Friday 25 September 2015

Taking Care of Reminiscence:YOGI BERRA's WISDOM

Yogi Berra, 1953.
POST #99 
PARODY-LYRICS
ORIGINAL SONG"Takin' Care of Business" 1973, Bachman-Turner Overdrive. 
PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, September 2015.

KEYWORDS: tribute, language, goldenoldy, sports, palindromes




YOGI BERRA'S WISDOM
(Takin' Care of Reminiscence)

(to the tune of "Takin' Care of Business")

A native of St Louie
Where they don’t put up with hooey,
'cause Missouri’s motto is “Show me.”
Signed with Yankees in his teens
Power hitter, eighteen seasons
They retired his Number Eight jersey.
Lots of Series as a coach,
So reporters would approach
To find out what this winning mave
n say
He became our ‘Wisest Fool’    * 
But did only eight in school
Known for witticisms quite pithy.
And it’s...

Not over ‘til it’s over (in this game)
If the road forks, take it (just the same)
Asking what the time is - do you mean now?
You observe a lot just by watching, anyhow.
Work out.

If it were déjà vu again,

We might get him to explain
If the people won’t come out, who’ll stop ‘em.
So don’t make wrong mistakes
Go to other peoples’ wakes,



Otherwise they won’t show when it’s your turn. 
Overwhelming underdogs
Take it with a grin of salt
He didn’t really say what he said.
And if you walk or drive
You’ll be lost when you arrive
If you don’t know where you are headed.
And we’ll use

Yogi Berra’s wisdom (every day)
Yogi Berra’s wisdom (every way)
That record stands ‘til broken, every time
Future’s not like once was; no nickel’s worth a dime.

They wouldn’t have won if we’d beat ‘em.
We have deep depth. Pair up in threes.


Out here it gets late early
Thanks for making necessary
That night when he’s inducted, Hall of Fame
It’s ninety percent mental,
And the other half’s physical
Don’t know nothing, baseball’s that kind of game.
No one goes there ’cause it's crowded
And though fan mail makes you proud
Don’t respond to anonymous letters
And when your batting slumps
With your average in the dumps
It’s blaming the bat that is better.
And we’ll be

Using Yogi’s wisdom (every day)
Yogi Berra's wisdom (every way)
If the world were perfect, it wouldn’t be.
He said, "It's not the heat, it's the humility."


 *  based on his speaking style, in 2005 The Economist named Yogi Berra 'Wisest Fool of the Past 50 Years'.


























Related Palindromes


Leg-nets? Yes. Act now! Won't Casey Stengel?

Seek nay, Mets. Stem Yankees.


Performing Notes:

F9 = 0010;  other chords are simple and repetitive 

INTRO:  |:C| Bb| F9 | C:| x2

A [C] native of St Louie  
Where they [Bb] don’t put up with hooey
'cause [F9] Missouri’s motto is [C] “Show me.”
Signed with Yankees in his teens
Power [Bb] hitter, eighteen seasons
They re[F9]tired his number eight [C] jersey.
Lots of Series as a coach,
So re[Bb]porters would approach
To [F9] find out what this winning maven [C] say
He became our ‘Wisest Fool’ * 

But did [Bb] only eight in school

Known for [F9] witticisms quite [C] pithy.
And it’s

Not [C] over ‘til it’s over [Bb] (in this game)
[F9] If the road forks, take it [C] (just the same)
Asking what the time is -  do [Bb] you mean now?
You [F9] observe a lot by just watching, [C] anyhow.
Work out.


| C | Bb | F9 | C | x2


Saturday 19 September 2015

The Budapest Banana-Boat Song


POST #98
PASTICHE with parody-lyrics: parodysitism?
RECIPIENT SONG (music): "Budapest", 2013, George Ezra.
INVADING SONG (lyrics): "The Banana Boat Song (Day -O)" The Tarriers, Harry Belafonte, 1955 (adapted from earlier recordings from 1952).   
PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, September, 2015.

KEYWORDS:  modernsong, mishmash

George Ezra presumably wrote the original song before ever visiting the city of Budapest. No one seems to understand the “Castillo” reference; the word means castle in Spanish, but capitalized as in his lyrics it seems to be a proper name, possibly a brand-name. Others have been less ready than George to give up home and possessions, as in this calypso song harking back to the 50s.  

BUDAPEST BANANA-BOAT SONG

(to the tune of "Budapest")



Come mister tally-man come, come tally me banana
  Golden eight-foot bunches, ripe beautiful Chiquitas
Daylight come, me wan’ go home.

Me load banana boat de whole night long
Work 'til de morning on just one drink of rum
Me say day-oh! day-oh, me wan’ go home
Me say day-oh! day-oh! Me wan’ go home.

Give me one good reason why we
Should not get higher pay -
Deadly black tarantula -
One bite and you might slip away.

De work conditions here
No one would like.
We should get unionized and stage a strike
Daylight come, oh! me wan’ go home
Me say day-oh! day-oh! Me wan’ go home

Give me one good reason why we 
Should not get higher pay -
Deadly black tarantula -
One bite and you might slip away.

