UKE-SONG, derived from lyrics of a multi-verse limerick, and arranged to be sung to "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?".
POETIC BACKGROUND: Binomial expressions, fixed-order word pairs. are widely used in English-language idioms, but not often discussed as a grammatical entity. The current story deals with an under-appreciated type of common binomial phrase that strangely represents a sort of "nul set". Rather than two different paired words (homonyms, members of a group, or even opposites), these phrases repeat the same word joined by a relevant joining word (usually a conjunction). The poem in question can be found HERE.
FURTHER EXPLANATION: It seems best for the novice to read about the various types of binomials in a topic-based collections on our more encyclopedic blog. Giorgio now has about twenty short poems that explain and exemplify these paired phrases on the OEDILF website, and we have been glad to display those individually, and somewhat randomly, as well on our casual blog "DAILY ILLUSTRATED NONSENSE". But for study of the general issue, we recommend undertaking a more encyclopedic approach, as can be found on our more formal blog "EDIFYING NONSENSE". We hope that you will get the idea little by little. Click HERE.
PARODY-SONG: In this post, the words of the poetic explanation and exemplification of echoic binomials are set to the music of the Carole King song, with some minor changes in the lyrics to accommodate differences in scansion. Also, importantly, a bridge was developed. Thanks are due to Steve McNie of Toronto Ukes, whose songbook provided the chord and lyrics slides for the original song. Note that another parody song on our site, "Walrus and Carpenter, lowcountry version") has also been pinned to the same melody.
Again and again, they're a part, love
Of our musical, lyrical art, love.
Word by word, wall to wall,
Scene by scene, all in all --
Echoic binomials -- a start, love.
These phrases praise each body part, girl.
Hand in hand, arm in arm, heart to heart, girl.
Cheek to cheek, toe to toe,
Back to back (dos-a-dos).
Let's try putting the horse before cart, girl.
(BRIDGE): When these cliches are spoken,
Conflicting pairs like "now and then";
Or "yours and mine" -- mood broken --
Set things right (set things right) with "again and again".
Head to head, eye to eye, tete-a-tete;
Bit by bit, our life's better and better,
Roads get steeper and steeper --
Love grows deeper and deeper;
Our song's fine, line by line, letter by letter.
Some idioms, time after time, love,
Prove that being a word-nerd's no crime, love.
Hour by hour, day to day,
More and more, play by play,
ll: Year by year, you can hear what I rhyme, lovel
This song is part of a cycle of 10 parody-songs dealing with word-pairs.
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