APR 30, singable satire: "FLIGHT of the LOONIE"

 PARODY-LYRICS

ORIGINAL SONG: "O Canada", R.S. Weir 1908.

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, January, 2015.

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 for both the parody and original song, as well as helpful performing suggestions. 

 To find ukulele and guitar chord-charts to help you accompany "FLIGHT OF THE LOONIE" on your favorite instrument, click HERE.

January 16, 2015. The Wall Street Journal reviewed recent market and financial news from Canada under the title, “The Maple Leaf Faces a Harsh Fall”.

FLIGHT OF THE LOONIE

(to the tune of "O Canada")


O Canada! 
Thy loonie lately tanked,
Quarterly gains scaled downward for thy banks.
With growing doubt, we just point out
The world-wide glut of oil; 
Arctic tundra
And shale-sands now stand on thawed less-frozen soil.
Target aimed wide, Burger King’s keen;
God! you can keep your doughnuts and poutine.
God! you can keep your doughnuts and poutine.

O Canada!
We’d best get with the times.

 We still sing ‘thee’ in all our anthem’s rhymes. 
Some decades late, we’ll say 'Inuit'
Replacing 'Eskimo'. 
Automotive Sector
Now is found in northern Mexico.
Last century ‘belonged to us’ – don’t mock!
Bring back the Avro Arrow and the auk!
Bring back the Avro Arrow and the auk!


O Canada! 
We’ve problems with high-tech:
Dimmed hopes at RIM, and layoffs in Quebec.
If Bombardier can’t sell Learjets, how
Compete with Groupe Airbus?
Reports of sales of patents 
RIM’s investors dare not trust.
God, please ignore Journal’s prophecy - 
Bless the exchange rate for our currency,
Bless the exchange rate and the TSE*.

* TSE = Toronto Stock Exchange

APR 29, spineless verse (invertebrates): ghost crabs

READING MORE WIDELY:

You can find all our illustrated verses about various 'INVERTEBRATES' , as compiled on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense" HERE. But, in fact, we had hived off verses about INSECTS, and they are gathered in separate blogposts, that you can get into HERE. So, follow these links, and enjoy.

APR 28, American satire: 'twitter-ban'

A plea dated December 2020:

 

We hope that you enjoyed this verse. You can find 30 more on this topic in 5 collections on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE to start!  

APR 27, wordplay map: American Scramble-towns, 16

LINKS to other nonsense in this series: 

Forward to the first Canadian map.

Forward to the next American map (17).

Back up to the first American map.

 

APR 26, classic palindrome: Panama canal ('a man, a plan, a canal -- Panama')

You can review these illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Reversing Verse: Limericks About Classic Palindromes' on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Or, if you are interested in the palindromes themselves, and less so in their poetical ramifications, you might want to check a post HERE.

(Ed note:) This particular verse set off a collection entitled 'Panama Palindrome Parodies'. You can enjoy this assemblage of illustrated verses by clicking HERE.)

APR 25, submitted palindromes: RANDOM PILES 9

  

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.

APR 24, culinary verse: "peel 'em 'n' eat 'em shrimp"

Find the collection of illustrated poems dealing with these issues on the post 'Culinary Verse' on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE!

APR 23, reptiles: green anoles

 

You can find a lot more pictures of these cute little tree-lizards by clicking to links to blogged photo-collages HERE (suburban neighbours), and HERE (coloration), among others.

There are also other illustrated poems HERE (dewlaps), HERE ("going green"), HERE ("skink-busting") and HERE ("patrolling").

Or, you could review photos and illustrated herpetologic verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Verses about Reptiles' (ophidiophobics, don't worry!  no snake-photos)' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'.

APR 22, oncology verse: image-guided biopsy

Authors' Note: The above verse panders to the jargony use of the medical term biopsy, as a verb. The position mentioned in the verse would apply specifically to fine-needle biopsy of the prostate, a procedure discussed in a verse HERE.      

 You can view all such verses in a wider context by proceeding to the collection of "ONCOLOGY VERSES" on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE!

APR 21, pandemic poetry: 'down the street'

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

APR 20, singable satire: Bob Dylan sings "FICKLE TWIST of VERSE", part #1

 PARODY-LYRICS, based on traditional poetry (limericks)

ORIGINAL SONG: "Simple Twist of Fate" Bob Dylan 1975; covers by Diana Krall and Sean Costello are recommended.

ORIGINAL POETRY: At Wikipedia (click HERE), you can find a discussion of limericks dealing with the 'man from Nantucket'.

PARODY COMPOSED: Dr. G.H. and Giorgio Coniglio, June 2016 (and continuing, with subsequent efforts into "Fickle Twist of Verse, part#2") and "Fickle Twist of Verse, part#3".

PARODY-SONGLINK: To access ukulele chord-charts to help you accompany "A FICKLE TWIST OF VERSE" on your favorite instrument, click HERE.

