Is there a name for it? Title?
Comments?
Bun Mui
Colonel Bogey March.
>
> Is there a name for it? Title?
Colonel Bogey March. Are you deaf?
> Comments?
If you'd searched Alta Vista for "bridge on the river kwai" and "march,"
Bun, you'd have found the answer at the very first site it gave you.
Many who don't recall the tune may be helped by the first line of some
lyrics written long after the march itself: "Hitler has only got one
ball." I believe we had a thread on this a while back.
Bob Lieblich
>Many who don't recall the tune may be helped by the first line of some
>lyrics written long after the march itself: "Hitler has only got one
>ball." I believe we had a thread on this a while back.
Followed by:
Himmler, he had two, but very small.
Goebbels, poor old Goebbels, Goebbels, he had no balls at all.
Was that, aside from the questionable spelling, it?
Charles Riggs
>What is the whistling song in The Bridge Over The River Kwai
>called in English usage?
>
>Is there a name for it? Title?
Hallo, Bun! Long time no hear. The title you seek is "Major Bogie"
because the PoWs had jungle fever and runny noses. Always delighted
to help our beloved leader.
--
James Follett -- novelist http://www.davew.demon.co.uk
I remember it as "Hitler has only got one ball; Stalin has two, but very
small; Himmler has two quite similar, but poor old Goebbels has no balls at
all." ('Similar' is, of course, pronounced 'simmler' here!!)
Beth.
Not even close.
There is no official version, of course, but this one approaches
consensus:
Hitler has only got one ball.
Goering has two, but they are small.
Himmler [pause] is very simmler,
And poor old Go-balls has no balls at all.
Spelling phonetic, of course. The Himmler-simmler rhyme is essential.
Goebbels had several children, in fact, all of whom he killed when he
and his wife committed suicide in Hitler's Berlin bunker.
[Jimbo -- Why did you demote the colonel?]
Bob Lieblich
Not quite:
Hitler has only got one ball
Goering has two but they are very small
Himmler has something sim'lar
But poor old Goebbels
Has no balls
At all!
The name "Goebels" is not, I need hardly say, given its echt Deutsch
pronunciation in the song.
I believe someone has done some solemn research that proves the Fuehrer
was indeed monorchid, but it's hard to believe that Goebbels, father of
numerous children both in and out of wedlock, was testicularly
challenged.
Not that having one ball is necessarily a bar to parenthood, as my dear
old uncle Jacko amply demonstrated. Wit, raconteur, lecher and drunkard,
he sired 7 children despite the fact that he was only firing on one
cylinder.
--
John Davies (jo...@redwoods.demon.co.uk)
> >Many who don't recall the tune may be helped by the first line of some
> >lyrics written long after the march itself: "Hitler has only got one
> >ball." I believe we had a thread on this a while back.
>
> Followed by:
>
> Himmler, he had two, but very small.
> Goebbels, poor old Goebbels, Goebbels, he had no balls at all.
Way I heard it,
Hitler.. has only got one ball
t'other's.. in the Albert Hall.
Himmler.. was somewhat sim'lar
And Goebbels.. had no balls.. at all!
--
---
Fabian
If a flying horse ye see, mock ye not if it stays up not.
>
> Not that having one ball is necessarily a bar to parenthood, as my dear
> old uncle Jacko amply demonstrated. Wit, raconteur, lecher and drunkard,
> he sired 7 children despite the fact that he was only firing on one
> cylinder.
Come now -- he must have had some bad qualities.
Mike
>Charles Riggs wrote:
>>
>> On Fri, 24 Sep 1999 20:17:21 -0400, Robert Lieblich
>> <lieb...@erols.com> wrote:
>>
>> >Many who don't recall the tune may be helped by the first line of some
>> >lyrics written long after the march itself: "Hitler has only got one
>> >ball." I believe we had a thread on this a while back.
>>
>> Followed by:
>>
>> Himmler, he had two, but very small.
>> Goebbels, poor old Goebbels, Goebbels, he had no balls at all.
>>
>> Was that, aside from the questionable spelling, it?
>
>Not even close.
Well, excuse me, apparently you missed the question mark.
>There is no official version, of course, but this one approaches
>consensus:
Whose consensus?
>Hitler has only got one ball.
>Goering has two, but they are small.
>Himmler [pause] is very simmler,
>And poor old Go-balls has no balls at all.