If I could get some money, I’d quit and go to sea,
For now I stack banana, ripe beautiful Chiquita
Daylight come, oh! me wan’ go home
Me say day-oh! day-oh! Me wan’ go home.

Give me one good reason why we 
Should not get higher pay -
Deadly black tarantula -
One bite and you might slip away.


Come mister tally-man come, come tally me banana
  Golden eight-foot bunches, ripe beautiful Chiquitas
Day-oh! day-oh, me wan’ go home
Me say day-oh! day-oh! Me wan’ go home.


Performing Notes

Best solo play technique involves a reggae beat with striking the soundbox on beats 1 and 3, strumming on beats 2 and 4.
If you have a 2nd player, incorporate the riffs in the chorus, and in all the verses except the first and last.

INTRO:  | F |x4

[F] Come mister tally-man come, come tally me banana
  Golden eight-foot bunches, ripe beautiful Chiquitas
[Bb] Daylight come, me wan’ go [F] home.

[F] Me load banana boat de whole night long
Work 'til de morning on just one drink of rum
Me say [Bb] day-oh! day-oh, me wan’ go [F] home
Me say [Bb] day-oh! day-oh! Me wan’ go [F] home.
Riff on F:      F, G, F, C, F
Riff on Bb:    F, G, F, D, F 

[C] Give me one good reason why
We should not get higher [F] pay -
[C] Deadly black tarantula
- One [Bb] bite, and you might slip a[F]way.
Riff starting at end of 2nd line:  C,C,C, Bb, A
....

Final verse: No riffs: sparse playing, mostly a cappella
[F]! Come mister tally-man come, come tally me banana
  Golden eight-foot bunches, ripe beautiful Chiquitas
 [Bb]! Day-oh! day-oh, me wan’ go [F]! home
Me say [Bb]! day-oh! day-oh! Me wan’ go [F]! home.


Monday 14 September 2015

A Children's Song: Dietary Notes


POST #97
PARODY-LYRICS
ORIGINAL SONG"Mairzy Doats", Drake, Hoffman, Livingston 1943, initially recorded by Al Trace, covered by Andrews Sisters, Sharon, Lois and Bram, and many others. 
PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, September 2015.
RETROSPECTIVE: Check back to post#17 (Jan 25,2014) for another song and more palindromes on the same theme. 

KEYWORDS: dietclassicsong, environment, language, palindromes



















DIETARY NOTES
(to the tune of "Mairzy Doats")

My family thinks I’m nutty as a fruitcake
Have to hunt on menus, find what I can eat.
Some call it crazy
Others think it’s bravery,   
They all should give up meat. Oh! 

Linezy dews and wolvezy dews
And cougarcubz grabb ambies
A kiddley tunterstew, wouldn’t you? Yes.
Linezy dews and wolvezy dews
And cougarcubz grabb ambies
A kiddley tunterstew, wouldn’t you? If the 

Words sound grim, go gripe to Uncle Jim, 
He’ll dress you in your camo
Cause lions eat ewes, but you can choose
A rifle and some ammo. Oh!

Linezy dews and wolves eat ewes
And cougar-cubs grab Bambis
A kid’ll eat hunter’s stew, wouldn’t you? Yes.
A kiddley tunterstew, wouldn’t you?
Scene from "The Elephant Show"

Weazly dens and foxy dens
Raccoonzan crosey chickies
A kiddley creecherstoo, wouldn’t you? Oh! 
Weazly dens and foxy dens
And little hoxy chickies
A kiddley creecherstoo, wouldn’t you? Now if the

Words sound grim, go gripe to Uncle Jim,
He’ll say, “Please be more plucky.
Cause weas’l eat hens, and fox eat hens
And we’ll go shoot some duckies.” Oh!

Weazly dens and foxy dens
Raccoons and crows eat chickies
A kid’ll eat creatures too, wouldn’t you? Yuk!
A kiddley creecherstoo, wouldn’t you?

Menny menny damanlam
Why lothers doton tofu
A kiddley mea-freatu, wouldn’t you? Yes.
Menny menny damanlam
Why lothers doton tofu
A kiddley mea-freatu, wouldn’t you? Now

Uncle Jim says, “Queer!” while chugging down a beer,
He’ll never understand it;
Some men snarf beef and ham and lamb
While some respect the planet.  

Many men eat ham and lamb
While others dote on tofu
A kid’ll eat meat-free too, shouldn’t you? Yes, a 
Kiddley mea-freatu, a 
Kiddley mea-freatu, a 
Kiddley mea-freatu, shouldn’t you?  Tofu!





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

CM7 = 0002; C6 = Am7 = 0000; C#dim7 = 0101; Gm7 = 0211
Dm7 = F6  = 2213; Em7 = 0101; G7sus4 = 0213
























Related Palindromes (see also post#17)

NEW

A man, a pang; a salad, a lasagna - Panama

A man, a potato - Panama

A tip: "Le Falafel" - pita.

Ate plate late, petal et al. - PETA

Feeble, very. Revel ? Beef.

Plan okra, park on alp.

Sewer of wet stew for ewes.

Park, cap flow; wolf-pack rap.


and "CLASSIC" 

Lisa Bonet ate no basil.

