SEP 30, song-enabling satire: part B, novel melodies for singing limericks

Song Medley with Adapted Limerick Verses

ORIGINAL SONGS: Lyrics set to the music of the indicated songs, that have for the most part been shown in various blogposts.

SATIRE COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, March 2017. Click HERE to review part #A of this presentation (songs #1 to #4).

And for further recommendations for accompanying "NOVEL MELODIES, part #A" on your favorite instrument, click HERE. 

5. "SANTA LUCIA" (‘traditional’, Italian 1849, also adapted by Elvis Presley 1965)
Original: 

Sul mare luccica, l’astro d’argento
Placida è l’onda, prospero il vento.
Venite all’agile; / Barchetta mia;
Santa Lucia! Santa Lucia!

Nantucket Adaptation (Moderate changes)
There was a foolish man, lived on Nantucket,
Kept cash in his little boat, hid in a bucket.
One day his daughter Nan / Sailed off with an older man,
'Barchetta mia', and bucket -  Nan took it.

6. "OCHI CHORNYE" ("DARK EYES" – ‘traditional’ Russian 1884)
Original (in translation):

Oh, those gorgeous eyes, dark and glorious eyes
Burn-with-passion eyes, how you hypnotize.
How I adore you so, / how I fear you though
Since I say you glow! Now my spirit’s low!

Nantucket Adaptation (Moderate changes)
Once was oligarch from Nantucket
Stuck all cash in pail. Tax? He’d duck it.
But his daughter Nan / Had a man with plan --
Informed KGB, then stole bucket.


7. "ODE TO JOY" ("AN DIE FREUDE"; adapted  by L. von Beethoven, 1824, for his Ninth [choral] Symphony from a poem by Friedrich Schiller 1785; designated the 'Anthem of Europe' in 1972.)
Original:

Deine Zauber binden wieder
Was die Mode streng geteilt;
Alle Menschen werden Brüder
Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.

Nantucket Adaptation (significant changes)
In a case that Freud had mentioned,
Dean hid fortune in a can.
Daughter Joy found lottery winnings,
Filched his bucket; off she ran.


8. THE SLOOP ‘JOHN B’ (traditional Bahamian, recorded by Kingston Trio 1958)

Original:
Oh, we came on the sloop ‘John B’ – my grandfather and me
‘Round Nassau town we did roam.
Drinkin’ all night, we got into a fight.
Oh, I feel so break-up, I wanna go home.

Nantucket Adaptation (significant changes)
My Grandpa felt out of luck; on Nantucket he was stuck,
So credit cards and cash he hid in a pail;
Til his daughter Nan / rowed off with her man;
They’d plucked Pop's bucket, but now they’re in jail.

 

SEP 29, savoir-faire: French enologists

 You can review verses on this topic in a wider context on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Check the post 'Vers Francais: Savoir-Faire' by clicking HERE. 

SEP 28, pandemic poetry: D.Y.O.D.

Authors' Verse: 

BYOB: bring your own booze

DYOD: do your own dishes, an analogous motto proposed for software-enhanced 'remote get-togethers' via internet

Zoom: software for interactive on-line meetings

Other verses by the author relating to the viral pneumonia pandemic of 2020 (COVID-19) include attribute, calamari, cetacean, confinement, and dine in.

You can review these illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Pandemic Poetry' on the full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense".

SEP 27, wordplay map: American Scramble-towns, 9

(Same old introductory message ...)

Who would ever have guessed? It turns out that an unparalleled word in generating anagrams (letter scrambles) is P-A-L-I-N-D-R-O-M-E-S. We have taken advantage of that property to create this unique series of wordplay maps of imaginary American (and Canadian) locales, each one completed by its official two-letter state (or provincial) abbreviation. 

 LINKS to other nonsense in this series: 

Forward to the first Canadian map.

Forward to the next American map (10).

Back up to the first American map.

SEP 26, photo-collage, Toront-oases: Humber Bay

You can review the entire series of illustrated poems about  the good old days in Ontario by checking the post 'Ontario Nostalgia' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE. 

Line-dance classes are now proceeding at this venue.

You might also like to view a related poem in the collection "Toront-oases: verse". 

SEP 25, submitted palindromes: RANDOM PILES 2

 

You have reached the "Submitted Palindromes" thread on the blog "Daily Edifying Nonsense", a light literary entity that emanates through the blogosphere daily (almost), i.e. 30 times per month.

