Postcard to Chubby Checker: Stuck in Limbo

POST #83
PARODY-SONG

ORIGINAL SONG: "Limbo Rock", as recorded 1962 by Chubby Checker.

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, May, 2015.

KEYWORDS: goldenoldy

The name "Limbo" conjures up an intriguing mixture of Caribbean dancing and Dante's Inferno. In another posting here, part of the Inferno sequence, Dante provides us with on-site reporting which seems to eliminate it from serious consideration as a longterm retirement home. Perhaps it is more realistic to consider it an untapped tourist destination.  

POSTCARD TO CHUBBY CHECKER

(to the tune of "Limbo Rock")

Want to visit Limbo-land?

Rick Steves help vacation-plan

Limbo-folks are tourist-shy

Complicated reasons why. 

Limbo-visa hard to get - 

Seems that none been printed yet

I.T. system's way behind

Limbo-stuck in Dante's time. 

What to pack for Limbo-trip?

Don't need sunscreen - get a grip!

Limbo-weather always same

Sticky days, we're not to blame.

Limbo-neighbors turn up steam

Get so burned they moan and scream

Don't advise excursion there

If no Hazmat suit to wear. 

Limbo-talk in Limbo-land

Locals hard to understand

Few speak Eng., they all speak It.,

Antique Limbo-dialect.

LIMBO is the outermost complete circle

Limbo-customs might appeal - 

Walk feet flat with weight on heels

Limbo-nights - no moon or stars

Lean back in or under bars.

Got good staff at Limbo-Inns

They commit no Limbo-sins

New construction in bare feet

Projects never get complete.

Might not find a hotel room

Now or when you're in your tomb;

Limbo-book with kids and wife

For the Limbo-afterlife.

Rates discounted now.

Rates discounted now.

How low can they go?

Performing Notes: 

The chord pattern is the same for all verses, and is quite easy. The trick is to clinch the Caribbean rhythm with heavy beats on 2 and 4. and the English lyrics ending just before the 4th downbeat for every line. Another nice trick is to to employ the 5,4,3,3, position for the C chord, and then use downward NewYork strum for the 4 and 4.5 counts in most lines (the F9 and G7 chords can also be adapted to do this for the last few line of each verse).
Fadd9 = 0,0,1,0 (for NY strumming try 2,0,1,3).

INTRO: = chords for first 4 lines

[C] Want to visit Limbo-land?

Rick Steves [G7] help vacation-[C]-plan

Limbo-folks are tourist-shy

Compli[G7]cated reasons [C] why. 

Limbo-[F9]-visa hard to get - 

Seems that [C] none been printed [G7] yet

I.T. system's way behind

Limbo-[F9]-stuck in Dante's [C] time. 

Compare this with Ch.Ch.'s original:

[C] Every limbo boy and girl
All a[G7]round the limbo [C] world
Gonna do the limbo rock
All a[G7]round the limbo [C] clock
Jack be [F9] limbo, Jack be quick
Jack go [C] under limbo [G7] stick
All around the limbo clock
Hey, let's [F9] do the limbo [C] rock. 

The parody of word-pairs: The REDUPLICATIONS, A Singable LESSON

POST #82
PARODY-LYRICS

ORIGINAL SONG: "The Elements", Tom Lehrer, 1959.

ORIGINAL POEM/Lyrics: Giorgio Coniglio, July 2015.

WORDPLAY LINK: The poetic lines, unadorned by ukulele chords can be seen at "Edifying Nonsense" here (wordplay post #26)

KEYWORDS: language, goldenoldy.

This collection has been modified somewhat since its original posting on the site AmIRight.com. 
This posting of The Lesson, and subsequent posting of a Lexicon will contain a total of over 200 examples of reduplication.

A mini-lesson found on the Internet

...

... in a fallout shelter?

THE REDUPLICATIONS (Lesson)

(to the tune of "The Elements" -Tom Lehrer)



1) Introduction

I’m so enthralled with lyrics – their inherent musicality

I love the words I’ve heard, for both their quantity and quality.

