TURKEY THE TURTLE

Turkey the Turtle is the name the most popular song on my album, Today is a Laughing Day. This song was inspired by and dedicated to my pet snapping turtle, Turkey, who truly is a star. Yep, that's him pictured above, dancing in the ha ha ha spiral. Isn't he a fabulous character?

We adopted Turkey in 2001, immediately after we moved to Iowa. He was a brand new hatchling making his way to the Turkey river when we nabbed him, took him home and named him after the river he never reached. In all my years of owning turtles, I have never before had such a hearty and fast-growing turtle as Turkey. We put him into a ten gallon tank but after just three months, he outgrew it and we moved him to a thirty gallon tank. Three months later, he again outgrew his home and we had to buy him the biggest tank we could find at Petco: a seventy five gallon tank that is now the centerpiece of our living room.

Turkey has been our most beloved pet and now weighs well over fifteen pounds. He's attempted some daring escapes and made some trips to the veterinarian but we love him all the same. He's emotionally involved in all that happens in our home and he has many fans. Sometimes people come by just to visit "Turks." So you can see why he inspired such a silly song.

Listen to a sample of the song with the Amazon widget below. 

You can buy the MP3 download for just 99 cents. It's fun to use at laughter club.

 

Here are the lyrics


TURKEY THE TURTLE
by Laughing Laura © 2008
dedicated to my snapping turtle, Turkey, who is truly a star

1. My turtle’s name is Turkey, he is so very perky!
He taps & taps & taps his toes,
he spins around & around & wiggles his nose

Turkey: (wiggles nose)

GIGGLER: Hey, wait a minute! A turtle doesn't have a nose, it has a beak!

Laughing Laura: Yeah, well that doesn’t bother Turkey,
he wiggles it anyway & we can wiggle our noses too.
In fact, let's wiggle our noses while making the silliest faces possible.
Turkey will love it!

GIGGLERS: (wiggle noses & make silly faces)

TURKEY’S REFRAIN:
Turkey, Turkey the Turtle!
He leaps over the hurdle!
He flaps his tail — it goes flap, flappy!
I flap mine too— it makes me happy!
He’s the funniest turtle by far!
Turkey the Turtle—you are a star!

2. My turtle’s name is Turkey
he is so very perky
he hops & hops & hops by a frog,
he spins around & around
and barks at a dog.

Turkey: Arf!

GIGGLER: Hey, wait a minute! A dog can bark at a turtle
but a turtle can’t bark at a dog!

Laughing Laura: Yeah, but Turkey doesn’t know that so he barks
anyway & we can bark too, even though we aren’t dogs.
Are you ready to bark? Here we go!

GIGGLERS: (bark like dogs)

[REFRAIN]

3. My turtle’s name is Turkey
he is so very perky
he wiggles & wiggles like I don’t know how
he spins around & around
& moos like a cow

Turkey: Moo!

GIGGLER: Hey, wait a minute! A turtle can’t sound like a cow!

Laughing Laura: Yeah, well Turkey thinks it’s cool
to act like a cow. Let’s try it with him. It’s lots of fun!

GIGGLERS: (moo like cows)

[REFRAIN]

4. My turtle’s name is Turkey
he is so very perky
he kicks and kicks, he is so kickin’
he spins around & around
and acts like a chicken

Turkey: Bawk! Bawk!

GIGGLER: Hey, wait a minute! A turtle can’t make chicken sounds!

Laughing Laura: Yeah, but chicken sounds are a blast to make.
Let’s be chickens with Turkey!

GIGGLERS: (cluck like chickens)

[REFRAIN]

5. My turtle’s name is Turkey
he is so very perky
he skips & skips like a lanky giraffee
he spins around & around
and lets out a laugh.

Turkey:

GIGGLER: Hey, wait a minute! A turtle can’t laugh!

Laughing Laura: Yeah, but Turkey thinks everything’s so funny, he’s got to laugh & we can laugh & skip all at the same time! Let's go for it!

GIGGLERS: (skip & laugh)

[REFRAIN]

© Laura E. Gentry 2008

TODAY IS A LAUGHING DAY

My debut album, Today is a Laughing Day, is available at the Laughter Shoppe at my Web site, www.LaughingLaura.com. In fact, there is an introductory offer going on right now where you can save $4.95 between now and Christmas Eve. The price is just $10. After Christmas, it will retail for $14.95.

Let me tell you more about this album. It all began with the production of Laughter Friends—the workout video of Laughter Yoga I produced last year. For this project, I collaborated with my husband, William Gentry, and jazz pianist, Tom Bourcier. Together, we wrote five fun songs, which we used in the video.

They were live versions, however, and I knew that such fabulous songs deserved studio recordings. It has been almost a year since I said, "Hey, let's make a kids album!" I've learned that being a music producer is seriously hard work, but it is also exciting.



William and I proceeded to write ten more songs and cheers, bringing the album total to fifteen. Here is a listing of the tracks in order:

1. Today is a Laughing Day
2. Laughter Friends
3. Turkey the Turtle
4. Enthusiastic
5. Laughing with Me
6. The Parking Fairy
7. Laughing for Peace
8. We Like to Laugh
9. Smile Millionaire
10. Happy to be Laughin' with You
11. Here Comes the Garbage Lady
12. Amazing
13. Free Laughs
14. Ranger Kathy
15. Today is a Laughing Day Reprise

I worked with sound engineer Brett Huus at Soundstrations Studio in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. There, we recorded the album—from July and until November.

The band consists of Tom Bourcier on piano, Rich MacDonald on percussion and Karyn Quinn on bass. The backup singer is Trish Bruxvoort Colligan of The River's Voice.


The "Gigglers" (pictured above) are the children who added laughter and silly sound effects to the album.

Below is the graphic design of the back cover.


The CD is packaged in a beautiful digipak with full color printing. It is eco-friendly—made of recycled cardboard and the CD tray is made of reused plastic water bottles. In fact, the 1000 CDs saved 400 bottles from the landfill!

You can also order Today is a Laughing Day at Amazon.com or you could download it instantly at DigStation, which is the greenest option.


Of course, I encourage you to order directly from me at the Laughter Shoppe (support indie artists)!

In the coming weeks, I will write more about these songs at this blog. Thanks for visiting! ha ha ha!