Sunday, 7 September 2025

"BOTH SIDES NOW", W-I-P

 



G C G C x2

 
G               Am        C                 G                   Bm          C         G
Moles and voles arrange their lair -- No icy bursts of winter there.
                    C               Am                 C+                            D
They suffer summer's stifling air, in tunnels where they stay. 
       G              Am        C             G                                   Bm             C                  G
But now their favorite food's in doubt -- the worms in berms just won't come out
              C                            Am                            C+                               D
(Worms stay down deep, avoiding drought, so moles can't get their prey.)
 
          G               Am          C+                G
Moles check out soil from both sides now,
      C       G              C+           G
Vestigial eyes, yet still somehow
       Bm         C          G
It's soil's hydration that they sense.
    C                     D  Dsus D     G       G C G C  x2
(I say all this in moles'      defence)

 
G                  Am           C                G         Bm                          C           G
Whales and seals and swarms of eels: aquatic creatures -- none conceals
                     C                Am                       C+                   D
In seas and lakes, how lost they feel, as weekly polls reveal.
              G         Am   C                G              Bm                     C     G
They're now upset about their seas (the home to plastic vortices)
      C                         Am                                 C+                       D
So if you care, they ask you please, "Don't toss your trash away."
     
        G             Am            C+                G
I've looked at love from both sides now,
          C             G             C              G
From give and take, and still somehow
       Bm       C          G
It's love's illusions I recall.
   C                           D Dsus D   G   G C G C  x2
I really don't know love      at all.


G              Am          C          G           Bm                     C               G
Flocks of awks and human fools resist the science learned in schools 
                C            Am                        C+                     D
To fix the sich we lack the tools, no cooling's underway. 

 G Am C G Bm
But now old friends are acting strange, they shake their heads, C they say G I've changed.


ORIGINAL LYRICS

G C G C x2

 
G               Am       C         G                             Bm      C         G
Rows and floes of angel hair and ice cream castles in the air
                        C                         Am           C+                              D
And feathered canyons everywhere, I've looked at clouds that way.
       G             Am   C              G                            Bm          C       G
But now they only block the sun, they rain and snow on everyone.
               C            Am                              C+                          D
So many things I would have done but clouds got in my way.
 
       G              Am               C                G
I've looked at clouds from both sides now,
         C           G                C             G
From up and down, and still somehow
      Bm         C          G
It's clouds illusions I recall.
   C                           D  Dsus D G   G C G C  x2
I really don't know clouds  at all.
 


G                 Am            C        G                            Bm        C            G
Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels, the dizzy dancing way you feel
                     C      Am                             C+                              D
When every fairy tale comes real; I've looked at love that way.
       G           Am    C          G                                Bm          C               G
But now it's just another show, you leave 'em laughing when you go
                  C                Am                              C+                      D
And if you care, don't let them know, don't give yourself away.
     
        G             Am            C                G
I've looked at love from both sides now,
          C             G             C              G
From give and take, and still somehow
       Bm       C          G
It's love's illusions I recall.
   C                           D Dsus D   G   G C G C  x2
I really don't know love      at all.



 
G         Am        C       G               Bm        C         
Tears and fears and feeling proud to say "I love you" right out 
G
loud,
           C           Am                  C                   
Dreams and schemes and circus crowds, I've looked at life that 
D
way.
    G       Am          C      G                         Bm     
But now old friends are acting strange, they shake their heads, 
     C                 G
they say  I've changed.
                C        Am                    C            D
But something's lost but something's gained in living every day.
 
G         Am        C          G
I've looked at life from both sides now,
     C       G         C         G
From win and lose, and still somehow
     Bm       C       G
It's life's illusions I recall.
  C                 D Dsus D   G  G C G C  x4
I really don't know life at all.

Tuesday, 29 July 2025

o) Uke-Song: "NO ELEMENTS", an elegy to incomparable satirist Tom Lehrer



PARODY-LYRICS


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

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, 2013. A decade later, it might be worthwhile to review these once more.

Please note that T.L.'s genius has provided inspiration for a handful of other parody patter-songs; these are summarized at the bottom of this post.


EXPLANATION: Lehrer had adapted the tune 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.

PARODY-LYRICS LINK: The lyrics for this song constituted one of Giorgio's earliest submissions to the online parody-lyrics website at AmIRight.com. And, should you prefer, they are also displayed without the chord-indications on our blogsite "Daily Illustrated Nonsense"; click HERE.


NO ELEMENTS

(to the tune of "The Elements")


A famous building in Rome

Most names for elements are
 neutral Latin nouns




Roman empire included England


  


      




 







Singable Introduction







The Patter-Song Lyrics:









There’s [G]pablum, perineum, paramecium, petroleum
And [D7]locum and inoculum, lyceum and linoleum
A few English words ending in -UM
 are not of Latin origin
And [G]tritium, deuterium, trapezium and trillium
My[D]celium, flagellum, endo[A7]thelium and [D]cilium.

There’s [D7]quorum and decorum, mausoleum, mora[Gm]torium
And [F7]premium, per-annum, honorarium, em[Bb]porium
And [D7]pendulum and forum, fulcrum, speculum, bac[Gm]terium
And [Eb7]cerebellum, plenum, sum, curriculum, de[D7]lirium.

Gym[G]nasium and stadium and magnum and terrarium
So[D7]larium, momentum, myocardium, aquarium
And [G]scrotum and fac[D7]totum and post[G]partum and con[D7]tinuum
And [G]duodenum, [C]referendum, [G]rectum [D7]and re[G]siduum.

