JAN 30, singable satire: James Taylor sings "NESSUN DORMA", a parasit-ody

PARODY SONG-LYRICS,
inspired by the author attending a James Taylor concert at the North Charleston Coliseum, May 15, 2018.

MUSICAL UNDERPINNINGS:
Original Song#1(music): "Mexico", James Taylor 1975.

Original Song#2 (lyrics): "Nessun Dorma", aria from the 3rd act of "Turandot" composed by Giacomo Puccini, first performed after his death in 1926. Translation of the libretto can be found on the Wikipedia link.

PARODY COMPOSED: Dr. G.H. and Giorgio Coniglio, 2015, updated 2018.

PARODY-SONGLINK: To access ukulele chord-charts to help you accompany "Nessun Dorma" on your favorite instrument, click HERE.

Singing along with the famous arias brings the crowd out to the opera. You don’t have to know much Italian to understand the libretto here however; ‘ciao’, pronounced like ‘chow’, means ‘so long’. As the mythical princess-character was reinvented by a French author, her name is usually pronounced French-style with the final ‘t’ silent. 

  

JAMES TAYLOR SINGS ‘NESSUN DORMA'

(to the tune of "Mexico")

Way up here, opera season’s in gear

Tickets craved for ‘Nessun Dorma’ this year

To download – credit-card and name – Baby James.

Wow, “Turandot”!

Sounds so moving, I must see that show,

Or “TuranDOTT” – some folks thought Giacomo*

Said that before he said ‘ciao’.

French and German version of a Persian tale

‘Bout a Princess of China who detested all males.

Empathize with hero who’s beheaded if fails.

Wow, TuranDOTT!

Rang the gong, and her three riddles I got.

Kept my head but the next risk is the same,

I’ll die if she finds out my name.

'Nessun dorma' means that no one should sleep,

Not even the Princess who’s a sadistic creep.

Secret hid within me; if divulged, price is steep.

Wow! Turandot!

Might lose my life when the glaring sun shows

Or get a wife; I could still win this game,

If nobody finds out my name.

Vanish, o night! set stars, give me hope.

The folks back home must think I’m smoking some dope.

She’ll get a long kiss, end the silence, name on her lips.

Wow! The princess Turandot - 

Must be quite a beauty, but I don’t really know.

And oh-oh-oh-oh! Turandot

To close I’ll sing, ‘Vincerò’.  ** (riff on last line of aria)

Wow! “Turandot”!

A Puccini opera that I don’t really know

Oh, “Turandot”

I guess I’ll have to go now.

Talking ‘bout “Turandot”    

Big ol’ op’ra-house playin’ “Turandot”...  fade

* Giacomo Puccini, composer, died in 1924 before he had quite completed the opera “Turandot”. The aria “Nessun Dorma” in the third act is the best-known piece of music in this work.

** Vincerò (Italian) I will win; repeated x 3 as last words of the famous aria.

 

JAN 29, poetic non-sequitur: professor and madman

 

Our collection of 'Non-Sequiturs' on our parent blog "Edifying Nonsense", contains an admittedly bizarre assortment of nonsensical odds-and-ends, that don't quite fit into other topic-based offerings. But should you want to review the entire collection, click HERE.

 

JAN 28, lexicon of word-pairs: alliterative binomials H to K

 

Giorgio's Lexicon of Binomials (alliterative):

Quite a few alliterative binomials have been highlighted in short verses by the authors:   

And, for those with a musical bent, we have a song-cycle of 9 songs displaying the spectrum of these binomial expressions. They have lyrics stuffed with word-pairs, arranged to familiar tunes. You can readily access this singable treasure trove of binomial expressions of various types by clicking on the link for the first song, "WORD PAIRS", HERE. 

You can proceed to the next blogpost in the lexicon series (alliteratives L to M)

JAN 27, wordplay: Scramble-towns eastern Canada,15

Who would ever have guessed? It turns out that an unparalleled word in generating anagrams, i.e. 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 next Canadian map (16), eh?

Back up to the first Canadian map.

Back up to the first American map.

JAN 26, poems about parasites: the parasitologist (host)

Authors' Note: The term host has become a classic descriptor used in infectious diseases, and particularly in parasitology, although such usage may seem distasteful to many. Symbiosis describes a relationship in which the parasitized host and the invading organisms share a mutually beneficial association.

You can review Giorgio's other verses about parasites, both external (ecto-) and internal (endo-) on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE.

JAN 25, submitted palindromes: RANDOM PILES 13

 

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.

JAN 24, bi-lyrical limerick: 'aphonic'

 

Be sure to check out the whole collection of 'bi-lyrical limericks' by proceeding to "Edifying Nonsense." CLICK HERE !  

JAN 23, basic medical science: homonymous hemianop(s)ia

  

Authors' Note: Lesions in the occipital, or posterior portion of the brain's cerebral hemispheres are notorious for producing visual disruption. Each side of this sensitive area of brain tissue is targeted at integrating one half of the patient's visual field (to left or right). So for example, a tumour in the right side of the occipital lobe interrupts the signals arriving from the nerve fibres in the right side of the retina in both eyes; the patient's ability to see objects in the well-defined semi-circular zone to his left is eliminated in a fashion that is homonomous or congruent - both eyes are affected similarly. The resulting pattern of contralateral loss of visual sensation (homonomous hemianopsia) may be mapped by a test known as perimetry (visual-field analysis).

JAN 22, poets' corner: noun-verb contractions

Authors' Note: In the above limerick verse, seven noun-verb contractions, each characteristically joining its two elements (a pronoun or noun, and a verb) with an apostrophe, are italicized in blue. But, don't be misled: other types of contractions also use the apostrophe, and these are flagged in red font. Aren't is of course a negative contraction, and one's is a possessive form. 

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

JAN 21, creative anachronism: the dawning of history

Along the same lines, readers are invited to review our small but growing collection of "creative anachronisms" on our blog "Edifying Nonsense" by clicking HERE.