Wednesday 21 March 2018

The Beatles Sing "BRENNAN'S TWEET"

POST #171
Satire with Substituted Lyrics 
ORIGINAL SONG:  "Let It Be", The Beatles, 1970.
SATIRE COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, March 2018.

WORDPLAY LINK: For those interested in wordplay, as much as satirical song, check out the latest post on  our sister blog "Edifying Nonsense".

BACKGROUND INFO: At the height of the concern that President Trump might be tempted to stop the Russia-election-interference investigation by firing Special Counsel Robert Mueller, a tweet by John Brennan on Saturday, March 17, 2018, described in very definite terms the former CIA director's view of the current President.



BRENNAN'S TWEET

(to the tune of "Let It Be"; the Wikipedia article, as given above shows the details of the tweet. )


When we face a federal crisis 
Former CIA boss' words entreat:
Online words of wisdom, Brennan's tweet.
When FBI's scapegoated
And Executive stance won't retreat,
Posted words of wisdom, Brennan's tweet.

Chorus:
Brennan's tweet, Brennan's tweet,
Brennan's tweet, Brennan's tweet,
Broadcast Twitter wisdom, Brennan's tweet.

And "When we know the full extent
Of your corrupt venality",
That's the introduction: Brennan's tweet.
And with the light that probes
Invoke "disgrace" and "demagoguery".
That's the middle section - Brennan's tweet.

Repeat Chorus:

And he concludes Trump's "rightful place" is
"The dustbin of history"
(Soon we hope - tomorrow): Brennan's tweet.
To wake up from this nightmare,
Special Counsel's probe could set us free.
Echo words of wisdom: Brennan's tweet.

Brennan's tweet, Brennan's tweet,
Brennan's tweet, Brennan's tweet,
Pass torch to Robert Mueller: Brennan's tweet.


UKULELE-FRIENDLY FORMAT (and guitar, too!)


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

You can play this song with only the simplest of chords - C, G, F, Am, (ignoring the 6th and 9th and Major 7th colouring), but the jazzier chords indicated are not that hard to ply, and give the song a flavour more like the original - Ed.  

G6 = 0202;  FM7 = 5500;  G9 = 2232;  F9 = 0010 















ORIGINAL SONG-LYRICS
(click on any verse-slide to enlarge and go to tumbnail mode)
















Wednesday 7 March 2018

Reminiscence of Cold-War Near-Catastrophes: BROKEN ARROW

POST #170: Sad Anti-War Satire 
ORIGINAL SONG:  "Desperado", The Eagles, 1973. "Desperado" is also the name of the second studio album recorded by the band. 
SATIRE COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, March 2018.
SONGLINK: The same tune was used as the vehicle for a parody song posted in 2014 entitled "Macadamias"
WORDPLAY LINK: A 3-verse poem on the same theme, i.e. domestic accidents related to nuclear weapons in the U.S., has just become available (March 2019) on our sister blog "Edifying Nonsense" - see this recent post.



BROKEN ARROW

(to the tune of "Desperado")

"Broken Arrow" - Why don't we drop the pretenses
The Department of Defense has hidden truth til now.
Hardened warheads (or just training simulation),
And the trigger didn't detonate the payload somehow.

We're talking Cold War '58, and a farm near Florence in our rural state.
Air pocket, training crew, bomber overhead.
They lost control of a big device
A nuclear explosion wouldn't be nice.
Had it triggered, folks in Florence'd all be dead.

"Broken Arrow" - from the heavens bomb tumbled.
When A-bombs are fumbled, there's no time for alarm.
Flattened farmhouse, and left a 30-foot crater, but
No plutonium detonater, so 'no serious harm'.

Just months before, off the Georgia shore, two Air Force planes collided;
Never found, an H-bomb ditched into the sea.
Plutonium capsule had been removed (official account's not yet disproved)
Near Tybee Island, the device rests quietly.

Broken Arrows - there are dozens of examples.
The evidence is ample, we should close off this gate.
World leaders, we're needing
Diplomatic moderation.
Let's halt reckless provocation, reckless provocation,
Let's stop arms proliferation before it's too late.


UKULELE-FRIENDLY VERSION (and guitar, too!)

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

Specifics for C-tuned ukulele:
Am7 = 0000 (or 0030);  Gm6 = 0201;  Bm7 = 2222;  E7sus = E11= 2202; A7 = 0100;  F#m = 2120; A7sus = 2230














ORIGINAL SONG-LYRICS
















WORDPLAY LINK: 
For wordplay (palindromes, anagrams, eggcorns, creative cartography, etc.) and silly poetry (polished limericks), see our sister blog "EDIFYING NONSENSEhere