If any opinion in the comic strip world approaches unanimity, it's that Walt Kelly was a great cartoonist and that Pogo was a great comic strip. Those who know it love it. Those who don't know would love it if only they knew it. Even as a small kid, too unseasoned to understand every word of its unique dialect, I could tell it was funny. You just look at it and you can see it's full of funny characters with funny expressions and funny postures, so I just assumed that if I could ever understand everything those funny characters were saying, it too would be funny. Well, it was. It was also profound and insightful and even, at times, poetic. Walter Crawford Kelly was not only a cartoonist, he was a poet. And a song writer. And even a singer of his own silly songs.
He proved this with a 1956 book and record album, Songs of the Pogo, both filled with wonderful tunes, some of which he sings. Want to hear a sample? If you have Windows Media Player installed, click here and you'll hear Mr. Kelly himself vocalizing "Go-Go Pogo" in its two-minute entirety. Then click here and go to the website of Parasol Records, where you can purchase — for a paltry twelve bucks — the new CD reissue of Songs of the Pogo, complete with previously-unreleased Pogo tracks, including rehearsal sessions, and some of Kelly's other records that weren't included on the album.
I've played my copy of the LP record over and over and over. Now, I get to play the CD over and over and over. You will, too.