ThursdayNext : www.jasperfforde.com
A discussion of all things Thursday !
Er, is this the right song then?
Posted by: poetscientistdrinker (---.cache.pol.co.uk)
Date: November 30, 2002 08:09PM
<HTML>I'm too young to be doing this request as I don't think I ever heard the song - although maybe there are a few repressed memories of it from primary school in the mid-80's (we'd only just caught up with the early 70's in my village by then)...
Sorry if it all goes wobbly and falls apart, but I have no idea how it needs to scan...
The Thesaurus Song:
An old Roget's Thesaurus was standing one day,
On the shelves of a dark library,
He turned his own pages, as he fretfully lay,
Looking for a synonym of 'love'.
Trapped by his listing in the Duwey decimal system,
In the 420's or so.
Now this desperate thesaurus was no ignoramus,
Or an idiot, or stupid; you know. He sang:
Chorus:
Words, words, glorious words,
Try writing without them you'll find it absurd.
So consult my onslaught of words that you might want,
And I'll make love to you with glorious words.
The lonely thesaurus hoped to marry, or get hitched,
Tie the knot, find wedlock, get spliced.
And he fancied the dictionary on the shelf opposite,
As he liked her tight leather bindings.
So he jumped down to the floor, and climbed up to her shelf,
And that took him a day or more.
But the love for which he pined merely straightened her spine,
And ignored his poor love song:
chorus...
Now the poor old thesaurus began to feel sad,
On the shelf of that lonely library.
Driven mad by his love for a edition of Johnson,
His poor heart could take it no more.
He had to end it, terminate and halt it,
To bring himself finality,
He made himself a noose, by shredding up th news-
papers, climbed to the top and then jumped.
Oh...
Chorus and end.
psd - under duress</HTML>
Sorry if it all goes wobbly and falls apart, but I have no idea how it needs to scan...
The Thesaurus Song:
An old Roget's Thesaurus was standing one day,
On the shelves of a dark library,
He turned his own pages, as he fretfully lay,
Looking for a synonym of 'love'.
Trapped by his listing in the Duwey decimal system,
In the 420's or so.
Now this desperate thesaurus was no ignoramus,
Or an idiot, or stupid; you know. He sang:
Chorus:
Words, words, glorious words,
Try writing without them you'll find it absurd.
So consult my onslaught of words that you might want,
And I'll make love to you with glorious words.
The lonely thesaurus hoped to marry, or get hitched,
Tie the knot, find wedlock, get spliced.
And he fancied the dictionary on the shelf opposite,
As he liked her tight leather bindings.
So he jumped down to the floor, and climbed up to her shelf,
And that took him a day or more.
But the love for which he pined merely straightened her spine,
And ignored his poor love song:
chorus...
Now the poor old thesaurus began to feel sad,
On the shelf of that lonely library.
Driven mad by his love for a edition of Johnson,
His poor heart could take it no more.
He had to end it, terminate and halt it,
To bring himself finality,
He made himself a noose, by shredding up th news-
papers, climbed to the top and then jumped.
Oh...
Chorus and end.
psd - under duress</HTML>
Re: Er, is this the right song then?
Posted by: Jon (---.proxy.aol.com)
Date: November 30, 2002 09:34PM
<HTML>Actually, for somebody who doesn't know the tune, that's pretty good. For those of you (i.e. everybody except me and Sarah) the original is that classic ditty 'The Hippopotamus Song' (aka Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud) by Michael Flanders and Donald Swann, who were a sort of comic cabaret act who flourished in the 1950's and '60s.
My favourite Flanders & Swann song, though, is "Have Some Madeira, M'Dear" - you can see the lyrics at [ion.le.ac.uk] although it omits the leer of "All unperforated!" that Flanders would insert after 'stamps'.
I was going to do the Hippo Song, but since I've been beaten to it I may try another one of theirs ... watch this space.</HTML>
My favourite Flanders & Swann song, though, is "Have Some Madeira, M'Dear" - you can see the lyrics at [ion.le.ac.uk] although it omits the leer of "All unperforated!" that Flanders would insert after 'stamps'.
I was going to do the Hippo Song, but since I've been beaten to it I may try another one of theirs ... watch this space.</HTML>
Re: Er, is this the right song then?
Posted by: poetscientistdrinker (---.cache.pol.co.uk)
Date: November 30, 2002 09:43PM
<HTML>I could remember the start of the chorus (as fas as 'glorious mud'), but not anything else from it.
Does this make it jazz?</HTML>
Does this make it jazz?</HTML>
Re: Er, is this the right song then?