That's not it either. The second line needs a "very" to make it fit
the rhythm of the tune and even then it must be sung "ver - ry";
pronouncing his name as Go-balls in the fourth line makes no sense
whatever.
Charles Riggs
>In article <38036e6b...@news1.tinet.ie>, Charles Riggs
><ri...@eircom.net> writes
>>On Fri, 24 Sep 1999 20:17:21 -0400, Robert Lieblich
>><lieb...@erols.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Many who don't recall the tune may be helped by the first line of some
>>>lyrics written long after the march itself: "Hitler has only got one
>>>ball." I believe we had a thread on this a while back.
>>
>>Followed by:
>>
>>Himmler, he had two, but very small.
>>Goebbels, poor old Goebbels, Goebbels, he had no balls at all.
>>
>>Was that, aside from the questionable spelling, it?
>
>Not quite:
>
>Hitler has only got one ball
>Goering has two but they are very small
>Himmler has something sim'lar
>But poor old Goebbels
>Has no balls
>At all!
Yes, that's the way I've heard it sung in Dublin pubs, except perhaps
for the "they are" in line two which can be eliminated if "very" is
stretched out, which I like because it emphasizes the "small" part.
Charles Riggs
>Bun Mui <Bun...@my-dejanews.com> wrote in message
>news:U5TG3.6572$5i5.2...@typhoon.mbnet.mb.ca...
>> What is the whistling song in The Bridge Over The River Kwai
>> called in English usage?
>>
>> Is there a name for it? Title?
>
>Bun knew the words all along, you fools.
>
>Wasn't the name /Major-General Snot/ or something?
>
>Matti
>
Returning to the original question regarding the name or title of the
song, my two cents says it is "The Colonel Bogey(sp?) March."
(Or should that be "my two cents say..."?) <grin>
> Ah, you mean men.
Now, how do I parse that one?
---
Fabian
May this missive repay the kindness of my patrons.
May it mitigate the sufferings of the lost and the damned.
May all that read it find their hearts turned towards Truth and Honour.
and in so doing, repay me for the ardours of my labour.
>John Davies wrote:
>
>>I can't verify the details from the books I have at hand, but I think
>>I'm right in saying they were all poisoned just before their parents
>>themselves committed suicide in Hitler's bunker below the Reichs
>>Chancellery in the ruins of Berlin. Hitler and Eva Braun killed
>>themselves soon afterwards.
>>
>>A grim thought for a rainy autumn Sunday.
>
>And for a sunny autumn Sunday. Start out murdering countless children and end
>up poisoning your own. The slaughter of the innocents continues apace. It is to
>be hoped that the children were mercifully tricked into taking poison and not
>forced.
Of course they were tricked. What sort of a Nazi do you think he
was?
>In article <38036e6b...@news1.tinet.ie>
> ri...@eircom.net "Charles Riggs" writes:
>
>>Goebbels, poor old Goebbels, Goebbels, he had no balls at all.
>
>Odd, that line. Goebbels had, IIR, six daughters whose names all
>began with "M". I saw a group photograph of them and extraordinarily
>pretty kids they were, too. Wonder what happened to them.
I don't know but they probably have no balls either.
Charles Riggs
>Charles Riggs wrote:
>> >There is no official version, of course, but this one approaches
>> >consensus:
>>
>> Whose consensus?
>
>That of the people who sing it. I've heard it many times over the
>years, and we did have a previous thread on this song right here in AUE
>(as I believe I mentioned first time around).
But I wasn't able to add my two pence worth because I didn't see it.
> The evidence suggests
>that there is no one "fight" version, but there is a broad consensus.
>And this is one version that conforms thereto:
>> >Hitler has only got one ball.
>> >Goering has two, but they are small.
>> >Himmler [pause] is very simmler,
>> >And poor old Go-balls has no balls at all.
This might be another of those pondian things. I also have heard it
sung many times, so the right pond consensus may well differ from your
left pond one.
>> That's not it either. The second line needs a "very" to make it fit
>> the rhythm of the tune and even then it must be sung "ver - ry";
>> pronouncing his name as Go-balls in the fourth line makes no sense
>> whatever.
>
>I regret to inform you, Charles, that I didn't write it. I'm reporting.
>There are variations, but from what others have posted (and, again, from
>what I have heard over the years), it *is* Go-balls. Real life is so
>cruel in the way it disappoints our expectations.
