Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear

"Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear" is a song written by Randy Newman, about a sincere young man of modest means named Simon Smith who entertains affluent ("well-fed") members of the public with his dancing bear.

Newman later said the song was a major stepping point in his writing style. "That was the first one I wrote like that. I was writing a song, believe it or not, for Frank Sinatra Jr. And it was called something like “Susie” or “Mary” and I just all of a sudden couldn’t do it. So I ended up somewhere with “coat to wear” and “dancing bear”. There I was, and I just sort of followed it on. And then I was never the same. And I never wrote particularly conventional songs after that."[1]

While Frank Sinatra Jr. never recorded the finished song, it was popularized in the UK by the Alan Price Set, reaching #4 on the Record Retailer chart in 1967. Randy Newman recorded his own version for his 1972 album Sail Away. The song has also been covered by such diverse artists as Harry Nilsson, Morrissey, Harpers Bizarre, Bobby Short, Akiko Yano, and Okkervil River. Bobbie Gentry recorded a gender-switched version, "Salome Smith and Her Amazing Dancing Bear."[2]

The song appeared in the first episode of The Muppet Show, sung by the character Scooter as Simon Smith, with Fozzie Bear as the dancing bear.