The Quest for the Golden Frog

***The Quest for the Golden Frog*** is a song by Professor Elemental and the fifth track on the 2009 album The Indifference Engine.

### Song Facts

 Year
 Run Time

The track was re-released on the 10th Anniversary Edition of *The Indifference Engine.* The liner notes describe the song as follows:

*""They SEARCHED for it! They fought and even KILLED for it! WHAT WAS IT?...KING SOLOMON'S FROG!" So screams the cover for the first issue of Jack Kirby's bizarre run on Marvel's Black Panther. I love Jack Kirby and I love the nonsensical story that takes place inside, so this song was a nod to the weird worlds of fiction that I have enjoyed over the years - from the universes filled with superheroes to Oz and Wonderland."*

## Lyrics

Attention, Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen!
Professor Elemental recommends
My lecture, meant for special friends
Attend my adventure to the very end
My quest was risky, my role was odd
I set out for the mystic golden frog!
It was the stuff of legends
Said to give the bearer a glimpse of Heaven
Plus, it was quite shiny, so in preparation
First I drew a map from my imagination
Packed my battenberg and my absinthe, marmoquin
Blunderbuss, and my collapsing magic staff!
Plus a tea-pot and some proper grey
Stoke the fire, set the bellows
Come on fellows, chocks away!
AH-HAH! To find the frog...

(Refrain)
HEY YOU!
Pack your bags, it's time to trip
With the good Professor so ride the ship
Exotic dancer third, then scientist
Explorer first, so I enlist...
YOU!
Pack your bags, it's time to trip
With the good Professor so ride the ship
Exotic dancer third, then scientist
But explorer first...

(Verse 2)
Week one:
Crash-landed near Tanzania
Surrounded by savages in rabbit ears
Before you could say 'My good man, how queer'
I held aloft my magic spear!
'In the name of the empire, bring me the frog'!
Amazingly, they made me their king or their god
I didn't think this was odd until we got to the volcano
Hotter than my stage show, time for me to lay low!
Week two:
I used my string to tie bamboo poles
A useful thing, I roll in to surf the rising tide
I feel alive like a viking, time to ride to the ship
In a storm, how exciting!
Let's take to the skies with the power of lightning!
Launch the nets Geoffery!
It's going to be a rough ride...

(Refrain)
HEY YOU!
Pack your bags, it's time to trip
With the good Professor so ride the ship
Exotic dancer third, then scientist
Explorer first, so I enlist...
YOU!

(Verse 3)
Week three:
No closer to finding the frog
But I had an absinthe party
With the Munchkins of Oz!
No trouble to come in to land
For opium, tea and mushrooms in Wonderland
And this is something grand
From London to Australia, my cunning plan
Was completely and utterly unsuccessful
So I left to go settle back at home with my kettle
For the rest I need
You'll never guess what was hiding under the settee!
Yes! It's the frog! Oh, pardon me

## Remixes and Other Versions

 Remix | Tom Caruana
The Indifference Engine: 10th Anniversary Edition
 Remix Instrumental | Tom Caruana

## Trivia

* This song was also released in comic book form as the last story in Professor Elemental Comics 001 and in radio play form as the first episode of The Adventures of Professor Elemental