Sunday, 29 June 2025

Uke-Song: "UKULELÍ, UKULELÁ", an anachronistic anecdote (+ volcanic palindromes).


PARODY-LYRICS
ORIGINAL SONG: "Funiculi, Funicula" , Luigi Denza, 1880.
PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, February 2013. 

PARODY-LYRICS LINK: To return to the corresponding post on "Daily Illustrated Nonsense" (and to see the lyrics without the chord-chart indications) click HERE



This mostly-true story has 3 characters - the volcano itself, Vesuvius, which dominates the Bay of Naples, and 2 music composers. Luigi Denza wrote hundreds of songs, mostly in Neapolitan, including this smash hit composed for the opening of the funicular in 1880.  Richard Strauss lived in Munich; after visiting Naples in 1887 as a young man, he incorporated the tune into a symphonic work aus Italien, which was poorly received by critics. Later he became famous for symphonic tone-poems including Thus Spake Zarathustra,  the theme for 2001: A Space Odyssey, and modern operas - der Rosenkavalier, Elektra
The fanciful existence of ukuleles in Europe in the 19th century is an anachronism; hence, the song was initially titled Anacroni, Anacrona. 














UKULELÍ, UKULELÁ

(to the tune of "Funiculi, Funicula")
     
 INTRO: ’Ncoppa jammo ja’, ukulelí, ukulelá.






















Volcanodromes (Palindromes dealing with volcanoes): 


Point of information: Etna, Stomboli and Vesuvio are the 3 major active volcanoes in Italy)

No lava ! Not on Avalon !

Foo! hot Ava, lava to hoof.


A red lac, red nice cinder, caldera.   (lac is a red dye obtained as a byproduct of processing shellac)

Ante-time; I am game. Magma I emit. Etna.


I lob morts. Stromboli   (mort is French for dead-man, cadaver)

O! I'v U severe. Pere Vesuvio.


Tessa's in Italy - Latin is asset. 

Mt (A)etna June, 2014 










Performing notes


Intro: ’N[Bb]coppa jammo [F] ja’, ukule[C7]lí, ukule[F].


One [F] day, while Strauss was tramming up Vesuvius,He [C] heard a [F] song, a [C] catchy [F] song.
And [F] as he’d brought along his uke and notebook,
He [C] wrote it [F] down, then [C] strummed a[F]long.
He [Am] gave the [E7] borrowed [Am] pencil [E7] back to [Am] Denza,
With [E7] whom he [Am] jammed, as [E7] up they [Am] swayed.
And [C] as the [G] active [C] crater [G] hissed and [C] rumbled,
 Strauss [G] missed him [C] mumble, a[G7]bove Pom[C]pei.
   
(Denza sang)……
[C7]“ Copy-, copy-, copyright is mine,
Specific terms the sanctioned use de[F]fine.
While jamming [A] here is gen’rally [Dm] fine,
While jamming [A7] here is gen’rally [Dm] fine,
[Bb] Legal friends o[F]pine, Vesuvius - [C7] , but Munich - [F] Nein  ”.
.....
.....


  
Outro: ’N[Bb]coppa jammo [F] ja’, ukule[C7]lí, ukule[F].


ORIGINAL SONG-LYRICS

Click directly on any slide to view the thumbnails at the bottom of the page.  You can then use them to easily go back and forth between the parody-version and the original lyrics.

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