SILLY SONGS and SATIRE

Friday, 7 August 2015

An ABBA Contrafactum (mishmash) part #2: "Those Were Our Trains"

Illinois Central Railroad:
Mississippi Valley route

POST #85

PASTICHE OF 2 ORIGINAL SONGS, with interchange of lyrics and themes; the more complex term contrafactum is explained in the previous post, "Starry Notions."

ORIGINAL SONG#1-MUSIC: "Those Were The Days", by Boris Fomin. This song was first recorded with Russian lyrics in 1925; translated by Gene Raskin, it was recorded by the Limeliters. Subsequently it became a worldwide hit single as recorded by Mary Hopkin, 1968; Paul McCartney produced the session for the new Apple label.

ORIGINAL SONG#2 - LYRICS: "The City of New Orleans". Steve Goodman wrote this song after riding the iconic train in 1971, and played it for Arlo Guthrie, who recorded it on his album "Hobo's Lullaby", 1972.

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, April, 2015.

KEYWORDS: goldenoldy, mishmash

An A-B B-A-CONTRAFACTUM

1)Singable Introduction

2)"Starry Notions"

=see the previous posting

3)"Those Were Our Trains"

(to the tune of Those Were the Days" as performed by Mary Hopkin)

Fifty years ago a lonely whistle –

Goodman’s ode to disappearing trains.

Arlo Guthrie covered his epistle
While passengers took off for cars and planes.

Those were our trains my friend, their near demise portended -

Grid derailed while Willie topped the charts,

A spate of bankruptcies – Pullman and then Pennsy,

And Congress salvaged the remaining parts.

La la la la la la La la la la la la

Amtrak can manage the remaining parts.

Riding on the City of New Orleans.

Mississippi Central morning rail (1)

Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders

Three conductors, twenty sacks of mail.

The train they call the C. of N.O.

Along the odyssey, pull out at Kankakee
And roll along past houses, farms and fields
Past towns that have no names, freight yards full of old men
And graveyards of the rusted automobiles.

La la la la la la La la la la la la

The graveyards of the rusted automobiles.

Good morning America how are you?
Don't you know me I'm your native son,
The train they call The City of New Orleans -
I'll go five hundred miles ere day is done.

The towns and people seem part of a troubling dream
But the steel rails no longer have the blues
Conductor sings again, passengers please refrain -

This line makes profit hauling coal and crude.

La la la la la la La la la la la la

We now make profit hauling coal and crude.

Twenty years ago, Illinois Central

Was bought out by our neighbor’s CNR (2)

Amtrak runs the intercity service

Ridership keeps creeping up so far.

Stations and riders seem like a non-profit scheme
Yet subsidies have solved Steve Goodman’s blues
Rail’s bottom-line’s now great, its locomotive’s freight

Passenger service serves as the caboose.

La la la la la la La la la la la la

Passenger service serves as the caboose.

(1) The Mississippi Central, operating from Mississippi to Tennessee, was absorbed into the Illinois Central system in 1878.

(2) Canadian National Railways

Performing Notes for "Those Were Our Trains"

Ukuleles or other stringed instruments e.g. balalaikas, play tremolo as indicated by ~~~

[Dm~~~]
[Dm!] Fifty years [Gm!] ago a lonely [Dm~] whistle –

[Dm!] Goodman’s ode to [D7!] disappearing [Gm~] trains

[Gm7!] Arlo Guthrie [Gm6!] covered his e[Dm~]pistle

While [E!] passengers took [E7!] off for cars and [A7!] planes.

[A7+] Those were [A7] our [Dm] trains my friend, their near-[Gm]-demise portended

[Gm7] Grid de[C]railed while [C7] Willie topped the [F] charts

[F6] A spate of [Gm7] bankrupt[Gm6]cies – Pullman and [Dm] then Pennsy,

And Congress [A7] salvaged [A7+] the remaining [Dm] parts.

[Dm!] La-[A7!]la-la [Dm] la-la-la La-[D7]la-la [Gm] la-la-la

Amtrak can [A7] manage [A7+] public-[A7]-service [Dm] parts.