Addendum #1
There's [G]stratum, alum, [D7]allium, al[G]luvium et [D7]alia,
And [G]mom's pouch called mar[C]supium, but [G]mostly [D7]in Aus[G]tralia.

Addendum #2
To [G]plural them, heads [D7]swirling them, “What [G]single rule? - please [D7]answer, Pa”.
My [G]dictum, “Don’t in[C]flict ‘em with [G]erratums [D7]or chry[G]santhema !” 
et cetera!


(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!)

You crave more patter-songs in the style of Tom Lehrer???
T.L. inspired a significant platterful of songs related to our interest in grammatically paired words, including binomials and reduplications. And, you should have your foot in the door, having mastered the complexities of singing and playing our above offering "No Elements".  So, enjoy trying these as well !!!     
1a. "Alliterative Binomials, part#1"
3.  "A Lesson about Reduplications" (not a patter-song)
5.  "The Uniqueness of Nuclear", Latin adjectival listing, scheduled for April 2024.



Related Palindromes:  (Latin examples found at Auxilium: Palindroma

There seem to be no published examples of phrases based on the  neutral nouns !!! 

Ave, Eva.  (Hail, Eve !)

Sum summus mus. (I am the top mouse)

Et tiger non regit te.  (And the tiger doesn't rule thee).

Aures serua.  (Safeguard your ears).

Sator Arepo Tenet Opera Rotas. (The famous  "Sator Square" - can be read either horizontally or vertically 

Roma tibi subito motibus ibit amor. (In Rome, love will go to you suddenly)



Saturday, 19 July 2025

s, o) Children's Uke-Song: ""ARE YOUR ETHICS LOW?"

 

SONG with UKULELE CHORDS

ORIGINAL SONG: "You can listen to the Trio's well-known version on YouTube HERE
 

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, August 2018.  To return to the corresponding post on "Daily Illustrated Nonsense" (and to see the lyrics without the chord-chart indications) click HERE

SONGLINKS:



ARE YOUR PRECEPTS LOW?

 (to the tune of "Do your Ears Hang Low?")

                                                                        

Are your precepts low, unlike Kamala and Joe?

The DOJ* 's got photo-pics and piles of video. 

If released, corroboration could cause MAGA** consternation -- ,

Drive poll-ratings low.


Are your standards low? Friendly pedophiles you know

Have bestowed conspiring theorists with rumors that will flow -- 

MAGA-loyalists hoped Dems would crowd Jeff's "list", and steal the show. 

Are your ethics low?   


Are your moral precepts low? Nasty pederasts you know

Seen in birthday cards and photo-files and piles of video. 

At some parties you were host; bimbos aged eighteen at most.  

Are your standards low?


Are your moral standards low? It's "fake news", we hear you crow: 

"Files concocted by James Comey, and Hillary and Joe."  

So get Congress dismissed early, and avoid the hurly-burly.

Aren't your standards low?


Department oJustice (US)

** make America great again, slogan for the loosely defined Trump-controlled  Republican Party 



ORIGINAL SONG-LYRICS

Click directly on any slide to view the thumbnails at the bottom of the page.  You can then use them to easily go back and forth between the parody-version and the original lyrics.

Sunday, 29 June 2025

o) French Plural Uke-Song: "MAUX-DE-TEXTE", headachy lyricx


PARODY-LYRICS,  see also the previous posts on this blog:
"Ewe-Yew-You", "Jeux-de-Mots", and "Jeux-de-Mots, Encore".

ORIGINAL SONG: "Do-Re-Mi", Rodgers and Hammerstein 1959, performed by Julie Andrews and the cast of "The Sound of Music".

French Version of the Musical
PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, December 2014.

PARODY-LYRICS LINK: To return to the corresponding post on "Daily Illustrated Nonsense" (and to see the lyrics without the chord-chart indications) click HERE


MAUX-DE-TEXTE

 (to the tune of "Do-Re-Mi")




UKULELE-FRIENDLY FORMAT
























Thursday, 19 June 2025

Yiddish Uke-Nostalgia: "SKITTISH DOLL"


PARODY LYRICS
ORIGINAL SONG: "Satin Doll" -- Music written in 1953 by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, lyrics composed years later by Johnny Mercer. Recorded by Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., etc. The second verse of the original lyrics contain the words ... "Speaks Latin, my Satin Doll."
So, could it hurt if she spoke Yiddish?  

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, July 2017.

To return to the corresponding post on "Daily Illustrated Nonsense", for some further recommendations about this song (and to see the lyrics without the chord-chart indications) click HERE.



Couple dancing at their son's Bar Mitzvah party in 1958.



SKITTISH DOLL      

(to the tune of "Satin Doll") 


UKULELE-FRIENDLY FORMAT

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




















Prospects for Bar Mitzvah celebrations during the 50s.





Monday, 9 June 2025

o) Uke-Song: "R-I-C-E" (rest, ice, compression, elevation) -- a seniors' sports injury ballad





PARODY-LYRICS
ORIGINAL SONG: "YMCA", Village People, 1978.
PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, April 2014.

PARODY-LYRICS LINK: To return to the corresponding post on "Daily Illustrated Nonsense" (and to see the lyrics without the chord-chart indications) click HERE
(You can also view the lyrics and commentary (without images or chords, at the  parody-lyrics site where they were originally posted online)  at AmIRight.com Post"R-I-C-E"









RICE is a mnemonic for 4 elements used to treat soft-tissue and other injuries.



R-I-C-E            
          
(to the tune of "Y-M-C-A")



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