MAY 20, singable satire: show-tune written by George Gershwin, "ICELAND"

 PARODY SONG-LYRICS

ORIGINAL SONG: The melody for the spiritual ballad "Summertime" from the George Gershwin opera "Porgy and Bess".

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio (registered pseudonym) and Dr. GH, August 2018. 

EVOLUTION of the LYRICS: The song-lyrics originated as limerick verses composed by Giorgio Coniglio 2017, and compiled in January 2018. The details of the lyrics were based on GC's family trip to Iceland in June 2015. Most of the verses also appear, mildly modified, in the online limerick dictionary OEDILF.com. They were subsequently adopted as a parody-song collage, and posted on GC's blog, at that time known as "Ukable Parodies". 

SONGLINK:  Our whole series of songs can be found in a friendly format for ukulele (and guitar)-players on our blog  "SILLY SONGS and SATIRE". Click HERE to proceed to this site: it also has a calypso-style song derived from the same visit to Iceland in June 2015 under the title "Nordic Journal: Island in the Sun".                                   

CONTENTS: titles (OEDILF listing)

1. Iceland / Ísland  
2. Geysir: OEDILF 
3. Eyjafjallajökull / E15 
4. Second-Hand Geyser
5. Stopover in Reykjavik 

ICELANDIC SAGA

(to the tune of "Summertime") 

1. In the far North Atlantic there’s dry land:
Friendly Iceland – it’s my kind of island.
You’ll be welcomed in Ísland *; cool and damp but at-peace land; 
Summer-sun-all-day-but-you-won’t-fry land.

2. Tourists learn the Norse thermal god plays here;
The Icelandic locale known as ‘Geysir’.
From hot pools steam erupts - belching after he sups.
Then they head for the sign (that says),“Tour Bus Stays Here.”

3. E15, Iceland stratovolcano,
Spews out fog that can clog up your plane, Oh
If explain it I must - it’s just ashes and dust;  
Can’t they flush it away with some Drano?

4. A cheap gift: though Björn thought he’d surprise her,
Björg rejected his second-hand geyser,                                              
“What I’d prize is a freezer. Your poor wife, why displease her?
It just proves you’re a nasty old miser.”

5. If you’re planning an Iceland stopover:
Avoid months with an 'R', like October;  
And a Reykjavik warning! Bars open til morning  

With patrons not prone to stay sober.

* pronounced as EES-lahndt.