It is *not* Go-balls. Not here.
>And if you think the second line needs an exaggerated "very," you're as
>musical as you are grammatical. Your complete version verifies this.
Thank you. I am, indeed, a pretty good musician: I sing and also play
the violin. More seriously, I am just an engineer and never have
claimed to be especially good at grammar; Neil Coffey's posts
generally leave me dizzy. Being a good listener and having lived in a
number of different English speaking places, I am pretty good at
shades of word meanings. FWIW, *my* version goes something like this:
Hitler has only got one ball.
Goering has two but they are very small.
Himmler [pause] is very simmler,
But Goebbels, poor old Goebbels, Goebbels has no balls at all.
Now, try singing this, if you can, and you will find that the "very"
in the second line is absolutely essential unless you sing it they,
chop, are, chop, which isn't nice to the ear. The tune won't fit the
verse without it in other words. Our (Irish) final line is also more
singable than yours, which must be sung in jerks and spurts to make it
fit the tune. Ireland is a more lyric nation than American so maybe
that explains the differences.
Charles Riggs
>>I regret to inform you, Charles, that I didn't write it. I'm reporting.
>>There are variations, but from what others have posted (and, again, from
>>what I have heard over the years), it *is* Go-balls. Real life is so
>>cruel in the way it disappoints our expectations.
>
>It is *not* Go-balls. Not here.
Quite right. It's Joe-balls. Illogical, I know, but that's the way
we used to sing it.
--
Peter Moylan pe...@ee.newcastle.edu.au
See http://eepjm.newcastle.edu.au for OS/2 information and software
>Robert Lieblich <lieb...@erols.com> wrote:
[snip discussion]
>
> >And this is one version that conforms thereto:
>
> >> >Hitler has only got one ball.
> >> >Goering has two, but they are small.
> >> >Himmler [pause] is very simmler,
> >> >And poor old Go-balls has no balls at all.
>
> shades of word meanings. FWIW, *my* version goes something like this:
>
> Hitler has only got one ball.
> Goering has two but they are very small.
> Himmler [pause] is very simmler,
> But Goebbels, poor old Goebbels, Goebbels has no balls at all.
[snip]
The problem here is the *rhythm*, which is not conveyed adequately
merely by reporting the words. The break (or pause or rest) after the
first two notes in each line is quite distinctive, in the tune. So
Robert's version works for me:
Hitler (rest, rest) has only got one ball (rest)
Goering (rest, rest) has two but very small (rest)
Himmler (rest, rest) is very sim'lar (rest, rest)
And poor old Goebbels (rest) has no balls (rest) at all.
I have trouble making Charles' fit:
Hitler (rest, rest) has only got one ball (rest)
Goering *has* *two* but they are very small (rest)
Himmler (rest, rest) is very sim'lar (rest rest)
-- and then it breaks down as I can find no way to cram all the
remaining syllables into one line.
The tune for the fourth line the *first* time through the march is
different from the tune the *last* time through the march. Maybe that
has something to do with it. Maybe Charles is using that bridge phrase,
da dee DAH dee da-da-da-da, for the last six words?
Best --- Donna Richoux
>Returning to the original question regarding the name or title of the
>song, my two cents says it is "The Colonel Bogey(sp?) March."
You mean it *isn't*
"My beer (rest, rest) is Reingold extra dry (rest)"?
Whaddaya know 'bout that!
--
Truly Donovan
tr...@lunemere.com
*Chandler's Daughter* [Write Way Publishing, Jan 1999]
<snip>
> The problem here is the *rhythm*, which is not conveyed adequately
> merely by reporting the words. The break (or pause or rest) after the
> first two notes in each line is quite distinctive, in the tune. So
> Robert's version works for me:
>
> Hitler (rest, rest) has only got one ball (rest)
> Goering (rest, rest) has two but very small (rest)
> Himmler (rest, rest) is very sim'lar (rest, rest)
> And poor old Goebbels (rest) has no balls (rest) at all.
>
> I have trouble making Charles' fit:
>
> Hitler (rest, rest) has only got one ball (rest)
> Goering *has* *two* but they are very small (rest)
> Himmler (rest, rest) is very sim'lar (rest rest)
>
> -- and then it breaks down as I can find no way to cram all the
> remaining syllables into one line.
