FEB 10 (2022), singable satire: The Animals sing Lewis Carroll's "JABBERWOCKY"

  

 "Dr. JJ" enjoyed playing the electric guitar among other instruments. He frequently enlivened major family events by performing parody songs written for the occasion, using base songs from the golden oldies period. His favorite song vehicle was undoubtedly the folk-rock classic "The House of the Rising Sun" (1964) as recorded by the British band The Animals. (A YouTube version is found HERE.)  

"Jabberwock", Giorgio's copy,
 drawing by John Tenniel,
illustrator of Carroll's books

  The authors of this daily blog, Dr. G.H. and his registered pseudonym Giorgio, have been fans for a long time of "Jabberwocky", the iconic nonsense-poem revealed and discussed in Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass" (1871). A sneak preview; later this month, you will be able to find the poem "MERGERWOCKY", a parody on Jabberwocky that we later realized could similarly be sung to the tune of "The House of the Rising Sun". Your current authors do acknowledge that singing a version of "Jabberwocky" itself had been otherwise achieved by the British folk-rock singer-composer Donovan, a pastiche that is recorded in his 1971 album of childrens' songs "HMS Donovan". (Click HERE for the YouTube version). 

PARODY-SONGLINK: To find ukulele and guitar chord-charts to help you accompany "Jabberwocky (the Animals' version)", on your favorite instrument, click HERE.

To review the rest of the lyrics and chord-charts, follow this link to our song-blog "Silly Songs and Satire" by clicking HERE.

For historic interest, here is a slide used as part of an open-mike at a ukulele club when the concept of this pastiche was first entertained.  

Incidental Photo:

Dr. JJ, Bermuda, 1965

FEB 9, exotic destination: Hawaii vs. Haida Gwaii

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

Other verses about 'Exotic Travel Destinations' can be found on our blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE.

Incidental Photo:

JJ, age 14, dancing with his mother

FEB 9, 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

FEB 7, pathos and poetry (gun control verse): concealed carry

verse in honour of 'Dr. JJ', who believed, as your editors do, that guns in most settings are an insanity, and whose love of life included comedy and the music of poetry ...

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

Incidental Photo:

Dr JJ, visiting Charleston SC, late 70s

FEB 6: palinku (poetic novelty): sports

This blog-post is in honour of 'Dr. JJ', whose love of life included satire, the music of poetry, and of course, both participatory and spectator sports ...

  In this post, we will 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.

   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'); click HERE to start. 

 

(Ed. note) Verses of this type have continued to accumulate. You can view them all at one swoop if you proceed with a single click to our more encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE.

Incidental Photo:

on Florida beach, undated

FEB 5, inspired by Ogden Nash: a brief saga -- 'a gnat and a nit'

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

   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, constituting a single submission to the online humor site 'Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form'. On the OEDILF site, rigorous standards for content and format proceed in a collaborative editing process that may take several weeks to over a year. 

  Generally, OEDILF has not been enormously welcoming of multi-verse submissions, but Giorgio Coniglio has persisted, and the OEDILF number for each accepted multiverse poem is shown here on the slide with its first verse. 

The gnu photo illustrating this verse was kindly provided to the editors by Barry Weinstock. But you already knew that, if you had read the prior blogpost about 'gnu dung'. 

 

A version of this poem by Giorgio can also be found on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". There you can find appended some examples of the wonderful limericks that were indisputably written by Ogden Nash. CLICK to proceed to that version if you are interested.

To access the next brief saga in this series, proceed to 'bequest'

To access the most recent previous 'brief saga', back up to 'drug development'.

Incidental Photo:

FEB 5, reptiles: brown (Bahaman) anoles

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

You can review these illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Herpetologic Verse: Limericks about Reptiles' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'.

Further reading? See this interesting article: 

Y. Stuart et al., “Rapid evolution of a native species following invasion by a congener,” Science, doi: 10.1126/science.1257008, 2014.

Incidental Photo:

two hippy-haired bros, Dec 1976

FEB 3, bi-lyrical limerick: 'dispoarity' (daughter and son)

Happy Upcoming Birthday to JMH!!!

Be sure to check out the whole collection of 'bi-lyrical limericks' by proceeding to "Edifying Nonsense." CLICK HERE ! (Or, if you prefer, you could look over this stuff on Giorgio's Facebook photo-albums.) 

links for any date: scroll over to the calendar-based listings of 'Past Posts' in the righthand column on this page, choose your month of interest, and then select (by clicking) the post of your choice.

to continue daily titillations: BE SURE TO BOOKMARK THIS SITE!
 

