May 20, 2023

MAY 20 (2023), singable satire: Steve Goodman sings "The Tourguide Known as VIRGIL" (Inferno, Canto 1b)


PARODY-LYRICS

ORIGINAL SONG: "The City of New Orleans" Steve Goodman, 1970, as performed by Arlo Guthrie (also covered by Woody Nelson, many others)
ORIGINAL POEM: "Inferno" by Dante Alighieri
PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, April 2015.
PARODY-SONGLINK: To find ukulele and guitar chord-charts to help you accompany "The Tour-guide Known As Virgil" on your favorite instrument, click HERE.



Virgil and Dante
"The Onlookers"
A-W Bouguereau


"The Thinker" from "The Gates of Hell"
 by Rodin may represent Dante 











THE TOUR GUIDE KNOWN AS 'VIRGIL'


(to the tune of "City of New Orleans", Guthrie version)



Intro:
Morning meet-up, tour to Paradiso
Guide is that poet, Limbo-dwelling Virge 
Credit-card prepaid by Beatrice-oh! 
Helluva trip from everything I’d heard.

Dante:
Poi che ho posato il corpo lasso 
Ripresi via per la piaggia diserta,
 Il piè fermo sempre era’l più basso
Ed ecco quasi al cominciar de l’erta.


Resting til my body was less weary
Started to climb, with Monday-morning blahs.
Suddenly where the path grew steep and dreary -
Three apparitions that could really make you pause. 

Mi porse tanto di gravezza, perdei speranza de l’altezza 
Mi ripignei dove’l sol tace – la cagione? 
Dinanzi al volto, impedivan mi’ cammino
Una lonza, una lupa, e un leone.

Lost hope of gaining the crest, each effort hiked my level of stress,
So I rolled back into the shadows, gave up tryin’
Cause right before my face, with no chance to leave that place,
Stood a leopard, a she-wolf and a hungry lion. 



Temp’era dal principio del mattino
E’l sol montava ‘n su con queste stelle
Ch’eran con lui quando l’amor divino
Mosse di prima queste cose belle.


Good morning fiendish guard-dogs! How are you? 

The sun is rising on this naïve son, 

Divine love may have set all this in motion

But I’d drive five hundred miles for a trusty gun.



Quando vidi uno in silenzio nel diserto

“Miserere di me” gridai a lui
“Qual che tu sii, ad ombra od omo certo!”
Rispuosemi “Poeta, poeta già fui”

A form appeared, from silence nearly faded 
I cried to him, “Have pity on poor old me,
Whether you’re a real guy or one shaded.” 
He said, “Way back when, I used to write poetry.”


Or sei tu quel Virgilio, nato a Roma sub Iulio,
Quella fonte che parla si largo fiume?
Tu se’l mio autore, vagliami’l grande amore;
De li altri poeti onore e lume.

I asked - Hey, you Roman geezer from the time of Julie Caesar,
Are you the font whose speech creates a river?
We think your rhythm’s really neat, we’re rockin’ to your gentle beat
Your Virgil-rap sets poets’ hearts a-quiver. 

Voglio campar d’esto loco selvaggio
Vedi la bestia per cu’io mi volsi
Aiutami da lei, famoso saggio,
Ch’ella me fa tremar le vene e i polsi.

Can’t wait to wave this crazy wood ‘Good riddance’.
You saw that beast who made me turn and veer,
Please help me famous wise-man with your kindness,
Don’t believe my T-shirt ‘tho it boasts ‘No Fear’

Virgil:
Quest’invidiosa bestia dell’inferno
Non lascia passar per la sua via
Per lo tuo me’ penso e discerno
Che tu mi segui e io saro tua guida.

This hellish beast, you see is quite tenacious
Won’t let anyone get more than halfway home
If you hope to get to Memphis or to Heaven
I’ll guide you there, no charges while you roam. 


