Sunday 16 March 2014

Tribute to Ogden Nash, including MORE singable poems


POST #29
PARODY-LYRICS by Giorgio Coniglio
+ Classic POEMS SET TO MUSIC
Original poem: "Trees" Joyce Kilmer 1914, lyrics set to music by O. Rosbach 1922;  performed by Mario Lanza, Nelson Eddy, The Platters, Bob McGrath etc. 
Parody of the poem "Trees": "Song of the Open Road" Ogden Nash, etc.
Parody of the song "Trees": many examples are posted at AmIRight.com including "The Spoofs" by Giorgio Coniglio, 2013, as per the post on this blog of December 6.
Poems by Ogden Nash: excerpted from The Best of Ogden Nash, ed. Linell Nash Smith, published by Ivan R. Dee, 2007.







 HARD LINES    poetic parody, previously unpublished, by Giorgio Coniglio    

C                                         Dm                                       
   I feel unhappy when I'm near
Fm                                       C7   C9 
  A poem sappy as these here.
F                     F#dim7           C
  And yet we honor Ogden Nash, 
 C7                                                             F
 Whose spoof portrayed a billboard crash. 
      Bm7         F     C               F     C   D7          
- His verse that stood the test of time
G7                   G7s      Em G   C
  Like Kilmer's used a simple rhyme.

C                             Dm 
  No flashiness or trashiness  
Fm                                   C7 
  Rich, rare, rash ogdenashiness *
F                     F#dim7            C      
  Indeed the march of time refines
C7                                              F
  The wisdom in these classic lines
 Fm                  C        F#dim7 D7
   "The cow is of the bovine ilk
 Bb9               Dm7            G7   C
One end is moo, the other, milk"

* 2 italicized lines are modified from a farewell tribute to Nash by Morris Bishop, 1971.


THE FOSSILS   poem by Ogden Nash  




C                                     Dm    
   At midnight in museum hall
Fm                                          C7   C9 
  The fossils gathered for a ball. 
F                          F#dim7             C
  There were no drums or saxophones 
 C7                                           F
  But just the clatter of their bones
     Bm7    F   C      F      C      D7          
A rolling, rattling carefree circus
G7                    G7s            Em C
Of mammoth polkas and mazurkas.
C                                          Dm 
  Pterodactyls and brontosauruses   
Fm                                         C7 
  Sang ghostly prehistoric choruses.
F                 F#dim7        C      
  Amid the mastodonic wassail
C7                                                 F
  I caught the eye of one small fossil.
 Fm                 C          F#dim7       D7
Cheer up old man he said , and winked - 
 Bb9               Dm7   G7     C   
   It's kind of fun to be extinct.



THE PURIST   poem by Ogden Nash




C                                               Dm    
   I give you now, Professor Twist
Fm                                   C7   C9 
  A conscientious scientist.
F                     F#dim7                      C
  Trustees exclaimed, "He never bungles!"
 C7                                             F
  And sent him off to distant jungles.
         Bm7       F   C    F  C   D7          
Camped on a tropic riverside 
G7                   G7s        Em G     C
  One day he missed his loving bride.

C                                            Dm 
   Camped on a tropic riverside
Fm                                               C7 
  One day he missed his loving bride.
F                                   F#dim7        C      
  She had the guide informed him later
C7                                    F
  Been eaten by an alligator.
 Fm            C              F#dim7     D7
Professor Twist could not but smile
 Bb9                        Dm7          G7  C   
   "You mean," he said, "a crocodile."





THE HIPPOPOTAMUS, and THE RHINO poems by Ogden Nash

C                                       Dm    
   Behold the hippopotamus
Fm                                                C7   C9 
  We laugh at how he looks to us.
F                     F#dim7                  C
  And yet in moments dark and grim
 C7                                          F
  I wonder how we look to him.
         Bm7       F   C    F  C   D7          
Peace, peace, thou hippopotamus ! 
G7              G7s       Em   G   C
  We really look all right to us.
C                                                    Dm 
   And you no doubt delight the eye,
Fm                              C7 
  Of other hippopotami.

F                         F#dim7 C      
  The rhino is a homely beast
C7                                             F
  For human eyes he's not a feast.
 Fm                   C            F#dim7 D7
Farewell, farewell, you old rhinoceros,
 Bb9                Dm7           G7          C   
   I'll stare at something less prepoceros.


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