Limerick-Uke-Saga: "The BIPOLAR ILLNESS of GUN-TOTING PHYLLIS"

SINGABLE LIMERICKS   

ORIGINAL SONG: These verses can be sung 
to "The Limerick Song", as in "The Flea and the Fly". 
LIMERICK VERSE: The lyrics for the corresponding poem by Giorgio Coniglio were originally web-published  at the OEDILF website (the Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form).

SONGLINK: To sing more lyrics about gun control, go to this earlier blogpost, "More Limericks of Gun-Control". 

PHYLLIS'S BIPOLAR ILLNESS

(to the tune of 'The Limerick Song')

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.)

Author's Note : The two phases of bipolar illness or manic-depressive disease are manifested in unpredictable time sequence, with considerable disruption to patients, families, and even the surrounding community. Medications, including longterm lithium salts, are often helpful in maintaining equilibrium; however, prescribed drugs may be discontinued by patients who enjoy the feeling of accomplishment and creativity that accompany the hypomanic phase.

s,o) Uke-Song: "YEW-PHORIC", hedging your bets

PARODY LYRICS

ORIGINAL SONG: "Hot Blooded" 1978, Foreigner.

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, May 2016.

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. 

YEW-PHORIC

(to the tune of "Hot Blooded")


Well, I'm euphoric, planned a new hedge
Down my property at its western edge.
Screen out neighbor, with garage piled with stuff.
I'm YEW-phoric, I'm YEW-phoric.  

I won't have to see the junk, ev'ry day you bring in your trunk.
Discount plants that you buy

Spread out on your drive, some dead some half-alive .

I won't care where you pot them after they die.

I'll restrict your sins, secret forays with your garbage bins. 
While I've been away, I know you use my walk on garbage day.

It's called Podocarpus, or Japanese yew
Grows quite tightly, blocks objectable view 
Screen this neighbor, who spreads out all her junk
I'm YEW-phoric, YEW-phoric.

My first scheme denied - planting zone can't be on your side.
Shall we break off the talks?
But I needed space next to line; more space at property line, 
Near killed me, used hot crow-bar, smashed half-foot off my brick walk. 

Do you love to hoard? And pile your yard up with old bricks and boards?
Buy old junk on binge? Old bent Santa-sign with rusty fringe?

Now I'm euphoric - more privacy
Bought their stock out, planted all thirty-three
Screened out neighbor, with garage piled with stuff
I'm YEW-phoric, I'm YEW-phoric.

(Electric guitar or ukulele solo)

I'll track down your sins, secret forays with your garbage bins 
If I find snipped yews, I'll assume a crime by you-know-who.

Yeah, I'm euphoric, new privacy hedge
Blocks invading weeds like knotweed and sedge
Screened out neighbor, who spreads out all her trash
I'm YEW-phoric, I'm YEW-phoric.

(Fade)
Eureka! Hedge that's so neat
A year of growth - should get to five feet
YEW-phoric; it reduces my stress
YEW-phoric; screens out all her mess  
YEW-phoric; it grows pretty dense
YEW-phoric; hides her lawn ornaments  
YEW-phoric; it's making me dance
YEW-phoric; these are dense fence-plants .......

West-Coast Uke-Song: "'CALI (-fornia)", an Al Jolson ballad

SONG with UKULELE CHORDS

ORIGINAL SONG: "Swanee" 1919, music by George Gershwin, aged 20 at that point; lyrics by Irving Caesar.

PARODY COMPOSED: Dr. G.H. and Giorgio Coniglio, April 2019, following a trip to California. If you return to the corresponding post on "Daily Illustrated Nonsense", you can see notes explaining the lyrics (and see them without the chord-chart indications);  click HERE. 

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.)

C-tuned Ukulele specifics:
C+5 = 1003;  Cm = 0333;  G#7 = 1323;  Dm7 = 2213;  G7sus = 0213;  Dm6 = 2212. 

(to the tune of Gershwin's "Swanee")

ORIGINAL LYRICS

(click on any verse chart to move to thumbnail selection mode; this will allow you to compare the original with the parody-song at your ease)

o) Neapolitan Uke-Song: "UKULELÍ, UKULELÁ", an anachronistic anecdote (+ volcanic palindromes).