Udrai spiriti dolenti e color che son contenti
Perche speran a le beati genti venire.
Se vorrai salire in questa regna, un’anima piu di me degna 
Con lei ti lascerò nel mio partire.

You’ll hear Inferno’s spirits vent, and later those who seem content
While waiting out their stints in Purgatory,
When the Big Guy’s Realm is nearing, this tour-guide is disappearing,
For me no sweet refrain – that’s another story. 

Dante: 
Che tu mi meni là dov’or dicesti
Si ch’io veggia la porta di san Pietro
E color cui tu fai cotanto mesti.
Allor si mosse, e io li tenni dietro.

Hey poet, I will follow where you lead me; 
It’s a good five hundred clicks to Peter’s gate;
To see my Bea, I’ll follow in behind thee.
It’s a heck of a trek, but it should be a heavenly date.  

May 19, 2023

MAY 19, birdlore: bird droppings




 

You can view an encyclopedic collection of illustrated poems on this topic by proceeding to the post "Poems about BIRDLORE" on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE


May 18, 2023

MAY 18, mammalian wildlife: raccoons in the swamp

 a) reprise from 2020 

MAY 18, mammalian wildlife: raccoons in the swamp







 You can review the whole collection of illustrated verses about mammals (both domestic and exotic) by checking out the more extensive post on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE !


b) Giorgio's Lexicon of Binomials





May 17, 2023

MAY 17, defining opinion: honey

 




Authors' Note:    The authors propose the above verse to define the neologism appiculture.

Our blogpost "Defining Opinion" on the topic-based blog "Edifying Nonsense" shows a selection of similar verses submitted to OEDILF (the online Omnificent English Dictionary iLimerick Form). You can see all of these on one visit by clicking HERE.

May 16, 2023

MAR 16, garden intruders: stinkhorn fungus

a) reprise from March 2020 

MAY 16, garden intruders: stinkhorn fungus




  

Authors' NoteClathrus ruber is a startlingly shaped species of saprophytic fungus that resembles an orange plastic toy ball. Its interior surfaces are coated with a foul-smelling slime that attracts flies, which then disperse the fungal spores. The characteristic fetid odor of the fungus resembles that of rotting meat. Other common names include latticed stinkhornred cage (fungus), and basket stinkhorn. 


Readers, you are fortunate to have all our poetic comments on creatures (animal and vegetable), devoted to subverting your gardening plans. To view this collection our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense", click HERE!


You can also review illustrated verses about orderly garden inhabitants by proceeding to 'Poetry Praising the Charleston Garden' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE!


b) Giorgio's Lexicon of Binomials


May 15, 2023

MAY 15, "pictures at a renovation": fifth week

PREVIOUS VIEWS:

You can follow the whole arduous undertaking by scrolling back through our earlier posts (you can also click these dates for direct transport back to see the previous views). The earlier posts show the demolition phase, and that may be of particular interest for many viewers.
May 7: reconstruction
May 3reconstruction
April 26reconstruction
April 18reconstruction
April 16: demolition phase
April 10: demolition phase
April 6: demolition phase
April 4: demolition phase
March 31: demolition phase
And, check out the project-planning stage, elucidated in photos and verse, on March 19, and March 27.



vestibule (office on L, coat closet on R)


office




breakfast nook



den


LR



studio






May 14, 2023

MAY 14, holidays and celebrations: Mother's' Day

  A HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all: 



And some personal reminiscences ...


Lil, 1951, thanks to Sarah !


at G's Bar Mitzvah, 1958














with N. and C., 1976


















with L.M.; such a good friend

70th anniversary



Click HERE for more pics.