  On the 25th of each month you will find a slide-filling group of palindromic phrases submitted to the editors by a panel of 7 palindromists. These folks have all been working on this project since January 2020. The personal profiles for each of these contributors are displayed in panels published here at the start of things, and then, we have asked them to provide (palindromically, of course) their views on one of the iconic items in the classic literature, starting with "A man, a plan, a canal -- Panama", continuing with other well-known phrases, such as "Dennis sinned". Otherwise, their contribution will be grouped in monthly random piles (a phrase that you might recognize as an anagram of the word p-a-l-i-n-d-r-o-m-e-s).

You can access this delightful entertainment right here by entering submitted palindromes in one of the two search bars at the top of this post and scrolling downwards through the wordplay posts that you will discover, OR, just follow the links indicated above. 

Devotees of palindromic wordplay can further explore limericks and other short verses about the classic palindromes (and quite a few recent concoctions) that are randomly scattered on this blog after September 2000, or collected into grouped postings on our more encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense" -- start HERE.

SEP 24, trees: sago palms

You can review these illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Uprooted Verse: 'Poems about Trees' on the full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". 

SEP 23, poets' corner: limerick addiction

Authors' Note: The mental disorder in which sufferers (including the author) feel endlessly compelled to write limericks might be dubbed limerrhea, hyperlimerosis, or more simply, limerick addiction. 

    Volunteer writers and editors toil away for OEDILF, the online humour dictionary, but the project is not likely to be finished until 2070. 

You can find lots of other verses on this blog under the listing "Poets' Corner".  Click HERE.

 

SEP 22, photo-collages, Toront-oases: Riverdale Farm, 1 and 2

Readers may be interested to proceed to view the live-action series, "Riverdale Farms #3: Goats at Play".

 If you are interested in wending your way through an encyclopedic collection of blogposts stuffed with photo-collages on Toronto ravines and other sites, click HERE.

SEP 21, Toront-oases: Riverdale Farm (poem)

If you are interested in wending your way through an encyclopedic collection of four blogposts stuffed with photo-collages on Toronto ravines, click HERE.

 

SEP 20, singable satire: Tom Lehrer sings "RHYMING BINOMIALS, A to L"

 PARODY SONG-LYRICS

  A rhyming binomial

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

PARODY COMPOSED: Dr. G.H. and Giorgio Coniglio,  2015. This song is the fourth 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. Also, our prior exploration of this theme resulted in a lexicon of rhyming binomials on this site as displayed here.

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" with chord-charts and helpful performing suggestions. Click HERE to proceed to this site. 

Most binomial pairs are not rhyming

The inherent music of language is an important element in the toolkit of parodists. When all of this began, I used Tom Lehrer’s format to sing a nonsense-song about irreversible binomials. The current offering highlights pairs in which the 2 elements rhyme, e.g. ‘make or break'. Specific cases may border on cliché, but delight us with their musical quality. Sneak a peek!

There’s age and stage, bug in a rug, (out and) about, and ants in pants

And agony and ecstasy, and amble ramble, ain’ts and shan’ts

There’s bows and arrows, brake and take, more bounce to ounce, and box and cox

Bird is the word, feathered not furred, and claws and paws, cock of the walk.

There’s chips and dip, and chalk and talk, and cruising for a brui-uising

Candy is dandy, liquor’s quicker – it’s your pick and choo-oosing.

And crime and grime, and croon a tune, crumpled and rumpled, (blushing groom)

Cat in the Hat, Dancer and Prancer, dream and scheme, and doom and gloom.

Dennis the Menace, dives and drive-ins, fair and square, and eyes on prize

Delicious and nutritious, flotsam jetsam, also Five Alive.

There’s gym and swim, and gap and lap, and grip or slip, Amazing Grace

And shades of Hades!  hurry  scurry, huff and puff, and haste makes waste.

The hostess with the mostest, hire and fire, and high and dry, haircare

Highway and byway, health- and wealthy, height and weight, and here and there.

By hook or crook, and grope and hope, and hulk and skulk, and hitch and snatch

Hasten and chasten, hustle bustle, hither thither, itch and scratch.

There’s kneel and squeal, and kitty litter, luck and pluck, and keen and mean

Loonie and toonie, life of strife, lock stock, muss fuss, and lean cuisine.  

The latest and the greatest, loot and booty, Mod Squad, lie and pry

Lotions and potions, ma-and-pa, musty and dusty, my and thy.

