New filk: Phi

[Arthur T.]

Note: The song starts with the (scansion of) the *verses* of the
song. I've heard the Weavers sing them, but no one else.

Title: Phi
ttto: When the Saints go Marching In

Let me tell you of a number.
In nature, it is key.
It is not transcendental,
Like the well-known pi and e.

That ratio,
Extreme and mean,
It is the Golden Ratio.
I am in love with that number,
And we all now call it phi.

In art and math,
It's always there,
Esthetics and mathematics.
That is why I love that number:
(U)biquity of golden phi.

In nature's schemes,
Like in pine cones,
And nautilus, and sunflowers,
You will find phi recurring
In its Fibonacci way.

Add one to phi,
You get phi squared.
Subtract one to get its inverse.
Now that is one special number.
Pentagrams are phi-bulous.

Irrational,
Both me and phi,
But in very different ways.
And the logarithmic spiral's
Intimately tied to phi.

I have seen phi is useful;
It's a beauty in my view.
And I hope I have inspired
All of you to love it, too.

My lyrics copyright 2017 by Arthur Tansky. License granted for
non-commercial, non-political archiving and performance as long as:
1. copyright notice is maintained, and
2. no money changes hands.

--
Arthur T. - ar23hur "at" pobox "dot" com

Guessing a lyricist's opinions from his songs is as futile as
guessing an author's opinions from his novels.

[Gary McGath]

On 6/18/17 1:09 AM, Arthur T. wrote:
> Note: The song starts with the (scansion of) the *verses* of the
> song. I've heard the Weavers sing them, but no one else.
>
> Title: Phi
> ttto: When the Saints go Marching In

That got me to look up a couple of YouTube performances of the song by
the Weavers, which was worth it since I don't think I'd ever heard any
of the words other than the well-known chorus. But the "verses" there
sound like basically the same tune as the chorus, and I can't fit it to
your verses without forcing. Is there some specific performance I need
to find?

--
Gary McGath http://www.mcgath.com

[Arthur T.]

In Message-ID:<oi5ta4$5bd$1...@dont-email.me>,

Gary McGath <ga...@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com> wrote:

>But the "verses" there
>sound like basically the same tune as the chorus, and I can't fit it to
>your verses without forcing. Is there some specific performance I need
>to find?

That's hard to say. Mine's from CD and it'll take some time for
me to figure out which one. But in order to write this, I
transcribed the verses thus:

1st:
We are trav'ling in the footsteps
Of those who've gone before
And we'll all be reunited
On that new and sunlit shore

Last:
Some say this world of trouble
Is the only one we need
But I'm waiting for that morning
When the new world is revealed

Would it be fair use (teaching?) to put MP3s of just those
verses to a test newsgroup?

[Gary McGath]

On 6/18/17 6:48 PM, Arthur T. wrote:
> In Message-ID:<oi5ta4$5bd$1...@dont-email.me>,
> Gary McGath <ga...@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com> wrote:
>
>> But the "verses" there
>> sound like basically the same tune as the chorus, and I can't fit it to
>> your verses without forcing. Is there some specific performance I need
>> to find?
> That's hard to say. Mine's from CD and it'll take some time for
> me to figure out which one. But in order to write this, I
> transcribed the verses thus:

That matches the performances I found. Maybe it just does need a little
forcing.

On re-reading, I take it the verses with five lines are supposed to go
with the chorus ("Oh, when the saints..."). Then, for instance, I can
sing "Esthetics and mathematics" to "Oh when the saints go marching in,"
but it becomes "Esthetics AND math-EM-a-tics."

[Arthur T.]

In Message-ID:<oi74s3$7rc$1...@dont-email.me>,

Gary McGath <ga...@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com> wrote:

>On re-reading, I take it the verses with five lines are supposed to go
>with the chorus ("Oh, when the saints..."). Then, for instance, I can
>sing "Esthetics and mathematics" to "Oh when the saints go marching in,"
>but it becomes "Esthetics AND math-EM-a-tics."

Right. I figured that line needed only a small scansion hammer.