LIL's SELECTION of WONDERFUL SONGS




When You're Smiling

PlayingNotes:  F#7 = 3423;  Bm7 = 2222;  Bm6 = 1222;  D7+5 = 3223;  AmM7 = 1000

G            D7              G             D7            G               D7           G      F#7 

 I saw a blind man, he was a kind man, helping a fel-low a-long 
 Bm                  F#7  Bm7               Bm6                D                D#dim            Em7    A7   
One could not see, one could not walk, but they both were humming this song 

CHORUS: 

D7                        G                           GM7             E7                                    Am 
When you’re smiling, when you’re smiling, the whole world smiles with you. 
                        Am  AmM7                      Am7          D7                    D7+5    G 
When you’re laughing,  when you’re laughing,  the sun comes shining through. 
                                G7           C 
But when you’re crying, you bring on the rain, 
                       A7              D7 
So stop your sighing, be happy again. 
D7+5      G                                             E7 
Keep on smiling, ‘cause when you’re smiling 
        Am7              D7                 G       D7 
The whole world smiles with you!          (Coda-“The whole world smiles” X3)

 G               D7       G             D7     G                 D7             G    F#7 
 I used to worry, I used to hurry each time it started to rain 
Bm             F#7  Bm7                          Bm6                   D       D#dim               Em7   A7       
Now I see light, learned wrong from right and you’ll never hear me com – plain 

CHORUS (When you’re smiling….)


Somewhere Over the Rainbow 

C#m = 4446;  C#m6 = 3444;  Bm7 = 2222;  AM7 = 1100;  Bbdim = 0101;
D6 = 2222;  Dm6 = 1222;  F#7 = 3424;  E7sus = 1203

A        F#m    C#m      C#m6     D   Bm7 AM7  Bbdim
Somewhere over the rainbow, way up  high
D6     Dm6 AM7            F#7           Bm7      E7   AM7  E7
There's  a  land that I heard of, once in a lullabye.
A        F#m     C#m      C#m6      D      Bm7  AM7  Bbdim
Somewhere, over the rainbow, skies are blue

D6   Dm6 AM7                   F#7        Bm7              E7          AM7  E7sus
And the  dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.

          
AM7                  F#m               Bm7                          E7                     Bm7        E7
Someday I'll wish upon a star and wake up where the clouds are far behind me.
             AM7                         F#m                  G#7   
Where troubles melt like lemon drops, away above the chimney tops,
             C#m   C#m7  Bm7 E7+5
That 's where  you'll  find   me.

A         F#m    C#m     C#m6     D    Bm7  AM7  Bbdim
Somewhere over the rainbow blue birds fly,
D6    Dm6 AM7        F#7         Bm7               E7          AM7  E7sus
Birds fly  over the rainbow, why then oh why can't I 
     A                  F#m                   Bm7                   E7(sus)               A
If happy little bluebirds fly above the rainbow, why oh why can't I?


May 13, 2023

MAY 13, (re)duplication: dilly-dally



Authors' Note: The essential appended line (L6) of this verse is acknowledged by the author to have a puzzling rhyming scheme, although the latter is partly offset by the action taking place near the palpitatingly iconic Palindrome Valley. Another redeeming feature is that, unlike the other half-dozen or so other OEDILFian poems on this topic, it is gratifyingly concordant with the normal conversational stressing of DIL-ly-dal-ly on its first syllable.

Another view of wordplay competitions in Palindrome Valley can be found HERE.

HERE is an example that we have published, involving the synonymous expression shilly-shally. 


Readers willing to go down an internet rabbit-hole HERE can easily get to a collection of more than a dozen other short verses in which we have dealt with specific reduplications, as well as three fairly lengthy patter-songs about this fascinating linguistic phenomenon. 


May 12, 2023

MAY 12, patients and their maladies: colonic polyps

 


Authors' Note: The first step is to find a colonoscopist, usually done by enlisting your primary physician to arrange a referral.

You can find a poem about colonoscopists by your favorite blog-authors by clicking HERE.

You can view collections of verses on this topic by proceeding to "Nurse-Verse: PATIENTS and their MALADIES" on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE!  

May 11, 2023

MAY 11, (excursions): meanwhile, back at Toronto's Riverdale Farm ...

 











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