Burns’ ‘Louse’ and ‘Mouse’*, and Looney-Tunes, and old cartoons with Mick and Minn

Or Huey Dewey Louie, while the cat is OUT and mice are IN.  

There’s likely umpteen others, but so far I can’t imagine them

They’d spread across the alphabet from a-ardvark to zymogen.

*   Among Robert Burns many famous poems, "To A Louse" and "To A Mouse" figure prominently. 

Funny (rhyming) Canadian coins
Loonie and Toonie

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"

SEP 19, wordplay maps: r-i-c anagrams #7-#9

 

You can view the entire collection of 18 wordplay maps of 'R-E-P-U-B-L-I-C-A-N-S in Canada' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense" by clicking HERE.

SEP 18, savoir-faire: corniches (Nice)

  You can review verses on this topic in a wider context on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Check the post 'Vers Francais: Savoir-Faire' by clicking HERE. 

SEP 17, palinku (poetic novelty): baked goods

 

   In this post, we continue with a novel form of poetic wordplay. Inspired by Japanese haiku poetry, this new form is used for a terse verse with a total of 17 syllables displayed on three lines. Unlike its classic Japanese analogue, this concoction does not mandate the precise distribution of the syllables among the three lines, but does stipulate that each word in the poem be included in a palindromic phrase or sentence in English (i.e. one that can be read either forwards or backwards). 

  To help the reader discern the origin of the lyrics, each palindrome (generally occupying one of the three lines of the poem) has been color-coded. 

 You can view all our "palinku" verses if you proceed with a single click to our more encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE. (Or if you prefer, you can stay on this particular blogsite and look for the offerings for the 17th day of each month -- there are now more than 60 of these.)

SEP 16, waterfowl: gallinules

 You can review over 30 of our illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Immersible Verse: Limericks about Waterfowl' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. 

SEP 15, reptiles: crocodilian

Authors' Note: Crocodilian refers to the group of water-dwelling predatory reptiles that include the alligator, crocodile, caiman and gavial.

  You can review photos and illustrated herpetologic verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Verses about Reptiles' (don't worry! no snakes)' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'.

cellphone photo by G.C. at CawCaw SC:
that's about as close as he wanted to get

SEP 14, photo-collages, Toront-oases: Brickworks, #1-#3

a midland painted turtle

The photographic display continues HERE.

SEP 13, wordplay map: new world palindromes (#32)

 

You can view the entire collection of these 50 wordplay maps, by accessing the collection 'Tourists Palindromic Guides: The Americas'. Start by clicking HERE! 

SEP 12, political palindromes, NNN, GLITCH

Glitch Notice: The first palindrome should read: Biden One dib. 

From this point, you can proceed either forwards or backwards.

For FORWARD, proceed to the next set of 'POLITICAL PALINDROMES' on October 6.
For BACKWARD, return to the previous set on August 5.

OR, return to the ORIGINAL POST on this topic. 

SEP 11, Toronto ravines: Rosedale Valley

 

If you are interested in wending your way through an encyclopedic collection of four blogposts stuffed with photo-collages on Toronto ravines, click HERE.

SEP 10, a brief saga (Italian loanwords): Gino's food intolerance

You can review our entire poetic outpouring about Italian loanwords by proceeding to a post on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'; click HERE.

For the purpose of this blog, a 'brief saga' is defined as a poem, usually narrative, but occasionally expository, that tell its story in at least 15 lines. Most commonly, the format involves three stanzas in limerick form. Your blogging team has been presenting these concoctions at the rate of one per month, mixed in with the shorter poems, wordplay and other stuff that we offer. 

   

To access the next 'brief saga' on this blog (October 2020), proceed to 'Cyclades'.

To access the most recent previous 'brief saga' (August 2020), back up to 'the Aegean cat'.  

 To access all of our 'brief sagas' by the year of their creation, click on your selection below.

2020
2021
2022
2023.

SEP 9, sleek Greek prefixes: AUTO-

Authors' Note:

auto is a prefix derived from Greek and Latin meaning 'self' or 'same'.

A motto frequently represents a high standard of achievement claimed or aspired to by the person or institution.

We have a verse about 'Autophagia' that you might find intriguing (Click HERE.)

And, HERE's another that you'll probably find less intriguing, even gruesome.

Clicking HERE will introduce you to our entire collection of verses about the Greek prefixes!