The Nuts on My Family Tree

Researching one's family tree can be a most challenging and daunting effort.  However, it can also be a greatly rewarding -- sometimes even comical -- task.  I've stumbled across some pretty peculiar things:

• A child dies & the name is given to next born child (Yuck !  A constant source of misery for parents and child alike);
• Upon the death of their sister, girls have married their brother-in-law (well, at least they waited);
• It seems quite common for sisters to marry brothers (I guess it beats having to remember a ton of surnames);
• Some people give their children up to 5 names ! (What's with that ?  Afraid of offending one of the relatives by omitting their name ?  Geez....thank goodness we're not of Greek descent.  Imagine being named  Themistokles Epaphroditos Agathangelos Olumpiodoros Chrysanthopoulos -- you'd likely be 53 years of age before you could say your name, let alone try to write it... in one sitting !!);
• One sad thing I've noticed is that some people have a bunch of daughters.  They finally have a son, who either dies in infancy or enters the priesthood (Guess the family tree soon becomes dead wood.)

Well, no matter what I uncover as I progress, I take a bit of comfort in knowing that other people have some pretty "special" family history too.  Consider what skeletons might have prompted artist Napoleon XIV (real name Jerry Samuels) to write "The Nuts on My Family Tree".


I flip every time I take a look
At the pictures inside my family book
And my mind wanders back where I'd like to be
With the nuts on my family tree

Chorus:
I take off my hat and burst with pride
When I recall all the things they tried
Their classic bits made such history
The nuts on my family tree

The first stood his ground at Waterloo
And it was such a foolish thing to do
He was soaking his feet, but he wasn´t done
So I ask you, how could he run?

The next nut was sure a lot of fun
He was there in the boat with Washington
When a leak in the boat made the water spout
He drilled a hole to let the water out

[Chorus]

The next got the word from Paul Revere
But he stayed just to have that one last beer
So the word he was just too drunk to say
That the British were on the way

The one who, with Custer, took a stand
I am now going to give a great, big hand
But the hand that he gets should be in the mouth
´Cause he forgot to tell old George go South

[Chorus]

4, 5, 9, 2, 7, 3, 4 !