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But he did an excellent job of pairing the elements to the song.

by arcticfox 2y ago

thaumasiotes 2y ago
Is that what we're appreciating when we call the song a "banger"? Most people who like the song don't know the words.
- zoky 2y ago
  Yeah, well, I do know the words, and I can confirm that it’s a banger. Antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium… Of course, I only know the lyrics due to the fact that I am the very model of a modern major-general…
  - thaumasiotes 2y ago
    Getting 80% of the first line of the song isn't the strongest possible evidence that you know the words. But regardless, how much do you think you'd enjoy listening to the words absent the music? Tom Lehrer has plenty of clever wordplay going on, of various types in different songs. When You Are Old And Gray has a fun example of wording for the sake of wording. But I don't think wording is a strength of The Elements.
    - zoky 2y ago
      I got 100% of the first line. Obviously you don’t know what you’re talking about. Arranging the names of the elements, which Lehrer had no control over, to the tune of Gilbert and Sullivan’s music, which Lehrer had no control over, is nothing less than a work of singular genius. Let’s see you do better, chummmmmm…p. As for Old and Grey… Huh huh, yeah, let’s hear some rhymes, rhymes are hard and so they have to be funny, I’m so smart for realizing that, please let me pet the rabbits now, George…
      - defrost 2y ago
        Arranging words to fit G&S has been a staple of musical review and comedy since the works first appeared, it takes a certain talent, but hardly singular genius. Calling fellow HN commenters chump over band camp challenges seems worthy of a visit from the Lord High Executioner: https://youtu.be/6HPEBLPW5oY?t=56 https://youtu.be/6HPEBLPW5oY?t=56
        zoky 2y ago
        Arranging a fixed set of lyrics to a fixed tune and doing it brilliantly is pretty genius. Or do you want to argue that Lehrer isn’t a genius? I mean, okay, but do you really want to play intelligence match ‘em with Tom Lehrer? I’m no genius, but I know who I’m betting on. Also, he accused me of only getting 80% of the first line when I got 100%. How is that not some poser nonsense? Additionally, not getting the classic Simpsons reference, or at least not acknowledging it, is pretty lame, so…
      - thaumasiotes 2y ago
        > I got 100% of the first line. Obviously you don’t know what you’re talking about. You might try listening to the song before making an obviously false claim. Here's an official PDF with lyrics: https://tomlehrersongs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/the-elements-music.pdf https://tomlehrersongs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/the-el...
        zoky 2y ago
        “There’s” isn’t considered to be part of the line, but rather the anacrusis. But whatever, you win. The Elements confirmed not a banger.
        thaumasiotes 2y ago
        In the same way that "I" isn't part of the first line of "I am the very model of a modern Major-General"? That "I've" isn't part of the second line? That the first "and" isn't part of the line "And hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium", even though the other three are? That only the second half of "in short" belongs to the line "in short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral"? All of these are in metrically identical positions. You really think a poem in which every line begins with an identical anacrusis, where the "anacrusis" is required without exception, is properly analyzed as using anacruses?

But he did an excellent job of pairing the elements to the song.

thaumasiotes 2y ago

Is that what we're appreciating when we call the song a "banger"? Most people who like the song don't know the words.

zoky 2y ago
Yeah, well, I do know the words, and I can confirm that it’s a banger. Antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium… Of course, I only know the lyrics due to the fact that I am the very model of a modern major-general…
- thaumasiotes 2y ago
  Getting 80% of the first line of the song isn't the strongest possible evidence that you know the words. But regardless, how much do you think you'd enjoy listening to the words absent the music? Tom Lehrer has plenty of clever wordplay going on, of various types in different songs. When You Are Old And Gray has a fun example of wording for the sake of wording. But I don't think wording is a strength of The Elements.
  - zoky 2y ago
    I got 100% of the first line. Obviously you don’t know what you’re talking about. Arranging the names of the elements, which Lehrer had no control over, to the tune of Gilbert and Sullivan’s music, which Lehrer had no control over, is nothing less than a work of singular genius. Let’s see you do better, chummmmmm…p. As for Old and Grey… Huh huh, yeah, let’s hear some rhymes, rhymes are hard and so they have to be funny, I’m so smart for realizing that, please let me pet the rabbits now, George…
    - defrost 2y ago
      Arranging words to fit G&S has been a staple of musical review and comedy since the works first appeared, it takes a certain talent, but hardly singular genius. Calling fellow HN commenters chump over band camp challenges seems worthy of a visit from the Lord High Executioner: https://youtu.be/6HPEBLPW5oY?t=56 https://youtu.be/6HPEBLPW5oY?t=56
      - zoky 2y ago
        Arranging a fixed set of lyrics to a fixed tune and doing it brilliantly is pretty genius. Or do you want to argue that Lehrer isn’t a genius? I mean, okay, but do you really want to play intelligence match ‘em with Tom Lehrer? I’m no genius, but I know who I’m betting on. Also, he accused me of only getting 80% of the first line when I got 100%. How is that not some poser nonsense? Additionally, not getting the classic Simpsons reference, or at least not acknowledging it, is pretty lame, so…
    - thaumasiotes 2y ago
      > I got 100% of the first line. Obviously you don’t know what you’re talking about. You might try listening to the song before making an obviously false claim. Here's an official PDF with lyrics: https://tomlehrersongs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/the-elements-music.pdf https://tomlehrersongs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/the-el...
      - zoky 2y ago
        “There’s” isn’t considered to be part of the line, but rather the anacrusis. But whatever, you win. The Elements confirmed not a banger.
        thaumasiotes 2y ago
        In the same way that "I" isn't part of the first line of "I am the very model of a modern Major-General"? That "I've" isn't part of the second line? That the first "and" isn't part of the line "And hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium", even though the other three are? That only the second half of "in short" belongs to the line "in short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral"? All of these are in metrically identical positions. You really think a poem in which every line begins with an identical anacrusis, where the "anacrusis" is required without exception, is properly analyzed as using anacruses?