The Syncopated Clock
Leroy Anderson Lyrics

There was a man like you and me, as simple as a man could ever be;
There once was a man who was very ordinary and not different from you or me in any way.

And he was happy as a king, except for one peculiar thing.
The man was happy with his life except for the fact that he had a strange clock.

He had a clock that worked all right,
The man owned a clock that functioned properly.

It worked all right, but not exactly quite;
Although the clock worked fine, it did not tick and tock in the usual way.

Instead of going "tick, tock, tick",
Instead of making the usual sound of "tick, tock, tick..."

the crazy clock went "tock, tick, tock".
the clock made a strange sound of "tock, tick, tock".

The poor old man just raved and raved, because nobody could say
The man was so frustrated that he kept complaining because nobody could tell him why his clock was sounding strange.

Why his silly clock behaved that hickory dickory way.
No one could explain why the clock made such an unusual sound.

But now a famous man is he,
The man became famous as a result of his strange clock.

He owns a public curiosity;
He now owns an object that many people find interesting.

From far and wide the people flock
Many people from different places come to see the clock.

To hear the syncopated clock.
They come to listen to the unique sound of the clock.

Tick-a-tock, tick-a-tock,
The clock sound is described as "tick-a-tock, tick-a-tock..."

There's a zing in the swing of that clock,
The unusual sound of the clock has an interesting rhythm or beat to it.

Tock-a-tick, tock-a-tick,
The clock also makes a sound that goes "tock-a-tick, tock-a-tick..."

Don't you think it's a marvelous trick?
The singer thinks that the clock's unique sound is amazing.

Ting-a-ling, ting-a-ling,
A bell sound is described as "ting-a-ling, ting-a-ling..."

There's a zong in the bong of that ring,
The bell sound has a unique quality to it.

Ling-a-ting, ling-a-ting,
The bell sound also goes "ling-a-ting, ling-a-ting..."

Don't you think it's a wonderful thing?
The singer thinks that the sound of the bell is wonderful.

The experts came to hear and see,
People with expertise in clocks came to examine the strange clock.

But none of them could solve the mystery.
However, none of the experts could explain why the clock sounded like that.

They called Professor Einstein too,
They even brought in the famous physicist Albert Einstein to examine the clock.

He said "There's nothing I can do".
Even Einstein could not explain why the clock had such an unusual sound.

But soon the fickle human race will find another freak to take its place,
However, people will soon lose interest in this strange clock and become fascinated with another novelty item.

And one fine day the man will hock the poor old syncopated clock.
Eventually, the man will sell the strange clock to someone else.