And so I’ll share with you this recent lexic revela-ation –

My favorite word-device goes by the name ‘reduplica-ation’.

The remainder of the poetic lyrics can be seen at "Giorgio's Weekly Wordplay" here. The song-lyrics shown below on slides including ukulele chords differ only slightly from the poem.

8) Conclusion

The lesson's sung, my cha-cha's done, we’ve reached our termina-ation

(Boo-hoo!) True blue, and through and through we’ve viewed reduplica-ation

But while we bid our fond ta-tas, I leave this final message – “HI!”

These phrases love to start with “H”, and their initial vowel – “I”.

Ta-Dah !!!

* German= "off-sound", word coined in the 16th century to indicate a systematic change in the vowel of a word-root to convey a difference in meaning; rhymes with shout
* Hawaiian for quickly or  bus !!



9) Add-On: A Lexicon of Reduplicates

PLEASE SEE SUBSEQUENT POSTINGS  AS SHOWN BELOW !!!!

HOT LINKS to the WORD-PAIR PARODY SONGS

Pairs
Alliterative Binomials, part #1
Alliterative Binomials, part #2
Reduplications - Lesson (see below)
Reduplications - Lexicon A to K
Reduplications - Lexicon M to Z
Rhyming Binomials, A to M
Rhyming Binomials, M to Z
Legal Doublets

UKULELE-FRIENDLY FORMAT:
(Click on any chord-chart slide to move to 'song-presentation mode'; then navigate through thumbnails at bottom of page.)

Try using the helpful search function at the top of the page ("Lehrer" will get you there) to review the 4 previous submissions of this type.

You can play/sing Tom Lehrer's original patter-song, "The Elements", by checking out Corktunes, the songbook of the Corktown Ukulele Jam here. The chord-charts have the alternate-line superscript format that many ukesters find preferable.

Lehrer had adapted the melody from "The Major General's Song" from Gilbert and Sullivan's "Pirates of Penzance". There are 3 different melodies/chord-sequences used in alteration through the G/S song, and in Lehrer's derived take-off. 

The parody of word-pairs: ALLITERATIVE BINOMIALS, part#2

POST #81
PARODY-LYRICS; a followup to post #80.

ORIGINAL SONG: "The Elements", Tom Lehrer, 1959.

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, July 2015.
WORDPLAY LINK: For a discussion of binomials (irreversible word pairs), and a compendium of alliterative pairs go to this post on our companion blog, "SILLY SONGS AND SATIRE".

KEYWORDS: goldenoldy, language





This song represents a followup to post #80. If you are new to the site, or  have forgotten in the interim, it is essential to understand the property of "binomials" in order to understand the importance of the lyrics. Some explanation of the nature of these wonderful and pervasive expressions is given in the "Supplement" slides.

To enhance the singability, I have arbitrarily skewed my selection of binomial pairs for this song to emphasize those that have alliteration of the 2 elements. Other postings will deal with binomial whose elements rhyme, and those that are used/abused  in "legalese". It should be noted that "reduplications", also the subject of several posts on this blog are a related but separated type of phrase.   

 To view the previous postings on this site, search the site for "Tom Lehrer" 
You can also view the earlier songs' lyrics and commentary (without images or chords)  displayed on a parody-lyrics website at AmIRight.com Post "No Elements", (a song about Latin nouns), or at  AmIRight.com Post "Of Residents and Presidents" , (a song dealing with mispronunciation of the word 'nuclear'). 

Tom Lehrer

WARNING!  Do not attempt to sing this at the pace of a patter-song. The management of this blog will take no responsibility for any injuries sustained.

ALLITERATIVE BINOMIALS
(word-pairs),  part#1

(to the tune of "The Elements" - Tom Lehrer)

Dungeons and Dragons, dark and dank, and dear departed, do or die

And cliques and clans,  and kith and kin, and bag and baggage, flee and fly

Head over heels, and belle and beau, Beauty and Beast, and two for tea

And mind and matter, mine and mill, and flew through flue, the fly and flea. 