There is a MIDI file of the march (Colonel Bogey) at
http://midistudio.com/midi/MW_AGES.htm
Rests aside, there are exactly eight notes in the phrase that
corresponds to the second line of the verse. You can diddle that line
and fit in both "they are" and "very," but it requires adding notes that
aren't in the original.
I realize that as with any folk music, there is no "official" version of
the lyric, but there is a tune that was copyrighted at one point, and
that tune fits some lyrics better than others. And vice versa.
Bob Lieblich
I agree about the /very/, but I can only assume you use a different tune
because your last line has six superfluous syllables for mine. Which goes
"But Goebbels, chop, has no balls, chop, at all."
But we can't be talking about a different tune, because it's in the film!
Matti
I know it as:
Goering (rest, rest) he has his two but small
which adds up to eight OK.
--
-- Mike Barnes, Stockport, England.
-- If you post a response to Usenet, please *don't* send me a copy by e-mail.
>Bloody hell, what a nonsensical ragbag of obscenities my memory is, to
>be sure.
Please, John -- stick to Mog's love letters to his beloved Meg, written
from his emporium on the hill where the money hums on wires, and each
love letter ending with a rubber-stamped: "Shop at Mog's"
Historians say he shot them and his wife before shooting himself, all
in Hitler's bunker. I read he had seven children.
--
Walter A. Cole
ai...@freenet.carleton.ca
>I don't know but they probably have no balls either.
Right!
So she obeyed the good doctor's advice:
She screwed with the man who delivered the ice,
And a bouncing big baby was born in the fall,
But the poor little bastard had no balls at all.
What? No balls at all?
No! No balls at all!
She married a man who had no balls at all.
Incidentally, the line about Hitler was widely believed to be true;
but I recently read that not only is it false, but, astonishingly, it
is _known to be_ false. It seems that Hitler's boyhood family doctor
was Jewish, and when Hitler came to power he saw to it that the doctor
had safe passage to America, where he settled in New York City.
During the war, a reporter took the trouble to interview him about
this myth, and was assured that Hitler's genitals were normal.
I suspect that this thread would become even more bizarre if it were
transferred to rec.music.folk.
--- Joe Fineman j...@world.std.com
||: Many are born impatient; the lucky ones become cabdrivers. :||
>Charles Riggs <ri...@eircom.net> wrote:
>
>>Robert Lieblich <lieb...@erols.com> wrote:
>
>[snip discussion]
>>
>> >And this is one version that conforms thereto:
>>
>> >> >Hitler has only got one ball.
>> >> >Goering has two, but they are small.
>> >> >Himmler [pause] is very simmler,
>> >> >And poor old Go-balls has no balls at all.
>>
>> shades of word meanings. FWIW, *my* version goes something like this:
>>
>> Hitler has only got one ball.
>> Goering has two but they are very small.
>> Himmler [pause] is very simmler,
>> But Goebbels, poor old Goebbels, Goebbels has no balls at all.
>
>[snip]
>
>The problem here is the *rhythm*, which is not conveyed adequately
>merely by reporting the words. The break (or pause or rest) after the
>first two notes in each line is quite distinctive, in the tune. So
>Robert's version works for me:
>
> Hitler (rest, rest) has only got one ball (rest)
> Goering (rest, rest) has two but very small (rest)
> Himmler (rest, rest) is very sim'lar (rest, rest)
> And poor old Goebbels (rest) has no balls (rest) at all.
Ah, but you inserted my "very" into the second line of Robert's
version and that made it work, as I originally said. :-)
Shouldn't there be two rests after Goebbels?
>I have trouble making Charles' fit:
>
> Hitler (rest, rest) has only got one ball (rest)
> Goering *has* *two* but they are very small (rest)
> Himmler (rest, rest) is very sim'lar (rest rest)
>
> -- and then it breaks down as I can find no way to cram all the
>remaining syllables into one line.
It may require a bit of slurring but I've heard it done and have sung
along. You'll admit, no rests are required!
>The tune for the fourth line the *first* time through the march is
>different from the tune the *last* time through the march. Maybe that
>has something to do with it. Maybe Charles is using that bridge phrase,
>da dee DAH dee da-da-da-da, for the last six words?
I tried this, Donna, and got lost in the dee dahs, but perhaps that's
it.