An ABBA Contrafactum (mishmash) part#1: "Starry Notions"

The train they call
"The City of New Orleans"

POST #84

**PASTICHE OF 2 ORIGINAL SONGS, with interchange of lyrics and music; the more complex term contrafactum is explained below in the singable introduction.**

ORIGINAL SONG#1 - LYRICS: "Those Were The Days", by Boris Fomin. This song was first recorded with Russian lyrics in 1925; translated by Gene Raskin, it was recorded by the Limeliters. Subsequently it became a worldwide hit single as recorded by Mary Hopkin, 1968; Paul McCartney produced the session for the new Apple label.

ORIGINAL SONG#2 - MUSIC: "The City of New Orleans". Steve Goodman wrote this song after riding the iconic train in 1971, and played it for Arlo Guthrie, who recorded it on his album "Hobo's Lullaby", 1972.

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, April, 2015.

KEYWORDS: goldenoldy, mishmash

An A-B B-A CONTRAFACTUM

1)Singable Introduction

(to the tune of "The City of New Orleans" as performed by Arlo Guthrie)

Writing an art-form called contrafactum

Parody sub-type, web-site AmIRight

Posted there a spoof about our railroads *

A song that bids America ‘Goodnight’.

But if you can take A’s melody and substitute the theme from B

The lines have got to be the proper length;

If everybody knows the tune, it’s fun to hum, but less to croon

Changed lyrics can get you tongue-tied, but that’s its strength.

So, ‘Hello!’ new diversion we can practice-

We can also sing A’s words to tune from B,

It’s word-play I’d call an “ABBA-contrafactum”

If it gets five hundred hits, I’d be in ecstasy.

* “Those Were Our Trains”, posted on AmIRight.com, April 6th.

2) "Starry Notions"

(to the tune of "The City of New Orleans" as performed by Arlo Guthrie )

verse#1:

Once upon a time there was a tavern,

Place where we used to raise a glass or two.

Remember how we laughed away the hours

And imagined all the great things that we would do.

Chorus:

Oh yes, those were the days my friend; we thought that they would never end

We’d sing and dance for ever and a day,

Live the life that we would choose, we’d fight and we would never lose,

And as youngsters we were certain to have our way.

But later, after busy years rushed by us,

Just, “La-la-la, how are you?” ’s what we’d say,

If by happenstance I saw you in the tavern.

We gave up our starry notions along the way.

verse #2:

Tonight I stood alone before the tavern

And nothing seemed the way it used to be

In the glass I saw a strange reflection,

Was that lonely older woman really me?

Chorus

verse #3:

Through the door there came familiar laughter

I saw your face and heard you call my name.

Oh my friend we’re older but no wiser

For in our hearts the yearning's still the same.

Chorus

Performing Notes for "Starry Notions":

The chord pattern is the same for each of the 3 verses of the new song; the chorus for this song amalgamates the 2nd and 3rd verse elements from Steve Goodman's railway-song.

[G] Once upon a [D7] time there was a [G] tavern,

[Em] Place where we used to [C] raise a glass or [G] two [D7]

Re[G]member how we [D] laughed away the [Em] hours

And i[G]magined all the [D7] great things that we would [G] do.

Oh [Em] yes, those were the days my friend; we [Bm] thought that they would never end

We’d [D] sing and dance for ever and a [A] day,

[Em] Live the life that we would choose, we’d [Bm] fight and we would never lose,

And as [D] youngsters we were [D7] certain to have our [G] way.[G7]

But [C] later, after [D7] busy years rushed [G] by us,

Just, [Em] “La-la-la, how [C] are you?” ’s what we’d [G] say,

[D] If by [G] happenstance I [D7] saw you in the [Em] tavern. [A7]

We gave [F] up our [C] starry [D7] notions along the [G] way.

Sunday, 28 June 2015

Poem "The Chaos" Revisited: "CHAOS TALK" - A Singable Version

POST #79
PASTICHE with PARODY-LYRICS

ORIGINAL POEM: "The Chaos" by Gerard Nolst Trenité, 1920.
ORIGINAL SONG: "Limbo Rock", as recorded 1962 by Chubby Checker.

