“Henry and Mudge”
from Henry and Mudge
HENRY
I can climb a sycamore
And tell you all the things I can see.
MUDGE
I can smell rabbit hole
And take you there if you come with me.
HENRY
Everyday there’s a new place to go.
MUDGE
I can catch every ball you throw.
HENRY
Henry and Mudge,
MUDGE
Henry and Mudge,
BOTH
Sharing a sandwich and a day.
HENRY
Henry and Mudge,
MUDGE
Henry and Mudge,
BOTH
Nobody is stopping us from
Playing and laughing and jumping real high.
HENRY
We’re like rockets or samurai.
I can build camping tent,
And go to sleep right here on the lawn.
MUDGE
I can watch for booby traps
And wake you so that you see the dawn.
HENRY
Our adventures are just at the start.
BOTH
And we never will ever part.
HENRY
Henry and Mudge,
MUDGE
Henry and Mudge,
BOTH
Having a ball and playing catch.
HENRY
Henry and Mudge,
MUDGE
Henry and Mudge,
BOTH
When you come and find us, we’ll be
Scratching and teasing and having a blast.
‘cause our friendship will always last.
HENRY
I don’t know if a boy and his dog really matter much…
MUDGE
Bugs!
HENRY
At all.
MUDGE
I will eat the bugs.
HENRY
But I do wonder about it, each time Mudge catches a ball.
MUDGE
Slurp.
HENRY
‘Cause that’s the best thing in the world I think.
That’s the best feeling I’ve had.
When the ball’s in the air and somehow he knows where it will fall.
MUDGE
Flies, ants, lady bugs.
HENRY
And once in while, Mudge will sit down and smile,
Even before I can call.
So maybe a boy and his dog really matter after all.
MUDGE
You can be my family and
I can keep you safe every night.
HENRY
You can be my family and
I can hold you tight through night.
BOTH
What if you think the same things as me?
Nah! That’s crazy. It couldn’t be.
HENRY
Henry and Mudge,
MUDGE
Henry and Mudge,
BOTH
Fooling around and having fun.
HENRY
Henry and Mudge,
MUDGE
Henry and Mudge,
BOTH
Nobody is better if you’re
Running or joking or just coming through.
Stuck together with crazy glue.
Henry and Mudge,
Henry and Mudge,
I will always be friends with you.
September 7th, 2008 at 8:53 am
I am trying to kind sheet music with a back up cd (no vocals) for “MY Party Dress.” My daughter wants to sing it for a thespian competition.
September 7th, 2008 at 9:51 am
Your best bet for a recording of it without vocals is to buy the sheet music and record a pianist playing it. It’s a piano song anyway so it wouldn’t sound any different on a cd really. The sheet music is available in the first volume of our songbook at http://www.kerrigan-lowdermilk.com/shop.
Hope that helps!
August 9th, 2009 at 4:19 am
Hi, I recently discovered this site and your music. Your music is AMAZING!! i absolutely love it! I was ondering if any of your musicals are available for community theatres to do. I would really like to do Henry and Mudge. Thanks.
August 12th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Henry & Mudge isn’t licensed right now and it’s on tour with TheatreworksUSA - so it’s not available to community theaters yet. We’re in the process of creating a concert-evening because we get a lot of requests like this. It’s not quite the same thing - I know - but it’s something.
September 14th, 2010 at 7:43 pm
I was listening to this song and following the lyrics, and i saw that Henry kind of does a solo section to the song, but the lyrics to that part are not listed, simply implied with a “…” i was just wondering if maybe it was for the fact that you wanted to have people purchase the lyrics to view the full thing, or if the lines are actually dialogue from the show…..?
September 17th, 2010 at 3:04 pm
Amazing question! The recording reflects an old lyric and we liked the lyric and the melody associated with it quite a bit. It was:
I don’t know
if a boy and his dog really matter much
in the scheme of things.
No I don’t know
about big things like that
but I do know I do like how summer brings
new ideas, new plants,
new adventures, lots of ants.
And my mom likes the plants
and my dog likes the ants
and I like the days in the sun.
And the summer has just begun.
In preparation for the Off-Broadway production, we realized that we wanted Henry’s epiphany to be more about Mudge and the deep connection two friends can feel. We added Mudge’s interjections for the 6-year-olds who might not be following as closely… but when you hear it in the show, it feels like a monologue. We think this lands the last chorus of the song better:
I don’t know if a boy and his dog really matter much at all.
But I do wonder about it each time Mudge catches a ball.
‘Cause that’s the best thing in the world I think.
That’s the best feeling I’ve had.
When the ball’s in the air and somehow he knows where it will fall.
And once in a while, Mudge will sit down and smile,
even before I can call.
So maybe a boy and his dog really matter after all.
You can hear Noah Weisberg and Randy Blair sing this version on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bezk79CnuEQ