There’s vim and vigor, pain or pleasure, fast and furious, slow but sure

And watching waiting, safe or sorry, walking wounded, kill or cure

And grins and giggles, hems and haws, and his and hers, guys gals or dolls

And quake and quiver, black and blue, right wrong, St. Peter and St. Paul. 

There’s stress and strain, and short and stout, and scratch and save, and shirts and shorts

Shoes socks, and art and artifice, and toil and trouble, tarts and tortes

And read and write, bold beautiful, and beg or borrow, this-and-thats

Moon o'er Miami, baked and battered, where or when, and heads and hats.

There's prince and pauper, prim and proper, pots and pans, and put-upon 
And drunken and disorderly, warp woof, wrack ruin, and AlAnon.
The order of paired elements - important? yes, no, may-aybe;

Be careful not to throw out the bathwater with the ba-aby.

Yet, slip and slide, not hair nor hide, the definition gets defied, 
Like 'Prejudice' before the 'Pride', so 'side by side' is classified
With home sweet home, rose is a rose, eye for an eye, and nose to nose - 
These phrases pose the gap to close that spaces poetry from prose.


There's Jack and Jill, from dusk 'til dawn, bumper to bumper, inch by inch,
And first and foremost, hand in hand, with spice and sugar, just a pinch.
"What's right is right, what's fair is fair", said more and more by Mo-other,
From sea to shining sea, if it's not one thing, it's ano-other. 

HOT LINKS to the WORD-PAIR PARODY SONGS

Pairs
Alliterative Binomials, part #1
Alliterative Binomials, part #2 (see below)
Reduplications - Lesson
Reduplications - Lexicon A to K
Reduplications - Lexicon M to Z
Rhyming Binomials, A to M
Rhyming Binomials, M to Z
Legal Doublets



UKULELE-FRIENDLY FORMAT: 
(Click on any chord-chart slide to move to 'song-presentation mode'; then navigate through thumbnails at bottom of page.)

You can play/sing Tom Lehrer's original patter-song, The Elements,  by checking  out Corktunes, the songbook of the Corktown Ukulele Jam here.  
Lehrer had adapted the melody from "The Major General's Song" from Gilbert and Sullivan's "Pirates of Penzance". There are 3 somewhat different melodies/chord-sequences used in alteration through the G/S song, and in Lehrer's derived take-off.

My suggestion for the first 3 verses of the patter-list portion of this parody are shown here, but adapt them as you like! Incidentally, the Eb7 chord may look formidable to some - just use the barred version of D7 one fret higher, than slide back for the D7 that follows!
Pick or strum the way you like, but I have enjoyed the 3,(12),4,(12) picking pattern, continuing  through from line to line, except for an index finger 4-string flourish at the end of all the lines of the minor-tone verses, and in lines 3 and 4 of the other verses.

The parody of word-pairs: ALLITERATIVE BINOMIALS, part #1

POST #80
PARODY-LYRICS

ORIGINAL SONG: "The Elements", Tom Lehrer, 1959.

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, July, 2015.
WORDPLAY LINK: For a discussion of binomials (irreversible word pairs), and a compendium of alliterative pairs go to this post on our companion blog, "Edifying Nonsense".

KEYWORDS: goldenoldy, language

Occasional binomials show alliteration
(e.g. one and only)

I have previously posted 2 parodies of Tom Lehrer’s patter song “The Elements”. The current effort involves a linguistic device discussed by Wikipedia as “Siamese twins” or ‘Irreversible Binomials”. These phrases include some of the most colorful expressions in English. Please see the SUPPLEMENT after the song lyrics for baseline information.  There are probably a thousand binomial expressions in the English language. To enhance the singability, I have skewed my selection of binomial pairs to emphasize those that have alliteration of the 2 elements. I have also reserved binomial expressions which are used in "legalese" - these will be the subject of a later posting.  

