Nasty Dan

"Nasty Dan" is an American folk song written by Jeff Moss, who also wrote "Rubber Duckie". It was first recorded and released by Johnny Cash in 1975. A version of the song is on his album The Johnny Cash Children's Album. Cash performed the song for Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street,^[1] telling The Grouch, "You'll like this."

According to the song, Nasty Dan was a nasty man. He ate nails for lunch, never took a bath or laughed, and would jump for joy when a little boy would trip and fall. The only words he ever said were: I don't like you at all. He eventually met Nasty Pearl, a nasty girl, and they settled down and had a nasty kid.

Moss included a poem of the same name in his book of poetry.^[2]

The song became a No. 1 hit in France in 1976^[3] for Claude François, who recorded it with French lyrics under the title "Sale Bonhomme".^[4]

References

1. Dukes, Billy (26 February 2017). "Remember When Johnny Cash Was on 'Sesame Street'?". Taste of Country.
2. Moss, Jeffrey (22 December 1989). The Butterfly Jar: Poems. Bantam Books. p. 83. ISBN 9780553057041 – via Internet Archive. nasty dan.
3. "Jeff Moss (Author of The Butterfly Jar)". Good Reads. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
4. Fabien Lecoeuvre (2017). 1001 histoires secrètes de chansons. Editions du Rocher. ISBN 9782268098487.