Lyrics for Singable Satire: "JAMES TAYLOR SINGS NESSUN DORMA"; spoof from the opera 'TURANDOT'

PARODY SONG-LYRICS,
inspired by the author attending a James Taylor concert at the North Charleston Coliseum, May 15, 2018.

ORIGINAL SONG#1(music): "Mexico", James Taylor 1975.
ORIGINAL SONG#2(lyrics): "Nessun Dorma", aria from the 3rd act of "Turandot" composed by Giacomo Puccini, first performed after his death in 1926. Translation of the libretto can be found on the Wikipedia link.

SONGLINK: See the version of this post designed for ukulele and guitar players on our lyrics-blog 'SILLY SONGS and SATIRE' here. (If you haven't been signed up for that source of lyrical wonderment but crave entry, leave a comment here including your email, in strict confidence).


PARODY COMPOSED: Dr. G.H. and Giorgio Coniglio, 2015, updated 2018.

Singing along with the famous arias brings the crowd out to the opera. You don’t have to know much Italian to understand the libretto here however; ‘ciao’, pronounced like ‘chow’, means ‘so long’. As the mythical princess-character was reinvented by a French author, her name is usually pronounced French-style with the final ‘t’ silent.   

JAMES TAYLOR SINGS ‘NESSUN DORMA'

(to the tune of "Mexico")

Way up here, opera season’s in gear

Tickets craved for ‘Nessun Dorma’ this year

To download – credit-card and name – Baby James.

Wow, “Turandot”!

Sounds so moving, I must see that show,

Or “TuranDOTT” – some folks thought Giacomo*

Said that before he said ‘ciao’.

French and German version of a Persian tale

‘Bout a Princess of China who detested all males.

Empathize with hero who’s beheaded if fails.

Wow, TuranDOTT!

Rang the gong, and her three riddles I got.

Kept my head but the next risk is the same,

I’ll die if she finds out my name.

'Nessun dorma' means that no one should sleep,

Not even the Princess who’s a sadistic creep.

Secret hid within me; if divulged, price is steep.

Wow! Turandot!

Might lose my life when the glaring sun shows

Or get a wife; I could still win this game,

If nobody finds out my name.

Vanish, o night! set stars, give me hope.

The folks back home must think I’m smoking some dope.

She’ll get a long kiss, end the silence, name on her lips.

Wow! The princess Turandot - 

Must be quite a beauty, but I don’t really know.

And oh-oh-oh-oh! Turandot

To close I’ll sing, ‘Vincerò’.  ** (riff on last line of aria)

Wow! “Turandot”!

A Puccini opera that I don’t really know

Oh, “Turandot”

I guess I’ll have to go now.

Talking ‘bout “Turandot”    

Big ol’ op’ra-house playin’ “Turandot”...  fade

* Giacomo Puccini, composer, died in 1924 before he had quite completed the opera “Turandot”. The aria “Nessun Dorma” in the third act is the best-known piece of music in this work.

** Vincerò (Italian) I will win; repeated x 3 as last words of the famous aria.

SONGLINK:  Click here to view on the blog 'SILLY SONGS and SATIRE' song-lyrics for a parody based on Another James Taylor favorite.

More Immersible Bird-Verse: WATERFOWL #2

WORDPLAY POST #174 

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio (registered pseudonym) and Dr. GH, June 2019, a continuation of a recent post on the same topic. 

  (above): A reflection on wading birds...



 The Omnificent English Dictionary In Limerick Form is an online humor dictionary that has accumulated over 100,000 carefully edited poems, including two hundred or so by Giorgio. The present collection of verses, recently submitted to OEDILF and still under review, represents a bird-brained continuation of earlier work on the same subject. 

Readers who enjoy our collections of verses describing the natural world around them with illustrative images and text, might also enjoy these  blog-offerings...

Verses about Geysers, Sep '18
Verses about Frogs, Jan '19
Verses about Trees, Apr '19
Verses about Reptile, Jun '19
Verses about Waterfowl, June '19
Verses about Waterfowl (part #2), July '19, as above

AND, more posts for nature-lovers will appear in the future ...
Verses about Trees (part #2), Aug '19

Verses about Insects, Sep '19

Verses about Waterfowl (part #3), Apr '20

Verses about Reptiles, (part #2), May '20

Verses about Waterfowl (part #4 - Loons), Aug '20.

Verses about Waterfowl (part #5), Dec '20. 

PHOTOS: Unless otherwise noted (by pale blue acknowledgment plaques), embedded photographs were taken with and transferred from Giorgio's cellphone. Following submission of the poems to OEDILF, the slides collages we present here were formatted using Powerpoint software on a vintage 2000-era PC computer. No photographic subjects were reimbursed for participating in this undertaking, and OEDILF has no involvement in the pictorial portion of this presentation. 

Author's Note: The charms of duckweed have been extolled at the OEDILF site by author Atticus Vere. On the other hand, the author has observed exuberant springtime spread of this aqueous plant that superficially resembles an algal bloom, but is in fact beneficial in controlling pollutants. The resultant marked increase in opacity of the pondwater's surface doesn't seem to bother dabbling fowl like ducks, but must, in the author's view, put off diving predatory birds.

Bird-watchers, academic ornithologists, wordplay enthusiasts, wildlife photographers, Giorgio's relatives, and just everyday folks have united in their demand for EVEN MORE illustrated doggerel on this topic!

So, please follow this link!... 

If you want to resume daily titillations on our blog 'Daily Illustrated Nonsense', click HERE. Once you arrive, you can select your time frame of interest from the calendar-based listings in the righthand margin, and check the daily offerings for any week in the years 2020 and 2021. (There are now over 700 daily entries on the Daily blog, and most of these are also presented here on 'Edifying Nonsense' in topic-based collections.)