Laminar flow - Wolf R. Animal

May a moody baby doom a yam? 

Wontons - not now.

A nut for a jar of tuna.

UFO tofu.
  
We freed fine venison; no sin, even if deer few.


































Monday 7 September 2015

Dante's "Inferno", Canto#4: LIMBO ROCKS, Or Not

POST #96
PASTICHE with PARODY SONG-LYRICS.
ORIGINAL POEM:  "Inferno" by Dante Alighieri, the first book in the triad "The Divine Comedy", written in the early 14th century.
ORIGINAL SONG: "Limbo Rock", as recorded 1962 by Chubby Checker, used here primarily for music and meter.
PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, June, 2015.

KEYWORDS: pastiche, poetry, classics, goldenoldy

The lyrics for this Canto are condensed and re-arranged considerably, but the words are primarily Dante’s, preserving to the extent possible the original 14th century Tuscan language. My English translation follows the Italian, with liberal adaptations for modern readers.

Inferno Canto#4: 
LIMBO ROCKS, OR NOT

(to the tune of "Limbo Rock")


Intro:
So our boys are on the road
In this all-new episode.
Valley dolorous, no bliss
Lurks inside that dark abyss.
Dante peer down from his ledge
(Limbo’s It. for ‘hem' or ‘edge’)
Now he'll start to learn who dwell
In those horrid rings of Hell. 


Dante:
“Discendiam nel cieco mondo
Io primo, tu secondo”
Quindi mio guida disse,
L’angoscia l’impallidisce
Primo cerchio mi fé intrar
I sospiri a ascoltar - 
Una gente disdegnata
Perché non è battezzata 

Every Hell-bound guy and guide

Brush their Limbo-fear aside
Planned to stop at Level #1,
Dance and have a little fun.
But first circle that we found
Rang with sorrow – Limbo’s sound 
Limbo’s sin-free folks - despised,
As they’d not been Lim-baptized.


Virgil:
Porta de la fede credi
Non basta loro mercedi,
Dinanzi al cristianesmo
E cotai son io medesmo.
Adorammo mal a Dio
Tai difetti, non altro rio
Sanza spema semo perduti
In disio vivemo tutti.

Portal of the faith you hold
If I may be Limbo-bold
Was no Christ back in B.C.
Couldn’t pray right, damned are we.
Without hope in Limbo-mire
Worthy types locked in desire.
Hey, eternity’s not quick
Hung up in this Limbo-shtick.

Ero nuov’in questo stato
Vidi venir un Beato
Trasseci ombre dei Parenti
E di Moisè l’ubidente
Uscicci mai per merto
Né per su’ parlar coverto 
Altri spiriti salvati - 
Tutti uomini dannati.

Newbie me in Limbo-town
When a Nimble Guy came down
Played St Nick and filled his sleigh
Drove the Forefathers away,
Caused those left to Limbo-wince
Nothing like it ‘fore or since.
Recent dogma you’ll know well – 
Called the ‘Harrowing of Hell’.*

Dante:
Al pié d’un gran castello -
Intorno un fiumicello
Per sette porte con i savi
Genti v’eran con occhi gravi.
La compagnia si scema
Dell’aura queta a che trema
Mi mena il savio duca
Vegn’ove non è che luca.

We passed through a Limbo-glade
Lamp-lit, Limbo-poles with shades
Reached the Limbo-central square
Virgil’s buds were gathered there.
Quite a Greco-Roman crew
Leaders, sages, poets too.
Had to split, say Limbo-Bye - 
Other fish to Limbo-fry.

Virgil (spoken):
Leaving Town limits
Lower Circle next
How low can we go?

Outro:
Limbo gets misunderstood - 
It’s Hell’s premier neighborhood.
They house heathens, babes and Jews,
None who’ve pledged and then refused.
Your case takes a diff’rent Twist
Once you’ve danced with John Baptist.
Sinning-Lyte - if that’s your story - 
Best apply to Purgatory. 

Dante (spoken nervously):

"Il Limbo"
G.Stradano, 1587
A drink at LimboBar
Before we get too far?
How low can we go?

* Tradition had held that before the Resurrection, Christ went to Hell to claim the souls of the Old Testament heroes and transport them to Heaven. This ‘Harrowing of Hell’ became official church dogma only in 1215. The event had presumably occurred in A.D.34, when Virgil (who died in A.D.19) was still a relative newcomer to Limbo. 





HOT LINKS TO THE SATIRE-SONGS IN THIS SERIES:
Canto 1A: Dante’s Song
Canto 4: Limbo Rocks, Or Not (see below)
Canto 6: Dante, Go and See (Crayfish Étouffée



UKULELE-FRIENDLY FORMAT: 
(Click on any chord-chart slide to advance to 'presentation/singalong' mode.)


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. The Italian lyrics seem to work best dragged out a bit so that there is usually singing on the 4th downbeat. Another nice trick is to to employ the 5,4,3,3, position for the C chord, and then use downward NewYorkstrum for the 4 and 4.5 counts in mos lines (the F9 and G7 chords can even be adapted to do this for the last few line of each verse).
Fadd9 = 0,0,1,0.