FEB 20 (2022), lyrics of healthcare: "MERGERWOCKY", putatively by Lewis Carroll

This blogpost honours 'Dr. JJ', whose love of life encompassed humour, musical parody, and even medical politics ...

POETIC PARODY LYRICS:  "Mergerwocky", G. Hurwitz, published in the Western News, 2000,  This poetic parody draws inspiration from Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky.

ORIGINAL POEM: "Jabberwocky", Lewis Carroll, 1871; the poem was included in the children's novel "Through the Looking Glass" in 1871.    

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, 2014. The development of this song was inevitable once we realized that you could sing the poem "Jabberwocky" with minimal alteration, to the tune of "House of the Rising Sun". This important revelation was discussed on this blog in a previous post 10 days ago. Click HERE.. 

PARODY-SONGLINK: To find ukulele an guitar chord-charts to help you accompany "Mergerwocky" on your favorite instrument, click HERE.

POETIC PARODY LYRICS:  "Mergerwocky", G. Hurwitz, published in the Western News, 2000,  This poetic parody draws inspiration from Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky.

ORIGINAL POEM: "Jabberwocky", Lewis Carroll, 1871; the poem was included in the children's novel "Through the Looking Glass" in 1871.    

EDITED: The poem was modified by Giorgio Coniglio to fit the format of this blogsite.

KEYWORDS: pastiche, classicsong, Canada, medical

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
 This tale invokes an earlier period of health-care budget constraints (the mid 1990s). Manoeuvers employed by hospitals included redefinition of jobs, cancellation of services, ward closures, and even ventures into the non-health sector e.g. energy-from-waste technology. In Canada, provincial governments capped physicians’ total billings, delisted previously insured procedures and mandated employee leaves (named after Ontario’s Premier Rae). The largest legacy has been left by forced mergers of paired rival hospitals, who often initially had different skill-sets and academic pretensions. 

MERGERWOCKY

(poetic parody based on Jabberwocky")

Restructure! so the i.v. teams

Did energize recycled waste;

De-focused were the laser beams

And the closed wards outplaced.

"Beware the Mergertalks, my son!

St Joe's won't bite Health Council lunch!

Beware the Job-Job bird, and shun

The clawbacking Budgetcrunch.   

He shook his VPs' golden hands:

Time-line proactively he maps,

Then spreadshot he by the Lap-Top key

And graphed the Full-Times' caps.  

And  as in upsized thought stood he,

The Mergerwock, with errored claims

Came sniffling through the OPD,

De-listing as it came.

Old site! New Site! And deep in debt:

The shuttle-bus reshuffled wards.

"Let's integrate, new Mission state!"

He e-mailed to the Board. 

"And hast thou done the Merger-deal?"

A mix of cheers and groans and snarls;

"Come to Grand Rounds, my deanish boys

At the Princess-Di-and-Charles". 

'Twas Wednesday; at the clubhouse bar

Complained the Rae-dayed Docs anew,

"Our Conjoint Foursomes shoot near par,

But the Brass still play through!"

Incidental Photo:

summer in Bermuda (medical externship), 1965

FEB 19, funny bones: Jones (fifth metatarsal) fracture

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

Authors' Note:  In fact, Syd has the right idea. Current therapy for the Jones fracture (which occurs due to repeated twisting stress in dancers and tennis or basketball players) includes surgical placement of a screw that binds the two fragments, to eliminate the possibility of bone non-union that complicated earlier forms of treatment. In cases where surgery is not selected, treatment usually consists of an external cast and avoidance of weight-bearing for six weeks. 

 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! 

Incidental Photo:

Dr JJ, in tub at reader's left, 1947

FEB 18, poetic non-sequitur: the old prospector

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.

Incidental Photo:

summer in Bermuda (medical externship),
Dr.JJ, 1965

FEB 17, binomial phrases: "flora and fauna"

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

Authors' Note:  Although 'flora' (the collection of visible plants) and 'fauna' (the collection of visible animals) may be of equal importance, and are familiar to most readers, they seem to be listed preferentially in English dictionaries and encyclopedia in the order shown above.

The above verse highlights the importance of the microbiota, a group of creatures that have flown generally under the radar, the limits of human perception having previously shaped understanding of the range of life on our planet. This underappreciated group of organisms including bacteria, fungi, viruses and others, that teem in and on our bodies and those of all other creatures, in the soil, and even in apparently difficult or hostile environments.     

To review our poetic effusion about binomial phrases, proceed to our blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE ! 

There is also an entire collection of lyrics to patter songs, somewhat older material, dedicated to various kinds of binomials, that provides more didactic material and an extensive series of examples, and allows you to sing these expressions for your own enjoyment, or for that of others around you. Click HERE !

Incidental Photo:

FEB 16, verse inspired by 'Dr. JJ'

 

 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.

Incidental Photo:

JJ with family,2020,
 at his summer cottage
(photo courtesy BF)

FEB 15, poets' corner: the poet's family

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

You can find lots of other verses on this blog under the rubric "Poets' Corner".  Most of them are in limerick format, and have been subjected to the editing process at OEDILF, the Online English Dictionary in Limerick Form. To access the others, type the phrase Poets Corner into the searchline on this blogpost (at the top of the righthand navigation column).

 

Incidental Photo:

JJ, with his two younger brothers and Mom

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

FEB 14, wildlife of the Carolina lowcountry: consolation provided by Nature

photo-collage in honour of Dr. JJ, whose loves included the outdoor life ...

brown pelican closeup

egret and shadow

great egret launching

two buddies

waterfowl trio
(great egret stalking slowly,
snowy egret walking,
tricolored (Louisiana) heron fishing)

hooded mergansers:
very cute, but quite skittish little ducks

great blue heron

aerial coyote, on guard at a seafood vendor

green anole, displaying its orangy-pink dewlap

pizza delivery boxes in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina,

touting service to 'the Lowcountry'

FEB 13, commercial product: Smart Garden Gnome

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

Authors' Note:  A garden gnome is an ersatz creature, often assumed to be of below average intelligence and technical sophistication. Here the author reimagines the garden gnome as a technically adept home protection device, suited to the western American setting.

 Our range of domestic and commercial products is somewhat limited, but you might want to review our unusual prospective gifts on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE.

Incidental Photo:

JJ, undated childhood photo

FEB 12, limericks by 'Dr. JJ'

'Dr. JJ', as many readers would have ascertained, did not seem to be a big fan of 'the 45th'.  

Incidental Photo:

FEB 11, at heart: Jack Sprat and his bypass grafts

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

Authors' Note: Statins are drugs in frequent use for patients with arterial disease that reduce the body's manufacture of cholesterol. A small proportion of patients are intolerant of this class of oral medication, most commonly due to muscle cramps.

The most common site of symptomatic arterial blockage is the coronary arteries, which provide nutrient blood flow to the heart muscle. Surgical bypass grafting of multiple sites of obstruction is a common treatment for this disease. Following such surgery, patients such as Jack need to remain attentive to risk factors including dietary fats.

You can view more poems on this topic by proceeding to "Cardiologic Tracings: AT HEART" (parts #1 and #2) on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE!

Incidental Photo:

JJ. at his younger bro's bar mitzvah celebration

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