From Deep Sea Vents (album), 2024.
Features: Bruce Hornsby (piano, vocals), Alex Sopp (flute), Hideaki Aomori (clarinet), C.J. Camerieri (trumpet), Rob Moose (violin), Nadia Sirota (viola), Gabriel Cabezas (cello), Branford Marsalis (soprano sax)
From BruceHornsby.com:
“Dipping horns and slashing strings become the prompt for a quasi-rap, detailing the life and eccentricity of the egg-laying mammal.”
Context:
Platypus
The platypus is a curious combination of a duck’s bill, a beaver’s tail and an otter’s feet. (“Got webbed feet, rubber bill / Fat-ass tail, furry chin”). It has no teeth, so it defends itself by pricking with the spurs in it heels and then injecting venom (“I’ll stick that ass with my poison spur”). The platypus is biofluorescent, meaning its fur glows a bluish-green hue under ultraviolet light. (“I”m aglow, why no-one knows / I’m not sure myself / I fluoresce, I shine”). It shares 82 percent of its genes with the human, mouse, dog, opossum and chicken.
It inhabits the estuaries and billabongs of Australia (venturing no further) and occupies a place on the Australian 20 cent coin.
More details: Wikipedia
Crash Bandicoot
Crash is a video game character who also resides in Australia.
Cousin Knuckles the Echidna
Knuckles is a character in the Sonic the Hedgehog video game. The echidna and the platypus are the only living mammals who lay eggs.