want to be around
When they start roaming around your town

Thbbbbt, thbbt, thhhhbtt
(“Flatulence, it’s horrible”)

You don’t go messing around with Zombies
Even if they can fit in the palm of your hand

Zombie Caterpillars
Coming up from underground
Zombie Caterpillars
Coming up from underground
Someone sure did wake em’ up
When you know they should be down

Thbbbbt, thbbt, thhhhbtt
Ghoulish noises

But those Zombies\kept coming back, man
They just kept coming back
Yep
Good Zod
Oooh Ahh Oooh

You know maybe they’re just accidents
That died before their time
Maybe they’re just angry
Cause they never got to fly

Maybe they’re extremely bitter
Cause they never got their wings
Maybe they’re just Zombies
With a taste for human things

Zombie Caterpillars
Coming up from the ground
Zombie Caterpillars
Coming up from the ground
You don’t go messing around with Zombies
Even if they aren’t Caterpillar Zombies
Hey, Yeah, I made a song

Tickula – Sidney Vance Stephens © BMI

Bleaugh
My Name is Tickula
Bla Blah Bluh

I bite the animal feeding on the blood
Sometimes I stay a while until I feel I’ve had enough
Some say I am disgusting but I know no other way
Maybe you are lucky and I taste on you someday
My Name is Tickula
Blah

I do not have a girlfriend i choose to live alone
Sometimes I go to parties just to eat the host
When it’s time for leaving I will just fall down
Wait in the bushes for a new meal to come around
My Name is Tickula
Bla Blah Bluh

I’m so hungry
Can’t wait to see you
Come by my office
I would love to have you for lunch
I like your haircut
Your breath smells good
Let me pay for dinner
No no no no no naw
I…in syst

I feel romantic
How do you like your steak?
Bloody?
What’s for desert?
How about blood?
Care for a Ticky Tack
Don’t play with your food
It’s….blah

My Name is Tickula
A Bla Blah Bluh
Blah

Cockroach Quartet – Sidney Vance Stephens © BMI

ShoobedyShoobedyShoobedyWop – ShoobedyShoobedyWop
ShoobedyShoobedyShoobedyWop – ShoobedyShoobedyWop

Nobody likes cockroaches because we are really nasty
We don’t like the sunshine but we like to eat crackers off the floor
ShoobedyShoobedyShoobedyWop – ShoobedyShoobedyWop

We run when you turn on the light because we know you don’t like us
But we like to live in your trash can because we think it’s a cool, happening place to be
ShoobedyShoobedyShoobedyWop – ShoobedyShoobedyWop

Cockroaches -survive nuclear bombs
Cockroaches -multiply by the thousands
Cockroaches -We really gross you out
Yeah, Cockroaches
ShoobedyShoobedyShoobedyWop
ShoobedyShoobedyWop

We really hate it when you squish us under your feet
I lost my cousin Jimmy but I’m not sure anyone noticed because there’s so many of us
ShoobedyShoobedyShoobedyWop – ShoobedyShoobedyWop

There’s a lot of different species on the planet Earth
We’re just another one of those species
We would like to think we have the right to live here like anyone else
ShoobedyShoobedyShoobedyWop – ShoobedyShoobedyWop

Cockroaches -survive nuclear bombs
Cockroaches -multiply by the thousands
Cockroaches -We really gross you out
Yeah, Cockroaches
ShoobedyShoobedyShoobedyWop – ShoobedyShoobedyWop

Sometimes I feel like crying
Because we just want to get along
But every time you turn on the light
We freak, and we’re gone

Cockroaches -survive nuclear bombs
Cockroaches -multiply by the thousands
Cockroaches -We really gross you out
Yeah, Cockroaches
ShoobedyShoobedyShoobedyWop
ShoobedyShoobedyWop

Oh Baby Cockroaches -survive nuclear bombs
I’m telling you about Cockroaches -multiply by the thousands
Cockroaches -We really gross you out
Yeah, Cockroaches
ShoobedyShoobedyShoobedyWop
ShoobedyShoobedyWop ShoobedyWah
Wah Wah Wah Wah

Lixy Lizard, that’s my name
Looking for bugs, that’s my game
I crawl around this miniature town
Hoping dinner is what I’ve found, Yeah
Bugs for dinner

I get up early, stay up late
There’s no time to contemplate
I search all around my little town
Hoping dinner is what I’ve found, yeah
Bugs for dinner

It’s a hard life
That’s right
Keep moving
Got to keep on moving

I need a bug

Lixy Lizard, that’s what they call me
The hungriest Lizard you ever did see
All my friends in the miniature city
Know they can call if they ever need
Bugs for dinner

It’s a hard life
That’s right
Keep moving
Got to keep on moving, yeah

Bugs for dinner
Bugs for dinner
Bugs! Come join me. Have some bugs. Bugs are really, really good. I’m not kidding.
These are really, really, really good bugs. I like them.

“It has come to our notice that only one song on the CD actually pertains to eating “bugs for dinner”. We do hope you will accept this bonus track as our official apology for any misrepresentation that may have occurred.

We will now hold a meeting to discuss what kind of animals and creatures actually eat bugs for dinner.” (Meeting commences)

We’re talkin’ bout the critters that like to eat the bugs
We’re talkin’ bout the critters that like to eat the bugs

Frogs-Frogs-Frogs eat bugs
Birds-Birds-Birds eat bugs
Birds eat bugs
Snakes-Snakes-Snakes eat bugs
Snakes eat bugs

We would like to apologize at this time for any annoying lyrics. We’ve heard your complaints and we’ve had a meeting.
We’ve all decided now to use words with syllables. Enjoy the next verse please. And feel free to dance during the segue.

We’re talkin’ bout the critters that like to eat the bugs
We’re talkin’ bout the critters that like to eat the bugs

Salamanders – Salamanders – Salamanders eat bugs – Salamanders eat bugs
Armadillos – Armadillos – Armadillos eat bugs – Armadillos eat bugs
Monitors -Monitors – Monitors eat bugs – Monitors eat bugs

We’re talkin’ bout the critters that like to eat the bugs
We’re talkin’ bout the critters that like to eat the bugs
We’re talkin’ bout the critters that like to eat the bugs
We’re talkin’ bout the critters that like to eat the bugs
Frogs eat the bugs
Birds eat the bugs
Snakes eat the bugs
Salamanders eat the bugs
Armadillos eat the bugs
Monitors eat the bugs

Please dance

Sidney Stephens