The Ant and the Grasshopper
For this song, Leon drew on Aesop's fable of the ant and the grasshopper, the widespread interpretation of which leans on the Bible for its moral judgement. In the usual analysis, the ant who toils all summer to save for the winter, is characterised as representing the value of hard work and abstinence, while the happy-go-lucky grasshopper, who spent the summer loafing in the sun, regrets his carelessness and goes hungry. In the story, the ant will not share his store of food, condemning the grasshopper and teaching us the error of its ways.
Of course, Leon had a different take on the situation, but in his song version, he restricts himself to retelling the story fairly faithfully, without trying to force a whole new angle on it. Published in 1974, the song was soon recorded, and in a version vocalised by Leon with Roy Bailey in unison, released on That's Not the Way It's Got to Be in 1975, then re-issued a number of times.
Of course, Leon had a different take on the situation, but in his song version, he restricts himself to retelling the story fairly faithfully, without trying to force a whole new angle on it. Published in 1974, the song was soon recorded, and in a version vocalised by Leon with Roy Bailey in unison, released on That's Not the Way It's Got to Be in 1975, then re-issued a number of times.
"The old fable of the ant and the grasshopper is usually told to children to instill in them a serious attitude to life. The grasshopper is held up as an Awful Warning, idling his time away, singing, dancing, enjoying himself, and in the end getting his just desserts. The ant is offered as a Good Example. Thrift. Hard work. Self-sacrifice. Well, I never liked the ant too much. Cautious. Calculating. Smug. Self-satisfied. A merchant banker through and through. So this song, while not changing the story overmuch, reverses the traditional sympathies." - LR (sleevenotes to the US edition of That's Not the Way It's Got To Be (LP), 1981)
"I've never understood why the smug, ungenerous ant should be held up as a good example to children." - LR (sleevenotes to Perspectives, 1997)
“In this retelling of the old fable, the hippie-like grasshopper, living for the moment, is the sympathetic figure while the puritanical work-driven ant, held up as a model for children to follow in the original fable, becomes a mean and selfish bastard who wouldn’t help out a fellow creature. But maybe the song is more ambiguous than that and begs more questions than it answers. With this song, I was becoming more conscious of the way music works with the words and tried to echo, in the melodic movement, the skipping dancing high-on-sunshine-and-air grasshopper and the cautious, grasping one-note ant.” - LR (sleevenotes to The World Turned Upside Down (CD box set), p18)
"I've never understood why the smug, ungenerous ant should be held up as a good example to children." - LR (sleevenotes to Perspectives, 1997)
“In this retelling of the old fable, the hippie-like grasshopper, living for the moment, is the sympathetic figure while the puritanical work-driven ant, held up as a model for children to follow in the original fable, becomes a mean and selfish bastard who wouldn’t help out a fellow creature. But maybe the song is more ambiguous than that and begs more questions than it answers. With this song, I was becoming more conscious of the way music works with the words and tried to echo, in the melodic movement, the skipping dancing high-on-sunshine-and-air grasshopper and the cautious, grasping one-note ant.” - LR (sleevenotes to The World Turned Upside Down (CD box set), p18)
Recordings
Version 1 (1975) Sung in harmony by Leon and Roy Bailey
- That's Not the Way It's Got To Be
- Perspectives
- The Acoustic Folk Box (CD box set) (2002) Various artists collection.
- The World Turned Upside Down