Uke-Song (Gershwin folk-aria): ICELANDIC SUMMERTIME SAGA

POST #164:
Singable Limerick-Medley 

ORIGINAL SONG: The melody for the spiritual ballad "Summertime" from the George Gershwin opera "Porgy and Bess".

LIMERICK VERSE:  Original verses composed by Giorgio Coniglio 2017, and compiled in January 2018. Several of the verses also appear, mildly modified, in the online limerick dictionary OEDILF.com. 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: Ukulele chord-charts were adapted from an excellent version at "Dr Uke".
SONGLINK: A calypso-style song about a visit to Iceland in June 2015 was composed for this website under the title "Nordic Journal: Island in the Sun".                                  

CONTENTS:
Underpinnings: "Summertime"
1. Iceland / Ísland: dry land
2. Geysir
3. Eyjafjallajökull (E15)
4. Second-Hand Geyser
5. Stopover in Reykjavik (not a limerick)

ICELANDIC SONG

Display of the lyrics has been condensed to 4 lines for each verse, with internal rhyming in line 3, rather than the more customary 5-line limerick format.) 

(to the tune of "Summertime") 

1. In the far North Atlantic there’s dry land:
Friendly Iceland – it’s my kind of island.
You’ll be welcomed in Ísland *; cool and damp but at-peace land; 
Summer-sun-all-day-but-you-won’t-fry land.

2. Tourists learn the Norse thermal god plays here;
The Icelandic locale known as ‘Geysir’.
From hot pools steam erupts - belching after he sups.
Then they head for the sign (that says),“Tour Bus Stays Here.”

3. E15, Iceland stratovolcano,
Spews out fog that can clog up your plane, Oh
If explain it I must - it’s just ashes and dust;  
Can’t they flush it away with some Drano?

4. A cheap gift: though Björn thought he’d surprise her,
Björg rejected his second-hand geyser,                                              
“What I’d prize is a freezer. Your poor wife, why displease her?
It just proves you’re a nasty old miser.”

5. If you’re planning an Iceland stopover:
Avoid months with an 'R', like October;  

Reykjavik? Here's my warning: bars stay open til morning.  

And the patrons aren't prone to stay sober.
(OR SEE THE SLIDE BELOW FOR AN ALTERNATIVE!)

* pronounced as EES-lahndt.

UKULELE-FRIENDLY FORMAT

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

A7s = 0200;  A7 = 0100;  Dm7 = 2213;  Gm = 0231;  D7s = 2233;  Gm7 = 0211; 
Bb7 = 1211;  A7+5 = 0110;  Fdim7 = 1212

At this point you might wish to return to the post 'Singable Lyrics: Novel Melodies for Limericks' HERE. 

ORIGINAL SONG-LYRICS

A Singable Medley (Carole King modification): FROM COASTAL CAROLINA

Henry the Egret
formal portrait 2019

POST #163:
Singable Limerick-Medley 

ORIGINAL SONG: These verses could be sung to that old standard "The Limerick Song". However, for this post, we will use the melody for the verses of the 1960 hit written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin (originally recorded by The Shirelles), "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?". 
Thanks are again  due to Steve McNie of Toronto Ukes for formatting of the original song chord charts.
LIMERICK VERSE:  Original verses composed by Giorgio Coniglio 2016-2017, and compiled in December 2017. Several of the verses also appear in the online limerick dictionary OEDILF.com and in several posts on our wordplay blog "Edifying Nonsense".

CONTENTS:

Early azalea blooms
March, Mt. Pleasant SC

1. Hurricanes 

2. Garden-Tour Docent
3. Beach Erosion and Renourishment 
4. Palmetto Trees 
5. Mt. Pleasant SC

6. (The Walrus and the Carpenter, Lowcountry Version - this 6-verse oeuvre, sung to the same tune as the above, has been moved to a later post; click here).

7. (Indica Azaleas - the lyrics for this verse, and for several others related to Carolina gardens can be found on the blogpost "Delights of the Garden".)

FROM COASTAL CAROLINA

(To the tune of "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?". Note that display of the lyrics has been condensed to 4 lines for each verse, with internal rhyming in line 3, rather than the more customary 5-line limerick format.) 

1. With the Lowcountry right in its path, you

Feared flooding and raging wind’s wrath.  You 

Escaped, it would seem  deadly damage extreme –
As when Haiti met hurricane Matthew.

2. Come to Charleston’s spring tours, beg your pardon,

Where friend David, the docent, has starred in

Guiding folks with nobility (though he’s lost some mobility) 

As a guru on Briggs’ ‘Charleston garden’.

3. From his beach house on Sullivan's isle,

Steve walked seaward at least half a mile,

Where he stated with flourishment, “Our beach needs no nourishment;

Nearby islands will envy our style."

    For those condos, front beach, Isle of Palms,

Recent buyers have voiced a few qualms.

During storms, there’s a notion: sand’s engulfed by the ocean,

And it isn’t returned in the calms.

4. Our state tree is the cabbage-palm. Sabal:

Plant this genus wherever you're able.

Drought-resistant and sturdy, at the street-side they're purtty;

And they're famed in our banners and fable.

5. In the flat seaside town of Mt. Pleasant,

Dine on oysters or shrimp, but not pheasant.

Between Batt'ry and Beach, nice enough; that's no reach --

But a mountain has never been present.

UKULELE-FRIENDLY FORMAT

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

Dm7 = 2213;  E7 = 1202;  E7+5 = 1203;  As4= 2200;  Csus = Cs4 = 0013 

 (for further information, review the post "Beach Re-engineering" on the blog "Edifying Nonsense"

(for further information and illustrations, review the post "Limericks About TREES" on our wordplay blog "Edifying Nonsense".

At this point you might wish to return to the post 'Singable Lyrics: Novel Melodies for Limericks' HERE. 

Views of Mt Pleasant:

Shem Creek Boardwalk

Shem Creek , from Coleman Blvd 

                                                                             
                                                                                               

Sunset, Arthur Ravenel Bridge

  

ORIGINAL SONG-LYRICS Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow

WORDPLAY LINK: 

For wordplay (palindromes, anagrams, eggcorns, creative cartography, etc.) and silly poetry (polished limericks), see our sister blog "EDIFYING NONSENSE" here.