CURRENT CONTENTS: these are limericks presumably chosen by Bob Dylan from the classic repertoire for re-interpretation 
1. "There once was a man from Nantucket" (clean version) -- 3 verses, unattributed.
2. "There once was a man from Nantucket" (dirty version) -- cleaned up by G.C.
3. "A gross, a dozen, and a score" -- Leigh Mercer.

4. "There was an old miser named Clarence" -- Ogden Nash.
Chorus. "People say it makes them sick" -- Giorgio Coniglio.

FICKLE TWIST OF VERSE, part #1

(to the tune of "Simple Twist of Fate")

1. There was a family from  Nantucket:   

Pa kept cash hid in a bucket,

'Til one day his daughter took it,

Daughter name of Nan - 

She ran off with a man. 

Pa felt things might get worse, and 

Watched out for a fickle twist of verse. 

Pa followed couple to Pawtucket -  
Little Nan and cash-filled bucket. 

Just before old Pa retook it,

He said to the man, 

"You’re welcome to keep Nan.” 

He uttered a terse curse, and  

Moved off with a fickle twist of verse. 

The couple trailed him to Manhasset 

Pa held cash there as an asset.

Pail in question? Now man has it;

They stole cash and ran - 

Nan with her new man –  

She stuffed it in her purse, and  

Forgot about a fickle twist of verse.

2. They had a neighbor on Nantucket --

On the island he was stuck; 

Bad reputation, couldn’t chuck it, 

Based on body build –  

Girls found him too ‘strong-willed’, 

Which fate could not reverse, 

Brought on by a simple twist of verse. 

3. A gross, a dozen and a score            
Plus three times the square root of  four;

Divide by seven, no whit more, 

And add eleven fives, 

And hope your brain survives; 

That’s nine squared per Leigh Mercer, 

Cited in this twisted limerick verse. 

4. A mean miser, name of Clarence -  

Simonized both of his parents; 

Found initial cost of care  

Immense, but still declared, 

He’d save on wear- and tearance  

Humor which emerges  

Clearly from O. Nash’s limerick verse.

5. A brave girl of Connecticut               

Flagged the train with her petticut. 

Some folks deplored her lack of 

Ecticut, some more inclined 

To laud her presence of mind -  

Debate in which immersed 

Her critics in this controversial verse. 

6. A young southern belle of Natchez’   

Garments always were in patches. 

She divulged she itched, but scratches 

If the need arose; 

Played havoc with her clothes,  

Which stitching could reverse,  

Apart from this fickke twist of verse.

                                           

   CHORUS:

    People say it makes them sick

    To hear too many limericks;
    I fear it had become my shtick,
    But now I've lost the knack,
    With no good jokes to crack --
    A tendency perverse;
    Blame it on a fickle twist of verse.

Did you enjoy Bob singing the classic limericks? Stay tuned for a follow-up post HERE. 

Pending Topics...

5. "There was a brave girl of Connecticut" - Ogden Nash 
6. "There was a young belle of Old Natchez" - Ogden Nash

7. "A flea and a fly in a flue" - author unknown, often attributed to Ogden Nash.

8. "There was a young lady of station" - Lewis Carroll. 
9. "A wonderful bird is the pelican" - Dixon Merritt. 
10. "There was a young lady named Bright" - Reginald Buller.
11. "There was an old man of Peru" - Edward Lear. 
12. "There was a young fellow of Wheeling" - traditional. 
13. "Hickory dickory dock" - traditional.
 Chorus. "People say it makes them sick" - Giorgio Coniglio.

APR 19, etymology : 'dog'

For fans of etymology, we have two blogposts on our topic-based blog "Edifying Nonsense" that summarize our poems about the origin of some English words. You can start to review some of this intriguing material by clicking HERE, and then following the links!

APR 18, to clot, or not: overview

You can view these verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'To Clot, or Not to Clot' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE!

 

APR 17, palinku (poetic novelty): canals

  In this post, we will introduce a novel form of poetic wordplay. Inspired by the format used in European versions of 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). Also, the authors concede that the constrained nature of this form of writing doe not really allow for the stereotyped thematic nature of the typical haiku verse.

  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. 

  And, just in case you have forgotten what palindromes are about, your blogsite hosts have arranged a serial set of brief lessons on the topic ('Political Palindromes') which you can review by clicking HERE. 

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.)

APR 16, insects: termites

verse in honour of 'Dr. JJ', whose love of life included comedy and the music of poetry ...

You can review Giorgio's other verses about pesty and occasionally beneficial insects, as  collected in 'Buzzwords: Verses about Insects' on the full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE.

Incidental Photo:

Bermuda externship, 1965

APR 15, wordplay map: new world palindromes (#38)

 

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

APR 14, poetic Panama palindrome parody: 'a man, a potato...'

You can review the whole collection of our illustrated verses on this topic  by proceeding to 'Reversing Verse: Panama palindrome parodies' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'.

And, if you are interested in seeing innumerable examples of spoofy palindrome variants on wordplay maps, you could embark on a journey through a collection of  blogposts entitled 'Tourists' Palindromic Guides: The Americas, #1 -#4'. All that's needed is to click on the link.