Tom Lehrer

To view the previous postings on this site, search the site for "Tom Lehrer" 

You can also view the earlier songs' lyrics and commentary (without images or chords)  displayed on a parody-lyrics website at AmIRight.com Post "No Elements", (a song about Latin nouns), or at  AmIRight.com Post "Of Residents and Presidents" , (a song dealing with mispronunciation of the word 'nuclear'). 

WARNING!  Do not attempt to sing this at the pace of a patter-song. The management of this blog will take no responsibility for any injuries sustained.

ALLITERATIVE BINOMIALS
(word-pairs),  part#1

(to the tune of "The Elements" - Tom Lehrer)


For house and home, and king and country, love or leave it, bull or bear

And wild and woolly, weeping wailing, whys and wherefores, wash and wear

There’s lend and lease, lewd and lascivious, longitude and latitude

And odds and evens, wax and wane, and hoot and holler, crass and crude.

There’s form and function, farm and factory, and fling and flirta-ation

And feast or famine, rhyme and reason, rest and relaxa-ation 

There’s rough and ready, rags to riches, rock and roll, down and dirty

And dine and dash, and cheque or cash, and foppery and frippery.

There's live and learn, last but not least, and lemon lime, and life and limb

Safe and secure, and search and seizure, signs and symptoms, sink or swim

And sweet and sour, and Stars and Stripes, and sticks and stones, and sights and sounds

And hale and hearty, hot and heavy, birds and bees, and horse and hounds. 

There’s flora fauna, fun and frolic, fin and fur, forgive forget

Over and out, and tots and toddlers, tit for tat, restore reset 

And Jew and Gentile, dribs and drabs, naughty or nice, and juke and jive

And one and only, publish perish, bed and breakfast, drink and drive.

There’s poke and prod, and pen and paper, post and pillar, pig in poke

And rant and rave, and bread and butter, mix and match, and jeer and joke

Hell or high water, rod and reel, gruff grim, footloose and fancy-free,

Deny his due to devil, dos and don'ts, and also deep blue sea.

Nieces and nephews, peas in pod, kit and caboodle, meek and mild

And ghosts and goblins, trick or treat, witches and warlocks, wet and wild

And trials and tribulation, tried and true , thick thin, and tic-tac-toe

And cute and cuddly, fair or foul, and spick and span, and friend or foe.

Note: A second collection of amusing and instructive phrases has been posted on August 17, 2015, as "More Alliterative Binomials"; as per the following list........

HOT LINKS to the WORD-PAIR PARODY SONGS

Pairs
Alliterative Binomials, part #1 (see below)
Alliterative Binomials, part #2
Reduplications - Lesson
Reduplications - Lexicon A to K
Reduplications - Lexicon M to Z
Rhyming Binomials, A to M
Rhyming Binomials, M to Z
Legal Doublets

UKULELE-FRIENDLY FORMAT:
(Click on any chord-chart slide to move to 'song-presentation mode'; then navigate through thumbnails at bottom of page.)

You can play/sing Tom Lehrer's original patter-song, The Elements,  by checking  out Corktunes, the songbook of the Corktown Ukulele Jam here.  The chord-charts have the alternate-line superscript format that many ukers find preferable.
Lehrer had adapted the melody from "The Major General's Song" from Gilbert and Sullivan's "Pirates of Penzance". There are 3 somewhat different melodies/chord-sequences used in alteration through the GandS song, and in Lehrer's derived take-off.

My suggestion for the first 3 verses of the patter-list portion of this parody are shown here, but adapt them as you like! Incidentally, the Eb7 chord may look formidable to some - just use the barred version of D7 one fret higher, than slide back for the D7 that follows!
Pick or strum the way you like, but I have enjoyed the 3,(12),4,(12) picking pattern, continuing  through from line to line, except for an index finger 4-string flourish at the end of all the lines of the minor-tone verses, and in lines 3 and 4 of the other verses.

Be sure to continue with  Alliterative Binomials part #2.