Tribute to Ogden Nash, including MORE singable poems

POST #29
PARODY-LYRICS by Giorgio Coniglio
+ Classic POEMS SET TO MUSIC

Original poem: "Trees" Joyce Kilmer 1914, lyrics set to music by O. Rosbach 1922;  performed by Mario Lanza, Nelson Eddy, The Platters, Bob McGrath etc. 
Parody of the poem "Trees": "Song of the Open Road" Ogden Nash, etc.
Parody of the song "Trees": many examples are posted at AmIRight.com including "The Spoofs" by Giorgio Coniglio, 2013, as per the post on this blog of December 6.
Poems by Ogden Nash: excerpted from The Best of Ogden Nash, ed. Linell Nash Smith, published by Ivan R. Dee, 2007.

 HARD LINES    poetic parody, previously unpublished, by Giorgio Coniglio    

C                                         Dm                                       

   I feel unhappy when I'm near
Fm                                       C7   C9 

  A poem sappy as these here.
F                     F#dim7           C

  And yet we honor Ogden Nash, 
 C7                                                             F

 Whose spoof portrayed a billboard crash. 
      Bm7         F     C               F     C   D7          

- His verse that stood the test of time
G7                   G7s      Em G   C

  Like Kilmer's used a simple rhyme.

C                             Dm 

  No flashiness or trashiness  

Fm                                   C7 
  Rich, rare, rash ogdenashiness *

F                     F#dim7            C      

  Indeed the march of time refines

C7                                              F

  The wisdom in these classic lines

 Fm                  C        F#dim7 D7

   "The cow is of the bovine ilk

 Bb9               Dm7            G7   C
One end is moo, the other, milk"

* 2 italicized lines are modified from a farewell tribute to Nash by Morris Bishop, 1971.

THE FOSSILS   poem by Ogden Nash  

C                                     Dm    

   At midnight in museum hall
Fm                                          C7   C9 

  The fossils gathered for a ball. 

F                          F#dim7             C

  There were no drums or saxophones 
 C7                                           F

  But just the clatter of their bones

     Bm7    F   C      F      C      D7          

A rolling, rattling carefree circus
G7                    G7s            Em C

Of mammoth polkas and mazurkas.

C                                          Dm 

  Pterodactyls and brontosauruses   

Fm                                         C7 
  Sang ghostly prehistoric choruses.

F                 F#dim7        C      

  Amid the mastodonic wassail

C7                                                 F

  I caught the eye of one small fossil.

 Fm                 C          F#dim7       D7

Cheer up old man he said , and winked - 

 Bb9               Dm7   G7     C   

   It's kind of fun to be extinct.



THE PURIST   poem by Ogden Nash

C                                               Dm    

   I give you now, Professor Twist
Fm                                   C7   C9 

  A conscientious scientist.

F                     F#dim7                      C

  Trustees exclaimed, "He never bungles!"
 C7                                             F

  And sent him off to distant jungles.

         Bm7       F   C    F  C   D7          

Camped on a tropic riverside 
G7                   G7s        Em G     C

  One day he missed his loving bride.

C                                            Dm 

   Camped on a tropic riverside

Fm                                               C7 
  One day he missed his loving bride.

F                                   F#dim7        C      

  She had the guide informed him later

C7                                    F

  Been eaten by an alligator.

 Fm            C              F#dim7     D7

Professor Twist could not but smile

 Bb9                        Dm7          G7  C   

   "You mean," he said, "a crocodile."

THE HIPPOPOTAMUS, and THE RHINO poems by Ogden Nash

C                                       Dm    

   Behold the hippopotamus

Fm                                                C7   C9 

  We laugh at how he looks to us.

F                     F#dim7                  C

  And yet in moments dark and grim

 C7                                          F

  I wonder how we look to him.

         Bm7       F   C    F  C   D7          

Peace, peace, thou hippopotamus ! 

G7              G7s       Em   G   C

  We really look all right to us.

C                                                    Dm 

   And you no doubt delight the eye,

Fm                              C7 

  Of other hippopotami.

F                         F#dim7 C      

  The rhino is a homely beast

C7                                             F

  For human eyes he's not a feast.

 Fm                   C            F#dim7 D7

Farewell, farewell, you old rhinoceros,

 Bb9                Dm7           G7          C   

   I'll stare at something less prepoceros.