Well, I got the invitation That you sent to everyone And I told you family picnics weren't exactly my idea of fun You replied that everyone but me said they were going to come Which is how you talked me into going to the reunion When you said everyone, you really meant it My brother the ape My brother the ape I received the photos you sent And I don't regret that I went Or the sight of everybody stiffly posing under one tent But I don't feel I belong and I keep wanting to escape And I fail to see the likeness between me and my brother the ape They all kept saying (they all kept saying) How much we look alike (how much we look alike) I don't think that we look alike at all (I don't think that we look alike at all) But I'll admit that I look more like a chimp Than I look like my cousin the shrimp Or my distant kin the lichens Or the snowy egret or the moss And I find it hard to recognize Some relatives of ours Like the rotifer, the sycamore Iguanas and sea stars My brother the ape My brother the ape They say you don't get (they say you don't get) To choose your family (to choose your family) But there's no other one to choose (but there's no other one to choose) So that's why I'm writing this now And you can tell my sister the cow That I meant to thank her for the gorgonzola And I'll allow that I've been acting like a stranger But you guys are all so strange Though I think of what I'm like And I can see we're all the same So this time next year, we'll meet at my place My brother the ape My brother the ape