Nordic Uke-Song: "ÍSLAND (ICELAND) IN THE SUN"

PARODY-LYRICS
ORIGINAL SONG : "Island In the Sun", Harry Belafonte 1957. The original song has been covered in versions in German and Swedish, but not as far as I can tell in Icelandic. 
PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, December 2015.

 To see the lyrics displayed more concisely without the chord-indications (and to return to "Daily Illustrated Nonsense"), click HERE.

This song developed during a family trip to Iceland in June 2015. Our few days there were packed with wonderful sightseeing excursions. The weather was as good as it gets in Iceland (only minimal rain, not interfering with our travels). The highlight of the trip was the recently opened IceCave adventure; after a palpitating ride by giant truck over a huge ice-field, we walked into a system of tunnels in the glacier itself, led by an excellent informative guide.
The Icelandic language, a venerable tongue which has apparently changed little since the first settlers came to the island in the 9th century, seems challenging to learn. Fortunately for us, the friendly locals we encountered, at least in Reykjavik, all spoke English quite well.

Ísland = Iceland , pronounced eess-lant. 
góðan daginn = good morning, hello, pronounced goh-than die-in.
Eyjafjallajökull (j's pronounced as y)  = Island-Mountain-icecap, the subglacial volcano whose brief eruption caused the Icelandic ash problem in 2010; the volcano has now been considered dormant for 5 years.
    

KEYWORDS: multicultural, goldenoldy 

ÍSLAND (Iceland) IN THE SUN

(to the tune of Belafonte's "Island in The Sun")

This year we flew with Icelandair

Europe-bound and stopped halfway there.

We left TO, our kids from DC,

A meet-up trip for our family. 

Oh, Ísland, land of sun

Nights stay bright for the month of June;

Four full days, awesome sights to praise

Geysers, glaciers, volcanoes

IceCave, Langjökull

And Blue Lagoon.

A neat idea, break our trip

Meet at hotel-suite in Reykjavik.

Restos coped with vegg-necessity

And one kid GF lactose-free.

Didn’t know, but they’re eco-smart

Geo-thermal at system’s heart

Hot water piped everywhere you see

Heat all home and greenhouse for free.

Oh, Ísland, northern light

Eyjafjallajökull
eruption March 2010

Four full days touring awesome sights

Hotel choose, or your sleep you’ll lose

Weekends downtown bars

Never close at night.

Recent attraction, not to skip

Monster truck, glacier Ice-Cave trip

Bundle up, walk though colored ice

View crevasse, bottom-up is nice. 

Oh, Ísland, isle of fun

Nights stay bright for the month of June

Four full days, awesome sights to praise

Glacier overlying
 dormant volcano, 2013

Close with steamy bathing

At Blue Lagoon.

I'll greet old friends - “góðan daginn”, soon

When we go back some year in June

Next time stay longer, get my fill - 

Climb, and say, “Eyjafjallajökull”.

Oh, Ísland, isle of sun

Nights stay bright for the month of June;

More full days, awesome sights to praise

Geysers, glaciers, volcanoes

And Blue Lagoon.

tourist-party atop the glacier

 'night'-time hike down volcano
 to a steamy bathing spot

Performing Notes

[D] This year we flew with Ice[G]landAir

[A7] Europe-bound and stopped [D] halfway there.

[Bm] We left TO, our [Em] kids from DC,

[D] Meet-up trip for our [A7] fami[D]ly. 

[D] Oh, Ísland *, [G] isle of sun

[A7] Nights stay bright for the [D] month of June;

[Bm] Four full days, awesome [G] sights to praise

Geysers, [A7] glaciers, volcanoes

And [D] Blue Lagoon.

* pronounce as  'eess-lant'

Uke-Song: "JEUX DE-MOTS ENCORE"

Another SATIRICAL Uke-Song, inspired by the earlier postings of May 2023 ("Ewe-Yew-You") and July 2024 ("Jeux-de-Mots"):

To view the lyrics of "Do-Re-Mi, Encore" without the chord indications, and to return to the intriguing threads of "Daily Edifying Nonsense", click HERE.   