FEB 2, American satire: corruption

Authors' Note: 

frumpery: dowdy or old-fashioned appearance or behaviour

trumpery: attractive articles of little value or worth

This verse was written in early January, 2021, after revelation of a recorded telephone conversation involving the chief election official of the American state of Georgia, as well as lawyers on both sides, in which suggestions were made to illegally revise the previously reported state's results in the recent presidential election of November 2020. The president, in the waning few weeks of his term, had seemed consumed by concern about poorly specified fraud that might have contributed to his loss of Electoral College votes in closely contested states.

   

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! 

FEB 1, variant Nantucket limerick: sugar-daddy from Nanking

You can review our entire collection of spoof verses based on the iconic Nantucket limericks on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense' by clicking HERE.

JAN 31, poet's corner: argumentively (the Cans and the Can'ts)

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

JAN 30, planet-saving verse: beach foam

 

You can help save the planet by viewing all our verses in this series at "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE!

JAN 29, hellenophilia: Santorini wines

 Other verses discussing our appreciation of Greece and things Greek can be found on our blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE.

links for any date: scroll over to the calendar-based listings of 'Past Posts' in the righthand column on this page, choose your month of interest, and then select (by clicking) the post of your choice.

JAN 28, pathos and poetry (gun control verse): anger and guns

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

JAN 27, reprehensible modern history: 'clannishness' negated

 View the entire collection of poetic assertions on this topic (currently small, but growing) at our more encyclopedic blog 'Edifying Nonsense', by clicking HERE.

JAN 26, reptiles: amphisbaenians

Authors' Note: 

clade: taxonomic term, equivalent to ‘suborder’

   The amphisbaenians are a group of reptiles named for the Greek mythological figure Amphisbaena, a two-headed serpent. Superficially resembling earthworms, but with similar markings about their tails and their small heads, they spend most of their time in a subterranean environment. Although they are  widely found in South America, the Caribbean region and Africa, their current distribution in North America and in Europe is more limited, involving only Florida and Iberia respectively.

    

   The motivation for the alleged fevered search by Slovenian crowds to find these creatures is unclear.

   The suffix -paenia, or -penia, (PEE-nyuh), not infrequently used in medical terms, indicates a lack or deficiency.

You can review these illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Verses about Reptiles' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'.

JAN 25, funny bones: hook of the hamate

Authors' Note: The hamate bone, one of eight small bones of the human wrist, has a prominent hook, or hamulus, that provides some protection to the ulnar nerve as it proceeds down the arm to supply the fourth and fifth fingers. A 'hairline fracture' of this bony process (outcropping), not an uncommon injury in golfers, baseball players and hockey slap-shooters, may result in continuing pain. Frequently, the injury is not detected on initial x-rays, but may show up on computed tomography (CT), a bone scan, or on follow-up wrist X-rays.

 You can view verses on this topic in a wider context by proceeding to the post 'Breaking News: FUNNY BONES' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE!

links for any date: scroll over to the calendar-based listings of 'Past Posts' in the righthand column on this page, choose your month of interest, and then select (by clicking) the post of your choice.

JAN 24, palinku (poetic novelty): puzzling and magic palindromes

   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. The current post should be regarded as experimental; readers are referred to other posts in this collection for a review of the standard format.

   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. 

palinku

palinku

The enhanced second slide shows the poetic content in the form of only two palindromic phrases -- these are both 'magical palindromes'. 

Ed. note:) Verses of this type have otherwise continued to accumulate. You can view them all at one swoop if you proceed with a single click to our more encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE

links for any date: scroll over to the calendar-based listings of 'Past Posts' in the righthand column on this page, choose your month of interest, and then select (by clicking) the post of your choice.

JAN 23, wordplay maps: Scramble-towns, 'postal supplements'

Everyone around the planet joins in sending Dr. JJ wishes for a speedy recovery!

You can get into the sequence of earlier wordplay posts on this topic by following these links  .... 

LINKS to other nonsense in this series: 

Back to the previous Canadian map, eh?

Default to U.S.A. map #21 (final American version)

links for any date: scroll over to the calendar-based listings of 'Past Posts' in the righthand column on this page, choose your year and then  your month of interest, and then select (by clicking) the blogpost of your choice.

JAN 22, neologism (classic): snafus at Fulton's 'Gnu-Bar'

 

If you liked this submission, you might want to refer to our entire collection of verses about human and animal denizens of bars, pubs and other watering-holes. Click HERE.

JAN 21, limerick variations: singable limericks

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                             Thanks to MMH for providing the photo, taken in Honolulu.

You can review our entire collection of poems on the topic of "Limerick Variations" as compiled on our more encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense"; click HERE.