Charles Riggs
>Donna Richoux wrote:
>> I have trouble making Charles' fit:
>>
>> Hitler (rest, rest) has only got one ball (rest)
>> Goering *has* *two* but they are very small (rest)
>> Himmler (rest, rest) is very sim'lar (rest rest)
>>
>> -- and then it breaks down as I can find no way to cram all the
>> remaining syllables into one line.
>
>There is a MIDI file of the march (Colonel Bogey) at
>
> http://midistudio.com/midi/MW_AGES.htm
>
>Rests aside, there are exactly eight notes in the phrase that
>corresponds to the second line of the verse. You can diddle that line
>and fit in both "they are" and "very," but it requires adding notes that
>aren't in the original.
Why? Eight words for eight notes; sounds right to me. The "very" must
be there for both musical and for insult reasons.
>I realize that as with any folk music, there is no "official" version of
>the lyric, but there is a tune that was copyrighted at one point, and
>that tune fits some lyrics better than others. And vice versa.
True enough; we just don't agree on which is which.
Charles Riggs
> tr...@euronet.nl (Donna Richoux) wrote:
>
> >The tune for the fourth line the *first* time through the march is
> >different from the tune the *last* time through the march. Maybe that
> >has something to do with it. Maybe Charles is using that bridge phrase,
> >da dee DAH dee da-da-da-da, for the last six words?
>
> I tried this, Donna, and got lost in the dee dahs, but perhaps that's
> it.
Yeah, I figured it was hopeless. I now classify talking about fitting
words to tunes, in this silent medium, as inherently unsatisfying as
talking about vowel sounds. I'll save my musical discussions for real
life.
Best wishes anyway --- Donna Richoux
This is the version of the words that has been circulating:
> >> Hitler has only got one ball.
> >> Goering has two but they are very small.
> >> Himmler [pause] is very simmler,
> >> But Goebbels, poor old Goebbels, Goebbels has no balls at all.
> >
Am I alone in remembering one from my all-girl Catholic school daze that
goes:
Horace, what have you done to me?
Horace, you'll have to marry me.
Horace, there'll be a Doris.
There'll be a Horace, a Doris and me!
Cissy
The version that my older brother taught me, which he learned in his
coed public elementary school daze (but which was no longer current
by the time I attended the same school and reached the likely age at
which he learned the song, i.e. about six years later) goes:
Comet, it makes your teeth turn green
Comet, it tastes like gasoline
Comet, it makes you vomit
So drink some Comet, and vomit, today.
The reference is to the Comet cleaning product. (They didn't ever use
the tune in their commercials, did they?)
When I was in sixth grade, the march tune was used in our graduation.
A number of the kids from classes other than mine (my school segregated
the "intellectually gifted" from the non-gifted) sang a version which
began:
Rejects, they cost a dollar ninety-nine ...
But that's all I remember.
Richard
> The version that my older brother taught me, which he learned in his
> coed public elementary school daze (but which was no longer current
> by the time I attended the same school and reached the likely age at
> which he learned the song, i.e. about six years later) goes:
>
> Comet, it makes your teeth turn green
> Comet, it tastes like gasoline
> Comet, it makes you vomit
> So drink some Comet, and vomit, today.
That was common in Chicago in the early '70s. There may have been a
causal link between it and Wacky Packs[1] trading cards, but I'm not
sure which way the vector pointed. "Teeth" in the first line doesn't
sound right, though. I think we used "lips" (or perhaps "hair", which
makes no sense, but it's a kid's song).
[1] For those who weren't there, take a look at
http://www.freeyellow.com/members6/davidfun/19frvlth.htm
http://members.theglobe.com/brentb/wacky/w1.html
or, more generally,
http://www.snap.com/directory/category/0,16,-34815,00.html
Looking at the first of the sites, I see that the "Comet" parody
didn't actually have to do with the song. Oh, well. Since I've
already gone to the trouble of typing this in, I think I'll leave
it.
--
Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------
HP Laboratories |Yesterday I washed a single sock.
1501 Page Mill Road, Building 1U |When I opened the door, the machine
Palo Alto, CA 94304 |was empty.
| Peter Moylan
kirsh...@hpl.hp.com
(650)857-7572
Swann's Way,
A book by Marcel Proust,
Tells how
Its hero took to roost
Racy
Odette de Crecy
Who to his friends could
Not be in-
Troduced.