 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. 

 

Uke-song, The War of 1812 Revived: "THE PRATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS"

POST #27
PARODY-LYRICS

ORIGINAL SONG: "The Battle of New Orleans" Jimmy Driftwood 1958; popular cover by Johnny Horton, 1959

The United States 1812-1815

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, February, 2013.



You can view these lyrics and commentary displayed on a parody-lyrics website at AmIRight.com Post "The Prattle of New Orleans"

Jimmy Driftwood with 
his signature home-made guitar

The original recording

Battle-site map

Andrew Jackson (Old Hickory)
 leading troops to victory

THE PRATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS

(to the tune of "The Battle of New Orleans")

As a hist’ry buff, I thought that I should delve,

Into some stated details ‘bout the War of 1812.

’Cause before the BP oil-spill and the Storm they called Katrin’,

Was a diff’rent kind of battle near the Town of New Orleans.

Hup 2,3,4; Hup 2,3,4

I’d heard of Laura Secord, and the White House getting torched,

And a bit of British Caribbean forces getting zorched.

I checked it with my Southern spouse, her knowledge too was pale,

But we both knew Jimmy Driftwood’s folksy song could tell the tale.

We knew by heart the Johnny Horton version,

With the poor alligator that got used as cannon-bore:

It topped the charts over here as well as Britain,

Though it clearly smudged the history and magnified the lore.

Was Old Hick’ry drinkin’ buds with Jean Laffitte?

And why’d the British bring along so many drums to beat?

And who’d believe the dyin’ words of General Pakenham

Were “you better quit a-foolin’ with your cousin Uncle Sam”?

Did seasoned soldiers turn and do the rabbit-run,

When confronted with militia who were firing squirrel-guns?

So I took a couple Beanos, then I snarfed on nacho-chips,

And I googled “Town of New Orleans and British fighting ships”.

 It seems…

The Brits had occupied the west bank Mississip’,

Fog lifted, they got blasted sneakin’ over in their ships,

More leaders killed and wounded as they tried to storm the Town,

So their troops were not a-runnin’, they just stood and got mowed down.

Weeks thence, per Wikiped’ in Feb’ 1815,

The English, reassembled, sailed out east from New Orleans,

They targeted more mischief ’long the coast of Alabam’

(In the hold the rum-packed body of their Gen’ral Pakenham).

They left Mobile standing when the orders finally reached ’em,

“No territory changing, just return to status quo”,

On Christmas Eve belligerents had penned the Ghent treaty,

So the Indies Fleet sailed home across the Gulf of Mexico.

This strange War that began with maritime embargoes

Seemed a drawn-out pointless offshoot of Napoleonic woes;

If “agreed on as a triumph” on the two sides of the border,

It’s the writing and the citing and the singing makes it so !

Hup 2,3,4 x2. Sound off 3,4 x2.....

Enjoy chord-charts and lyrics at the Corktown Ukulele Jam songbook (Parody section at end): Corktunes: The Prattle of New Orleans


To play the original song- The Battle of New Orleans, Johnny Horton version, check out Corktunes, the songbook of the Corktown Ukulele Jam here

HOTLINKS TO OTHER CANADIAN-THEMED SONG-POSTINGS

An Alien Heading South

Big Rob Rehab Clinic

Canadian Reunion

Canoeing Lesson

I've Got Anagrams, Eh?

Flight of the Loonie

FOP-Shop Wine

Mergerwocky

Off-Patent Drug #19

Prattle of New Orleans (see below)

Suburbs' Guy

The Maple Leaf Ad Infinitum 

This Land Has Anagrams 

TTC Voices

Vancouver's Isle

..AND A FEW LIMERICK-BASED SONGS

Shania Twain's "Verse": An anthem for limericists

Canada Day 2015 (singable limericks)
Limericks About Chemainus, B.C.


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