Cinema '76: Illustrated Transcript with Audio
That way to Timothy Murphy
"Henry Knox"
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Source: Ray Dashner Archives 2007 All Rights Reserved
Three hundred pounds
of basso profundo
Was Henry Knox.
A heavy, hearty,
light-hearted party
Was Henry Knox
Enthusiasm always in high,
The kind of man who'd never
say "die,"
Robust, rotund, congenial
giant was Henry Knox.
Henry Knox, at the age
of twelve,
Was forced to go to work.
To support his mother
he got a job in a
Bookstore as a clerk. And while he worked
He also read, a lot of books
and filled his head
'til he was an authority
On guns and artillery.
At twenty-one he opened up
a bookstore of his own.
At twenty-five enlisted to
oppose the British throne.
Big promotions came rapidly.
In five months he had
a colonelcy
And he was put in charge of
artillery small and large.
Three hundred pounds
of basso profundo
Was Henry Knox.
A heavy, hearty,
light-hearted party
Was Henry Knox.
Enthusiasm always in high,
The kind of man who'd never
say "die,'
Robust, rotund, congenial
giant was Henry Knox.
At the start of the War the
British force held Boston town
And the home team didn't
have half enough heavy guns to wear them down.
So Henry Knox and his men
were sent,
Ticonderoga is where they went
To see if the Fort could spare
the captured cannon there.
Three hundred miles of snow
and thaw across the wild terrain,
But Henry Knox successfully
delivered that "noble train."
Then up to Dorchester Heights they hauled the cannon
And when they were all installed
It started to explode.
The British hit the road.
Three hundred pounds
of basso profundo
Was Henry Knox.
A heavy, hearty,
light-hearted party
Was Henry Knox.
Enthusiasm always in high,
The kind of man who'd never
say "die,"
Robust, rotund, congenial
giant was Henry Knox.
Henry Knox was with Washington when the Delaware was crossed.
Said the General to the Colonel,
"Shift your weight or all is lost."
When Henry Knox thought there should be a special kind of
Academy to teach the gunner's art, West Point got its start.
At Washington's farewell when he relinquished his command,
Henry Knox was the first man
he approached to clasp his hand.
Full of energy, full of drive,
In seventeen hundred
and eighty-five
Congress picked him for
Secretary of War.
Three hundred pounds of
basso profundo
Was Henry Knox.
A heavy, hearty,
light-hearted party
Was Henry Knox.
Enthusiasm always in high,
The kind of man who'd never
say "die,"
Robust, rotund, congenial
giant was Henry Knox.
