Lyrics

The Man Who Said Yes
© 2004 Steve Rapson

There once was a man who said, "Yes, I can."
He always said yes to everybody’s plan.
"We need someone tall." He said, "That is me."
When they called for small he was oh, so tiny
And so it went until one day they said,
"Oh, how we need someone to play dead."
Deep in his heart he knew he could do it,
But was afraid that he would not live through it.
And so he said, “No!”, and to his surprise
A great big blue genie then materialized.
With a magical voice that sounded like the wind
The genie swirled around his head and said these words to him.

"The bars on your cage now have been broken
By the magic word that you have just spoken.
Here are your wings, now go, fly away
And always remember what you learned today."

Happy is the man living more doing less
Ever since he learned how not to say, "Yes."
And if you want to be happy as he
Try saying, "No," occasionally.