PARODY-LYRICS
ORIGINAL SONG: "Funiculi, Funicula" , Luigi Denza, 1880.
PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, February 2013. 

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


This mostly-true story has 3 characters - the volcano itself, Vesuvius, which dominates the Bay of Naples, and 2 music composers. Luigi Denza wrote hundreds of songs, mostly in Neapolitan, including this smash hit composed for the opening of the funicular in 1880.  Richard Strauss lived in Munich; after visiting Naples in 1887 as a young man, he incorporated the tune into a symphonic work aus Italien, which was poorly received by critics. Later he became famous for symphonic tone-poems including Thus Spake Zarathustra,  the theme for 2001: A Space Odyssey, and modern operas - der Rosenkavalier, Elektra. 
The fanciful existence of ukuleles in Europe in the 19th century is an anachronism; hence, the song was initially titled Anacroni, Anacrona. 

UKULELÍ, UKULELÁ

(to the tune of "Funiculi, Funicula")

     

 INTRO: ’Ncoppa jammo ja’, ukulelí, ukulelá.

Volcanodromes (Palindromes dealing with volcanoes): 


Point of information: Etna, Stomboli and Vesuvio are the 3 major active volcanoes in Italy)

No lava ! Not on Avalon !

Foo! hot Ava, lava to hoof.

A red lac, red nice cinder, caldera.   (lac is a red dye obtained as a byproduct of processing shellac)

Ante-time; I am game. Magma I emit. Etna.

I lob morts. Stromboli   (mort is French for dead-man, cadaver)

O! I'v U severe. Pere Vesuvio.

Tessa's in Italy - Latin is asset. 

Mt (A)etna June, 2014 

Performing notes


Intro: ’N[Bb]coppa jammo [F] ja’, ukule[C7]lí, ukule[F]lá.

One [F] day, while Strauss was tramming up Vesuvius,He [C] heard a [F] song, a [C] catchy [F] song.

And [F] as he’d brought along his uke and notebook,

He [C] wrote it [F] down, then [C] strummed a[F]long.

He [Am] gave the [E7] borrowed [Am] pencil [E7] back to [Am] Denza,
With [E7] whom he [Am] jammed, as [E7] up they [Am] swayed.

And [C] as the [G] active [C] crater [G] hissed and [C] rumbled,
 Strauss [G] missed him [C] mumble, a[G7]bove Pom[C]pei.
   

(Denza sang)……
[C7]“ Copy-, copy-, copyright is mine,

Specific terms the sanctioned use de[F]fine.
While jamming [A] here is gen’rally [Dm] fine,

While jamming [A7] here is gen’rally [Dm] fine,

[Bb] Legal friends o[F]pine, Vesuvius - [C7] Sì, but Munich - [F] Nein  ”.

.....
.....

  

Outro: ’N[Bb]coppa jammo [F] ja’, ukule[C7]lí, ukule[F]lá.

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.

o) Wordy Uke-Song: "FORMULAIC-PLEONASTIC-LEGALISTIC DOUBLETS"

SONG with UKULELE CHORDS

ORIGINAL SONG:  "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious",  from the movie "Mary Poppins", Sherman Brothers, 1963, as performed by Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews.

PARODY COMPOSED: Dr. G.H. and Giorgio Coniglio, 2015. This song is the ninth and final in the series on Word-Pairs. 

WORDPLAY LINK: For discussion of legalese on our sister blogsite "DAILY ILLUSTRATED NONSENSE", click HERE. (You can also find a simpler version of the parody-lyrics displayed without the chords, should you desire.) 

FORMULAIC-PLEONASTIC-LEGALISTIC-DOUBLETS 

(to the tune of "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" - Mary Poppins)

UKULELE-FRIENDLY FORMAT:

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

The ukulele chords for this song are extremely simple, and the song could easily be transposed to a different key. 

 

ORIGINAL SONG:

HOT LINKS to the SONGS (Updated, 2021)  

Uke-friendly versions here on "Silly Songs and Satire"

Pairs 

Alliterative Binomials, part #1

Alliterative Binomials, part #2

Rhyming Binomials, A to L

Rhyming Binomials, M to Z

Reduplications - Lesson

Reduplications - Lexicon A to K

Reduplications - Lexicon L to Z

Legal Doublets (see above)