Abfou
The song had reached Oakland, California, by at least 1979. (My first
son went to school there that year.) The "teeth" reference was an
interesting one; we'd just arrived from a country where Comet was a
brand of toothpaste. It took me a while to realise that the kids
were singing about a drain cleaner.
--
Peter Moylan pe...@ee.newcastle.edu.au
"Goering has two but they're too small"
or
"Goering has two but far too small"
both scan perfectly. Neither of the above options scans at all.
As for the last line, it leads me to believe you must be thinking about
some other tune.
Bill in Vancouver
(delete EAT-SPAM-AND-DIE
from e-mail address to respond)
>On Sun, 26 Sep 1999 22:13:22 GMT, maxc@juno_spamfilter.com wrote:
>
>>Returning to the original question regarding the name or title of the
>>song, my two cents says it is "The Colonel Bogey(sp?) March."
>
>You mean it *isn't*
>
>"My beer (rest, rest) is Reingold extra dry (rest)"?
>
>Whaddaya know 'bout that!
>
"Comet [1], it makes your eyes turn green
Comet, it tastes like Listerine [2] [3]
Comet, it makes you vomit
So have some Comet, and vomit, today"
[1] abrasive powdered cleanser, similar to Ajax or Vim (non-cream version)
[2] vile mouthwash
[3] alternatively, "it tastes like gasoline"
>The song had reached Oakland, California, by at least 1979. (My first
>son went to school there that year.) The "teeth" reference was an
>interesting one; we'd just arrived from a country where Comet was a
>brand of toothpaste. It took me a while to realise that the kids
>were singing about a drain cleaner.
>
>--
>Peter Moylan
Think Panshine, Peter, not Liquid Plumber.
Probably related to the one I learned in 5th grade that started like this:
Bobos, they make your feet feel fine,
Bobos, they cost a dollar ninety-nine
--
Jack Gavin
I can refrain no longer.
"Bullshit.[rest. rest.] It makes the grass grow green.
Bullshit. [rest. rest.] It makes the grass grow green.
Bullshit, yes good old bullshit,
Makes the graaaassss groooowwwww greeeennnnn."
Thank you and good day.
Mike
(Sung by soldiers on Malta?)
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
[Orson Welles appears. To camera:
"And so it begins again ..."
[Fade]
<snip>
> > Hitler, has only one left ball.
> > Goering, has two but they are small.
> > Himmler, has something simmler [sic],
> > But Goebbels has no balls at all.
> >
> > (Sung by soldiers on Malta?)
>
> [Orson Welles appears. To camera:
>
> "And so it begins again ..."
Everything old is new again. Note that in the latest version Hitler has
only one *left* ball. How many right balls did he have?
Bob Lieblich
Not unless you sing "Goering" on a single note, and "very" on a single
note, which would sound pretty awful, and wrong.
Without the "very," there are eight syllables for eight notes. There's
no place for any "very."
//P. Schultz
Well sir, I just sang it to myself, very quietly since it's seven in
the morning, and it sounded fine to me!
Charles Riggs
One of two things is going on here: (1) Charles sings "Goering has two
but very small," omitting the "they are" that others sing to the two
notes to which Charles sings "very." (2) Charles is jamming two extra
syllables into that line, which one can do if one isn't too concerned
about the notes that Alford actually wrote
Bob Lieblich
> > > >>
> > I can refrain no longer.
> >
> > "Bullshit.[rest. rest.] It makes the grass grow green.
> > Bullshit. [rest. rest.] It makes the grass grow green.
> > Bullshit, yes good old bullshit,
> > Makes the graaaassss groooowwwww greeeennnnn."
> >
> > Thank you and good day.
> >
> > Mike
> >
> Cool lyrics Mike! If you could set those to music you'd make a fortune
> --
Sorry for the outburst.
We sang them while marching in Army basic training. It was the closest thing
to directly insulting our superiors most of us ever managed.
Mike
Melbourne
>
>One of two things is going on here: (1) Charles sings "Goering has two
>but very small," omitting the "they are" that others sing to the two
>notes to which Charles sings "very." (2) Charles is jamming two extra
>syllables into that line, which one can do if one isn't too concerned
>about the notes that Alford actually wrote
One of the two alright and I'm not sure which since I am able to sing
it properly only after having consumed a few Guinnesses. I think I may
hurry up the "they are", hardly singing the words at all, so that I
may stretch out the "very" using, as you say, two notes for it. This
heightens my insult to the man so I find it pleasing.