Posted by: Jon (---.proxy.aol.com)
Date: November 30, 2002 09:51PM
<HTML>No, it doesn't, but you may just have given me an idea ....(evil laughter)</HTML>
Re: Er, is this the right song then?
Posted by: polly (---.cache.pol.co.uk)
Date: November 30, 2002 10:37PM
<HTML>IIRC, it goes:
Mud, mud, glorious mud; nothing quite like it for cooling the blood
So follow me, follow,
Down to the hollow,
And there we will wallow
In glo-o-o--o-rious mud.
Entirely from memory, without the aid of a safety net, and showing my age again <g>.
F&S also did a rather entertaining version of Mozart's horn concerto.</HTML>
Mud, mud, glorious mud; nothing quite like it for cooling the blood
So follow me, follow,
Down to the hollow,
And there we will wallow
In glo-o-o--o-rious mud.
Entirely from memory, without the aid of a safety net, and showing my age again <g>.
F&S also did a rather entertaining version of Mozart's horn concerto.</HTML>
Re: Er, is this the right song then?
Posted by: Sarah H Egginton (---.vip.uk.com)
Date: December 01, 2002 12:45PM
<HTML>Wow... Ben, we are not worthy! I nearly fell off my chair laughing. I've got my sister here at the moment and she loved it too. (I've been going on at her about Jasper Fforde all weekend - think she may have got the hint...)
Yes, I know "Madeira M'dear" (some wonderful examples of syllepsis!), and the Mozart Horn Concerto one, which requires more vocal athleticism to sing than I can personally summon. Thinking about it, that would be a great one for a parody too.
How nice to have found all you clever crazy people... :-)</HTML>
Yes, I know "Madeira M'dear" (some wonderful examples of syllepsis!), and the Mozart Horn Concerto one, which requires more vocal athleticism to sing than I can personally summon. Thinking about it, that would be a great one for a parody too.
How nice to have found all you clever crazy people... :-)</HTML>
Re: Er, is this the right song then?
Posted by: poetscientistdrinker (---.cache.pol.co.uk)
Date: December 01, 2002 11:15PM
<HTML>Er, quite. I'm sane, and got my psychotherapist to sign a certificate saying so for me.
Glad to be of service otherwise...
Has anybody else trawled back in time through the fforum past and noticed the drift away from sensible conversations on Nextian issues and towards random songs, nuggets and poor puns; the period of this transisition in the ffossil record being marked by an increase in the abundance of a couple of species of fforde ffans... Have we hijacked the fforum for our own evil purposes of humour, driving away the sensible people. In short, have the lunatics taken over the asylum?</HTML>
Glad to be of service otherwise...
Has anybody else trawled back in time through the fforum past and noticed the drift away from sensible conversations on Nextian issues and towards random songs, nuggets and poor puns; the period of this transisition in the ffossil record being marked by an increase in the abundance of a couple of species of fforde ffans... Have we hijacked the fforum for our own evil purposes of humour, driving away the sensible people. In short, have the lunatics taken over the asylum?</HTML>
Re: Er, is this the right song then?
Posted by: Ooktavia (---.nv.iinet.net.au)
Date: December 02, 2002 04:55AM
<HTML>Of course the lunatics have not taken over the asylum. There is no asylum. It's all in your mind.... he he he ;-)</HTML>
Re: Er, is this the right song then?
Posted by: Rob Johnson (---.leeds.ac.uk)
Date: December 02, 2002 11:56AM
<HTML>While agreeing with the comments above, I like 'The Tale of Never Ending
Domestic Upheaval'
T'was on a Monday morning...
(which it is just).
Also, one verse of 'The English are best" seems pertinent at the moment
The whole world over each nation's the same,
They've simply no notion of playing the game,
The jeer at the umpire,
And cheer when they've won,
And practice beforehand which ruins the fun.
Chorus
All together now...
(Well, Jon, Sarah, Polly and I anyway...)</HTML>
Domestic Upheaval'
T'was on a Monday morning...
(which it is just).
Also, one verse of 'The English are best" seems pertinent at the moment
The whole world over each nation's the same,
They've simply no notion of playing the game,
The jeer at the umpire,
And cheer when they've won,
And practice beforehand which ruins the fun.
Chorus
All together now...
(Well, Jon, Sarah, Polly and I anyway...)</HTML>
Re: Er, is this the right song then?
Posted by: Sarah H Egginton (---.vip.uk.com)
Date: December 02, 2002 11:56AM
<HTML>I don't care. I like this asylum. I feel happy here. :-)</HTML>
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