The Ballad of the Four Sons
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(To the tune of "My Darling Clementine")
Said the father, to his children / "At the Seder you will dine / You will eat your fill of matzah / You will drink four cups of wine."
Now this father, had no daughters / but his sons they numbered four. / One was wise and one was wicked / one was simple and a bore.
And the fourth was sweet and winsome / he was young and he was small, / while his brothers asked the questions / he could scarcely speak at all.
Said the wise one, to his father, / "Would you please explain the laws / of the customs of the seder / will you please explain the cause?"
And the father, proudly answered, / "As our fathers ate in speed / ate the Pascal lamb 'ere at midnight / and from slav-ery were freed.
So we follow, their example, / and 'ere midnight must complete / all the seder, and we should not / after 12 remain to eat."
Then did sneer, the son so wicked, / "What does all this mean to you?" / And his father's voice was bitter, / as his grief and anger grew.
"If yourself, you don't consider, / as a son of Isra-el, / then for you this has no meaning / you could be a slave as well."
Then the simple, son said simply, / "What is this?" / and quiet-ly, / the good father, told his offspring: / "We were freed from slav-ery."
But the youngest, son was silent, / for he could not ask at all, / and his eyes were bright with wonder / as his father told him all.
My dear children / heed the lesson / and remember evermore / what the father told his children, / told his sons that numbered four.
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