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, June, 2015.
WORDPLAY LINK: The updated complete poem by G. Coniglio can be found on "Giorgio's Weekly Wordplay" at post #32.

KEYWORDS: language, goldenoldy, wordplay

Original version of the poem "The Chaos"

“The Chaos” is a poem written by the Dutch writer and English-teacher Gerard Nolst Trenité as a comment on the difficulty of English pronunciation. The work was published by the author in various versions (of increasing length) over the period 1920 to 1944; it has frequently appeared unattributed with some re-editing.

I have made changes quite liberally in the poem in adapting it, including 1) removing lines with dated language, 2) giving priority to American rather than British pronunciation, 3) making it singable, including a touch of Caribbean lilt in relation to the Original Song, 4) changing the politically-incorrect context with the implied female character now serving as the language expert as well as the inspiration, 5) creating some thematic stanzas based on the subject matter of the problematic words, and 6) adding a last stanza to emphasize the learner's problem of accenting the correct syllable.

Dr. Gerard Nolst Trenité,
1870-1946

CHAOS TALK
(a singable revision of 'The Chaos')

(to the tune of "Limbo Rock")

Greatest creature God create -

Teacher, please enunciate.

Show how sounds should auscultate

Make my head to oscillate.

Heat up versions in your verse

Words like corpse, corps, horse, hoarse, hearse

Tear in eye, tear dress and worse

Tersely parse, or pierce your purse.

History of a billet-doux -

....
....
....

Accent's hard to get correct

As in current or connect

Segment, portrait they portray

Moray, banquet and filet.

Insight, inquest and intent

Recent recipe, cement

Exit or exist, exude

Concert and request - conclude!

Performing Notes:

The chord pattern is the same for all verses, and is quite easy. The trick is to clinch the Caribbean rhythm with heavy beats on 2 and 4. and the English lyrics ending just before the 4th downbeat for every line. Another nice trick is to to employ voicing versions for the C and G7 chords (5,4,3,3, and 4,5,3,2 respectively), which allow downward NewYork strumming (for percussion effect) for the 4 and 4.5 counts in most lines (the F9 and G7 chords can also be adapted to do this for the last few line of each verse).

Fadd9 = 0010.

Saturday, 20 June 2015

Singable Limerick-Medley: CANADA DAY 2015

POST #77

PARODY-SONG with GUEST ARTISTS (various authors contributing limerick verses)

ORIGINAL SONG: These verses can be sung to "The Limerick Song" , as in "The Flea and the Fly". See sactoGranny's recording on YouTube here.

PARODY COMPOSED: Contributions by a number of authors. Edited by Giorgio Coniglio, originally in June 2015, modified by subsequent additions.

sactoGranny, singing
good, clean limericks

KEYWORDS: wordplay, poetry, traditional, Canadian

CONTENTS:
1. INTRO: Confederation
2. British Columbia
3. Alberta
4. Saskatchewan
5. Manitoba
6. Ontario
7. Quebec
8. New Brunswick
9. Prince Edward Island
10. Nova Scotia
11. Newfoundland
12. Nunavut
13. NWT
14. The Yukon

CANADA DAY 2015

A LIMERICK MEDLEY

(to the tune of "The Limerick Song")

To make the limericks look more like singable verse, lines 3 and 4 of the traditional 5-line format are compressed so that a four-line stanza with an internal rhyme in the third line results. Original lyrics by G.C. are noted here:

2. New to British Columbia? Rain

Won't extinguish the anguish and strain.

Frequent downpours and drizzle cause incentive to fizzle.

Cherish sunny climes" Get on a plane.

8. For your ode to the spell of New Brunswick

It bodes well that you threw in some puns, Rick;

For the Tidal Bore run daily spews through Moncton,

And the fine view of Fredricton stuns, Rick.

10. Those who cross to petite P.E. Island

Would concur there's no way it's a dry land;

Its calm temperate seas host some great seafood sprees:

Sunday church-dinner, lobster and pie land.