AUG 20, singable satire: Tom Lehrer sings "ALLITERATIVE BINOMIALS, #2" L to Z

 PARODY SONG-LYRICS

ORIGINAL SONG: "The Elements", Tom Lehrer, 1959.

Occasional binomials show alliteration
(e.g. one and only)

PARODY COMPOSED: Dr. G.H. and Giorgio Coniglio,  2015. This song is the third of nine in the series on Word Pairs. You can find the links to the lyrics of the previous songs at the bottom of the post. 

CHORD-CHARTS etc. As is usually the case with song-lyrics, we have simultaneously provided suggested chords for ukulele, guitar or whatever-stringed-instruments for the parody and for the original lyrics on our music-buff site "SILLY SONGS and SATIRE". 

To access ukulele chord-charts to help you accompany "ALLITERATIVE BINOMIALS #2" on your favorite instrument, click HERE. 

EXPLANATION: The current effort involves a linguistic device discussed by Wikipedia as “Siamese twins” or ‘Irreversible Binomials”. These 

phrases include some of the most colorful expressions in English. There are probably a thousand binomial expressions in the English language. To enhance the singability, I have skewed my selection of binomial pairs here, to emphasize those that have alliteration of the 2 elements. 

For discussion of binomials, see the recent post HERE; there is a also an earlier post that honors our previous exploration of these intriguing expressions, and is entitled "The Allure of Word-Pairs: Alliterative Binomials (compendium)".

UKULELE and GUITAR-FRIENDLY LINK: Our whole series of songs can be found in a friendly format for ukulele (and guitar)-players on our sister blog  "SILLY SONGS and SATIRE". Click HERE to proceed to this site. 

There's latitude and longitude, and lads and lasses, lemon/lime,
And lend or lease, last (but not least), and lords and ladies, mock and mime.
And live and learn, and mind o'er matter, mountains/molehills, lock and latch,
And over/out, lewd and lascivious, love-it/leave-it, mix and match.

There's meek and mild, and name and number, now or never, naughty/nice,
Out and about, there's odds and evens, one and only, on thin ice. 
There's prince and pauper, prim and proper, pen and paper, peas in pod,
And pig in poke, and poems and prose, and pots and pans, and poke and prod.   

There’s “Pride” and also “Prejudice”, and publish/perish, parcel post,
(In Britain, they’ve been smitten with odd variants like 'rule the roast'),
And pain and pleasure, quake and quiver, quirks and quarks, and rant and rave,
And rough and ready, right or wrong, no rhyme or reason, scratch and save.

Restore/reset, and rock and roll, and rest and rehab, rod and reel,
And rags to riches, rules and regs, and search and seizure, sign and seal.
And signs and symptoms, short but sweet, and sink or swim, and run- arounds,
— From sea to shining sea there’s stress and strain among the sights and sounds.

The Stars and Stripes, once spick and span, show slow but steady slip and slide;
And toil and trouble, trials and tribulations, trick or treat, and tried
But true, and tea for two, unloved/unwanted, also tit for tat,
And thick or thin, and toss and turn, and tots and toddlers, this-or-that.

There’s tarts and tortes, and truck and trailer, sugar/spice and top and tail,
And vice and virtue, vim and vigor, wax and wane, and weep and wail,
And wash and wear, and wild and woolly, warp and woof, and where or when,
Within/without, and whys and wherefores, waching/waiting, wild and woolly, yearn and yen.

And, for those interested, here's how you find the lyrics-only-version

of the nine songs that make up this cycle. If you would like to  accompany yourself on ukulele or guitar, find relevant chord charts by following the links that will take you to the versions in our blog "Silly Songs and Satire". 

1. PAIRS, to the tune of "Words" in the style of the Beegees

...  the following songs in the style of "The Elements" by Tom Lehrer

2. ALLITERATIVE BINOMIALS, part#1

3. ALLITERATIVE BINOMIALS, part#2

4. RHYMING BINOMIALS, part#1

5. RHYMING BINOMIALS, part#2

6. A LESSON ABOUT REDUPLICATIONS

7. REDUPLICATIONS, part#1

8. REDUPLICATIONS, part#2

9. LEGALISTIC DOUBLETS, in the style of "Supercalifragilistic..." from  the musical "Mary Poppins"