Starting Point 1948: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

POST #117                                                                    

PARODY-LYRICS with setting of original document to music 
ORIGINAL SONG: "Born Free", Matt Monro, 1966
ORIGINAL DOCUMENT: United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1 , 1948. * 
PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, January 2016.

KEYWORDS:  goldenoldy


* "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood." 


STARTING POINT 1948

(to the tune of "Born Free" - these first 4 verses fit best with the melody of the 2nd and 3rd verse of the original)

All human beings are born free,

Of dignity worthy

And equal in basic fact.

Endowed with reason and goodness

A spirit of brotherhood

Should motivate their acts.

Tous les êtres humains naissent libres

En droits ils sont égaux

Ainsi qu’en dignité

Doués de conscience et de raison

Ils doivent se comporter dans

Un esprit de fraternité.

Todos los seres humanos nacen libres

En derechos están iguales

Y también en dignidad

Dotados de razón y conciencia

Deben comportarse

Con ánimo de hermandad.

Vse ljudi rozhdayutsya svobodnymi

Dostoyny uvazheniya

I ravnymi v osnovnykh pravakh

Nadelennyy prichine I dobra

Dukh bratstva

Mozhet vdokhnovit’ svoi deystviya.

(sing to verse#1 pattern of the original song, then continue )

Some schemed, six decades before us
Their voices implore us
Hold course until we’re all free.

Their world had huge imperfections

They craved free elections,
Disbanding of colonies.

East, West: great walls did divide them
And victims of apartheid -
Disparities so wide.

Dreamed free, they helped us to get there
Their efforts we’ll all share
‘Til we’re ‘born free’.

(Instrumental bridge)
They dreamed of our works-in-progress
Abuses to be redressed
Whatever race or sect.

They framed a great Declaration
To challenge each nation -
We’re all born free.


Performing Notes

[G] All hu[C]man beings are [G] born free [C]
Of dignity [Bm] worthy, and [Am7] equal  in basic [D] fact  [D7] 
[Am] Endowed [D7] with reason and [Em] goodness[Em7]
A spirit of [Em7b5] brotherhood

Should [A#dim7] motivate their [D7sus] acts. [D7] 

[

A Hopeful Lament: PROSTATE CANCER

POST #116                                                                    

PARODY-LYRICS
ORIGINAL SONG: "Love and Marriage", 1955, Cahn and van Heusen, performed by Frank Sinatra, also Peggy Lee and Dinah Shore.
PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, January 2016.

KEYWORDS: goldenoldy, medical

Humor is likely still the best medicine, even for retired physicians.

PROSTATE CANCER 

(to the tune of “Love and Marriage”: indentations at beginnings of lines flag the syncopation.) 

Strange behavior, prostate cancer
   Danger lurking down there in your pants, sir?
Age-effect? guys wondered;
So, “Yes”, you’ll have it at one hunderd.

(bridge) 

Most such tumors are just harmless 

‘Cancer in situ’ [1] 

You’ll kick can from other cause, yet 

Con...cept might befright you.

If you’ve got 10 years to squander

    These are treatment outcomes you should ponder:

No spread when detected -

Five-year survival’s not affected!

(But) Certain cancers are bad actors

   Younger age and bad genes are risk factors

Yet we’ve got the greatest,

For early pick-up: PSA-test [2]

(bridge) 

Try set frequency and onset;

Screen to detect’em.

Current guide adds DRE [3] - that’s

   .... Finger-up-rectum.

DRE and PSA-test

   If they’re worrisome you’ll face the next step

To resolve the issue

Your doc will want to get some tissue.

Cut and cure my prostate cancer?

   Ask your Uro, he’ll provide the answer.

Positive biopsy –

Might turn your life-plan turvy-topsy.    

Plan for treatment and prognosis

  That depends on what your Gleason-score [4] shows

“Six” - equivocation

You might pick watchful expectation.

(bridge)

Sigh! Why try avoid? Decide [5], if

You’ve drawn a “Seven”.

There’s no call for you to bawl

Or ....  pack bags for Heaven.

If it’s surg(e)ry, I’d subject me

   To a retropubic prostatect(o)my;

Radical excision

Routine or high-tech [6] - your decision.

Kids, I’m betting on the cure–oh!

    So I’m heading home to see my Uro

As I told your mother, 

“Four decades passed, they went by fast,

Four decades passed, let’s spend ano-o-other.” 

Readers are advised to inform themselves to the extent possible, and

then discuss the many issues involved with their health provider. Excellent online material is available at the American Cancer Society website. 

[1] cancer 'in place', which has not invaded locally or spread beyond the prostate gland.

[2] Prostate-Specific Antigen; a protein which leaks into the blood at a rate proportional to the activity of prostate cells; frequently used to help detect and monitor cancer. 
  

[3] Digital Rectal Examination by your urologist, or other doctor - not pleasant, but important.

[4] a measure of the abnormality in cell-type on either biopsy or surgical specimens, on a 10-point scale, based on the 2 most abnormal patterns found within the gland. 

[5] at this stage, treatment is usually recommended to eliminate all prostate tissue. Surgery is the more common choice, but various forms of radiation (external beam or implantation of radioactive beads) have also been used.

