Ray Stevens 
Harry The Hairy Ape  

INTRO:C  F   C  F 
 
C 
Well a strange thing happened the other night 
You won't believe it but I swear it's true 
Harry the Hairy Ape made his escape from the city zoo 
And under cover of darkness he made his way 
         F 
To the middle of the municipal park 
     N/C 
And hid in the bushes and waited for somebody 
To come walkin alone by hisself in the dark 
      F 
Then along come somebody not suspectin' nothin 
Bb 
Harry jump outta the bushes all of a sudden 
G                     F 
Beat on his chest, jumped up and down, and he say 
INTRO 
Wooohooohooohhaaaheehooowooo (twice) 
G               Bb      F     N/C 
Which is Harry Ape talk for "boo I betcha I scared you haha" 
 
 
(Spoken rapidly) 
F 
Waaa scared that poor cat so bad his eyes bugged out 
His hair turned white and he run off through the municipal park 
Screamin' and hollerin' 'n tearin' up the lawn 
Tearin' up the shrubbery, knocked down the "keep off the grass" sign 
Run through the hurricane fence, fell in the municipal swimming pool 
And drowned hisself, woo-hoo 
 
C 
Well Harry thought this was the funniest thing 
That he had ever seen 
And he laughed, haha, jumped back in the bushes 
And got ready to do it again 
The next guy that come along 
        F 
Was the near sighted local DJ 
     N/C 
Just boppin' down the sidewalk on his way to work 
With a box of records under his arm that he was gonna play 
    F 
So here he come, not suspectin' nothin' 
Bb 
Harry jump outta the bushes all of a sudden 
G                     F 
Beat on his chest, jumped up and down, and he say 
INTRO 
(that ape talk again) 
G             Bb         F    N/C 
Which is Harry Ape talk for "smile you on candid camera" 
 
 
 
(Spoken rapidly) 
F 
Man that DJ was so nearsighted he thought Harry was a rock n roll singer 
So he give him the ol' glad hand, smiled, slapped him on the back 
Say "don't worry baby I'm gonna play the record 
'Cause you're too cool, too cool, too cool" 
Then he said bye, bopped on down off the sidewalk 
Every four or five steps he stop turn around do a boo-ga-loo shing-a-ling 
Well this really shook Harry up, I mean it blew his whole bit ruined his whole day 
So he run back to his cage fast as he could go, jumped up on his little swing 
Put both hands over his eyes and didn't look for three hours forty-five minutes 
But that's not the end of the story, here's what happened 
 
C 
Well the DJ he played Harry's record (what record?) Shut up! 
It was a hit and he became a star 
Got him some tight britches got him a manager 
Went on a promotion tour, combed his hair back 
And took up playin' the guitar 
And every Sunday afternoon you can go 
                      F 
And see Harry at the zoo 
        N/C 
And the girls'll swing and he'll sit on his swing 
And pick and sing his hit record for you 
 
C 
(Ape noises) 
(Shoobie-doo-wop, shoobie-doo-wop...)