Little Twelvetoes

Now if man had been born with six fingers on each hand He'd also have twelve toes or so the theory goes Well, with twelve digits, I mean fingers He probably would've invented two more digits When he invented his number system Then, if he saved the zero for the end He could count and multiply by twelve just as easily as you and I do by tens Now if men had been born with six fingers on each hand He'd probably count One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, dek, el, doh "Dek" and "el" being two entirely new signs Meaning ten and eleven Single digits! And his twelve, "doh", would be written 1-0 Get it? That'd be swell, for multiplying by 12 Hey Little Twelvetoes, I hope you're well Must be some far-flung planet where you dwell If we were together, you could be my cousin Down here we call it a dozen Hey Little Twelvetoes, please come back home Now if man had been born with 6 fingers on each hand His children would have them too And when they played hide-and-go-seek they'd count by sixes fast And when they studied piano, they'd do their six-finger exercises And when they went to school, they'd learn the golden rule And how to multiply by twelve easy: just put down a zero But me, I have to learn it the hard way Let me see One times 12 is twelve Two times 12 is 24 Three times 12 is 36 Four times 12 is 48 Five times 12 is 60 Six times 12 is 72 Seven times 12 is 84 Eight times 12 is 96 Nine times 12 is 108 Ten times 12 is 120 Eleven times 12 is 132 And 12 times 12 is 144 Hey Little Twelvetoes, I hope you're thriving Some of us ten-toed folks are still surviving If you help me with my twelves, I'll help you with your tens And we could all be friends Little Twelvetoes, please come back home