[6] recently, high-tech variants (laparoscopic and robotic surgery) have been developed, but their additional benefit is incompletely proven.  

HOTLINKS TO OTHER MEDICAL-THEMED SONG-POSTINGS

Adenoma

Avitaminoses 

As We Nuke It

Flaking Out is What They Do

Mel and His Hernia

Mergerwocky

Off-Patent Drug#19

Prostate Cancer (see below)

Reflux Romp

R-I-C-E

The Uniqueness of Nuclear

The Valgus and the Carbuncle

Under My Own Steam part#1

Under My Own Steam part#2

Where Has Neurosyphylis Gone?

...AND A FEW LIMERICK-BASED SONGS

Singable Limerick-Medley #17: Nuclear Cardiology

Singable Limerick-Medley #20: Medical Imaging

UKULELE-FRIENDLY FORMAT

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

C#7 = 1112; Adim7 = 2323; F7+5 = 2110; F6 = 2213

Multi-Cultural Chestnut: I Dreamed I'd Teach The World To Sing

POST #115

PARODY-LYRICS
ORIGINAL SONG: "I'd Like To Teach the World To Sing", 1971, adapted by the New Seekers from the iconic commercial.
PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, January 2016.

KEYWORDS: goldenoldy, multicultural

I DREAMED I'D TEACH THE WORLD TO SING

(to the tune of "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing")

I dreamed I'd teach the world to sing
This multicultural song
But couldn't access You-Tube files
To learn to sing along. 

"Hilltop" TV ad, 1971.

Don Draper's real-world colleague
Scribbled what was later spoke
In Nineteen Seventy-One; he hoped 
'To buy the world a Coke'.  

Songwriters dubbed, and flubbed the song
"True Love and Apple Pie",
But when they filmed the "Hilltop" ad
Awards started to fly.

New Seekers somehow got the rights,
DeCoked the English words
But other people 'round the globe - 
Still need their voices heard.

These days we should be welcoming
Ethnic diversity 
With sentiments that echo from
That shoot in Italy.

I'd like to sing that hilltop song
Each language gets one verse,
So Google-Translate fills the gap
For better or for worse.

(It's the song I dream)
Please submit a verse
Help contribute today - 
An appeal-thing!

So, to get started, here's the 2nd verse of the iconic song in a spectrum of available languages. (I will admit that these choices appear Eurocentric; also I don't know if I have gotten past all the stumbling-blocks associated with the online software) .....

Portuguese
Quero ensinar o mundo a cantar
Em harmonia perfeita,
Eu quero segurá-la em meus braços
E mantê-la como companheira.
Esperanto
Mi celas instrui al la mondo kanti
En perfekta harmonio,
Mi volas teni ĝin en miaj brakoj
Kaj festu gxin kiel kunulo.
Polish
Chciałbym nauczyć świat śpiewać
W doskonałej harmonii,
Chcę trzymać go w moich ramionach
I zachować go jako towarzysza
Swedish
Jag skulle vilja lära världen att sjunga
I perfekt harmoni,
Jag vill hålla det i mina armar
Och hålla det som en följeslagare.
Irish
Déanaim iarracht a mhúineadh an domhan
A chanadh i chéile foirfe,
Ba mhaith liom é a choimeád i mo lámha
Agus é a choinneáil mar chompánach.

Comments on the attempted translations (they all need some polishing), and further 'submissions' are welcome!


PERFORMING NOTES

I [C] dreamed I'd teach the world to sing
This [D7] multicultural song
But [G7] couldn't access You-Tube files
To [F] learn to sing a[C]long. 

A Late-Days-of-Christmas Song: AVITAMINOSES

POST #114
This blogpost is dedicated to E.D., with best holiday wishes, December 2017.

PARODY-LYRICS
ORIGINAL SONG: "The Twelve Days of Christmas", traditional carol, of English or possibly French origin, published in its current known form by Frederic Austin 1909.
PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, January, 2016.

KEYWORDS: traditional, holidaysong, medical

This parody-song is just in time for the end of Twelvetide.  Recently there has been some emphasis on the excessive use of multi-vitamin supplementation pills in the general population. But, many of our processed foods are already enriched with these essential chemical nutrients, and freedom from vitamin-deficiency diseases (avitaminoses), such as rickets, beriberi and pellagra is a gift for all mankind.

The pronunciation of the chemical names is a bit difficult, and for some of them, alteration from the typical was necessary to fit the meter of the original; these instances have been flagged by capital letters indicating the vowels which require unusual emphasis; e.g. ribOflavin, pEllagra. 

The bracketed material is included for edification and for comparison with the original lyrics, and is not meant to be sung. In the second verse, (?)indicates cases in which a clinical deficiency state is not certain.  

