Impressionists Two-Step

Lyrics: Pop Wagner, Jack Hansen
Music: Pop Wagner, Jack Hansen

A Pop Wagner song played by the David Nelson Band.

Monet and Manet
They were strolling down the Élysées
Picking out pastels and other kinds of paint
Eddie said to Claude
I've found some rouge that's really odd
And this indigo from Cairo makes it hard to use restraint (note 1)

They continued this intellectual discussion
Over caffè latte and an English muffin
André Derain arranged for the beverage, you see
André was cutting out for London
So Monet winked and he told him
If you get to Charing Cross, man, paint one of the bridges for me

Monet concerned himself with atmosphere and light
He worked on lots of canvases at the same time
And as it got darker, he just painted on down the line
Manet did some stuff that's really out of sight
Some other guys in that league were Rodin, Cézanne, Renoir, Lautrec
And don't forget Paul Gauguin

Vinny Van Gogh was way ahead and far above
With an eye for beauty and an ear for love
In twenty nine months he blew the doors off the bourgeouisie
Cézanne said it all
He said rather a diver splitting rivers (note 2)
Like the ark, and from his pools catch a fish if I'm lucky

Monet concerned himself with atmosphere and light
He worked on lots of canvases at the same time
And as it got darker, he just painted on down the line
Manet did some stuff that's really out of sight
Some other guys in that league were Rodin, Cézanne, Renoir, Lautrec
And don't forget Paul Gauguin
Don't forget Paul Gauguin
No don't forget Paul Gauguin

Notes
(1) the Pop Wagner version is "Some indigo from Cairo, but I bet you ain't".
(2) After a performance of this song on 23 August with Eric and Suzy Thompson, David Nelson said "I found out what that Cézanne line is about. It's a haiku Cézanne wrote. 'Rather a diver splitting rivers like the ark and from its pool catch a fish if I'm lucky.' That's a haiku. Written by Cézanne." That seems most implausible to me, and I've not been able to find any confirmation (even trying to find one based on what it would have been if written in French). (thanks to Phil McGee for spotting this)

Recordings
	Date	Album	Recorded By
	1987	Disco On The Bayou	Pop Wagner
	1997	Keeper Of The Key	David Nelson Band
	2007	Aloha Nugs	David Nelson Band

Pop Wagner's version has a rather different last verse:

Vinny Van Gogh was way ahead and far above
With an eye for perspective and an ear for love
Camille Pissarro was older than the rest of the bunch
He was scoping out a brand new style
He was missing the point, so every once in a while
He'd go up to Montmartre and talk it over with the others over lunch