THE AVITAMINOSES

(to the tune of "The Twelve Days of Christmas"- final verse)

Twelve funky diet factors,

Funk named them vitamine *:

(12.) Ascorbic Acid (vit C)

(11.) Retinol’s good for vision (vit A)

(10.) Cholecalcif’rol (vit D)

(9.) Alpha-tocoph’rol (vit E)

(8.) K – phylloquinone (vit K)

(7.) Hydroxo-cobal’min (vit B12)

(6.) Then, Folic Acid (vit B9)

(5.) Next, bIOtIn  (vit B7)

(4.) PantOthenate (vit B5)

(3.) Niacin (vit B3)

(2.) RibOflavin (vit B2)

(1.) And the first ‘B’ known as ThiamIne (vit B1)

For each vitamin, twelve-odd,

Its lack will cause disease:

C-lack gives scurvy

A-absence gives night blindness

Rickets and fractures (vit D)

‘Oxidative damage’? (Vit E)

K-lack gives bleeding

C. Eijkman 1929
Nobel Prize in Physiology
discovery of anti-neuritic factor (B1):
commemorative stamp 

Anemia pernicious (vit B12)

Fetal malformations (vit B9)

Low fertIl-I-tY? (vit B7)

NeurOpathy? (vit B5)

PEllagra (vit B3)

Amplifies B3 (vit B2)

Brain disorders and beriberI. (vit B1)

(Outro)

A dozen Nobel Prizes

Awards in Chemistry,

And Med’cine and Physiology.

* Casimir Funk, working to elaborate the 'antineuritic' property of rice bran for potential therapeutic use in beriberi, isolated a substance that he called 'vitamine' as it contained an amino- chemical group.  

HOTLINKS TO OTHER MEDICAL-THEMED SONG-POSTINGS

Adenoma

Avitaminoses (see below)

As We Nuke It

Flaking Out is What They Do

Mel and His Hernia

Mergerwocky

Off-Patent Drug#19

Prostate Cancer

Reflux Romp

R-I-C-E

The Uniqueness of Nuclear

The Valgus and the Carbuncle

Under My Own Steam part#1

Under My Own Steam part#2

Where Has Neurosyphylis Gone?

...AND A FEW LIMERICK-BASED SONGS

Singable Limerick-Medley #17: Nuclear Cardiology

Singable Limerick-Medley #20: Medical Imaging

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

Dante's "Inferno", Canto#6: DANTE, GO and SEE (Crayfish Étouffée)

"The Circle of the Gluttons"
W. Blake

POST #113

PASTICHE WITH PARODY SONG-LYRICS
ORIGINAL POEM:  Canto#6 of "Inferno" by Dante Alighieri, the first book in the triad, "The Divine Comedy", written in the early 14th century.
ORIGINAL SONG: "Baby, Please Don't Go", Big Joe Williams 1935, popularized by Muddy Waters, used here primarily for music and meter.

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, November 2015.

KEYWORDS: pastiche, poetry, traditional

In the Third Circle, Dante sees the fate of gluttons like his friend from Florence named ‘Ciacco’ (the equivalent of ‘Piggy’). No fire used for torture here; the climate sounds like Toronto in March. The poor souls confined here in the freezing mud are tormented by a demonic three-headed dog, Cerberus. I took some liberties with Ciacco’s tale; in the original, he discusses the complex politics of 14th century Florence. The details I provided re Ciacco's gluttonous exploits are imagined. Eschatology is the part of theology concerned with final judgment and the destiny of the soul.  Étouffée is a delicious Louisiana dish of seafood, usually crayfish, in a Cajun roux sauce.

"Cerberus", W. Blake

New Orleans style crayfish etouffée

DANTE, GO AND SEE 

(to the tune of "Baby Please Don't Go")

Sono al cerchio terzo,

Dov'è'l crudele Cerbero

La pena di golosi; mi veggio intorno

Novi tormentati.

Dante go and see

Dante go and see

Dante go and see what’s in Circle Three - 

They punish gluttony.

Virge led me way down here

Virge brought me way down here

Another Ring of Fear, fiend in charge appear

Be a three-headed dog.

Thermostat set low

Pelting rain, hail, snow

Sinners grovel, sit in freezing mud, like sh*t

Hounded by that cursed dog.

Guy who waves hello -

Dante used to know,

‘Ciacco’, brought so low; he’s a Florentine

He tells his story, so …..

'ALL YOU EAT - ' , sign say - 

'CRAYFISH ÉTOUFFÉE'
Stayed all day and ate food from New Orleans

Now Circle Three’s my fate. ”

Virgil’s prophecy:

Eschatology -

Our friend ‘Piggy’ sit in that freezing sh*t

‘Til final trumpet blow.

So baby, please don’t stray

Don’t pig out that way

Don’t eat étouffée down in New Orleans

Or Circle Three’s your fate.

Dante go and see

Dante go and see

Dante go and see what’s in Circle Three - 

They punish gluttony.

HOT LINKS TO THE SATIRE-SONGS IN THIS SERIES:

Canto 1A: Dante’s Song

Canto 1B: The Tour-guide Known as Virgil

Canto 2: Bea Wants to Keep Her Eye On You

Canto 3: A Trip Down the Acheron Riviera 

Canto 4: Limbo Rocks, Or Not

Canto 5A: Minos’s Tail-Twist

Canto 5B: Dante Meets the Pain of Lust

Canto 6: Dante, Go and See (Crayfish Étouffée)  - see below.

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