In case you’ve ever wondered what life at our house is like, let me give you an idea.
Picture our place at 1 am on Sunday morning after a night of dinner and cupcakes with friends. It’s been a full day, complete with dog walking, baseball, trips to the grocery store and good company but now it’s time for bed.
As I settle into bed my wife is already drifting off to sleep but I’ve got one more thing on my mind, so I nudge her and ask::
“What are the words to that song in The HMS Pinafore?
She sleepily replied:
- “You woke me up with a Gilbert and Sullivan question?”
“I can’t remember the words” I then hum the tune.
-”That’s from the Pirates of Penzance. It starts…”I am the very model of the modern major general”
“Are you sure?”
-”Yes, why did you have to know this at 1:30 in the morning.
“Because I was singing a song in my head about the air conditioner to that tune”
-”Goodnight”
“Wanna hear it?”
-”No…ok but just once.”
So I sang, and then it was bedtime.
P.S. The lyrics are in the comments.
23 Comments
June 9, 2008 at 5:13 am
It was good, but it was no Cash Fever.
June 9, 2008 at 5:19 am
Great. Now I’ve got “We sail the ocean blue/And our saucy ship’s a beauty/We are sober men and true/And attentive to our duty” a-chanteying through my currently sleep-deprived brain.
Nothing like a little G&S operetta to fire up the ole brain pan right before bed!
1st time here. Nifty!
June 9, 2008 at 5:30 am
For the record Gilbert and Sleepyhead is the best post title I’ve come up with since Winter Bonerland last year: http://betheboy.com/2007/11/27/winter-bonerland/
June 9, 2008 at 5:42 am
how can you leave us hanging without the lyrics? i mean, will, come on.
June 9, 2008 at 5:42 am
that is, to your a/c song. not the pirates of penzance. or hms pinafore for that matter.
June 9, 2008 at 5:48 am
Here you go:
I am the very model of a modern air conditioner,
the perfect choice to purchase for the cool air practitioner
I know how to cool your room, and I quote the ways historical
From sunny days and humid nights, in order categorical;
June 9, 2008 at 5:50 am
This + nonstop carnival music = the inside of Will’s brain.
June 9, 2008 at 6:41 am
back slowly away from the crack pipe…
June 9, 2008 at 8:01 am
on first read i thought it said you ate cupcakes for dinner… and now i’m wondering when are WE having cupcakes for dinner?
June 9, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Very cool lyrics. They fit the tune quite well. Unfortunately “air conditioner” isn’t in my vocabulary yet as we seem to be stuck in an area of endless rain lately. :)
June 9, 2008 at 2:50 pm
I love you both so much.
June 9, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Wow, that must be some air conditioner.
June 9, 2008 at 7:23 pm
I make up songs to the rhythm of our ceiling fan. I can’t believe I’m admitting this in the comments, but there you go.
ps: What kind of cupcakes?
June 9, 2008 at 8:26 pm
-Melissa, what song does the fan play?
As for the cupcakes they were the super giant Crumbs kind.
June 9, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Are you a fan of the Kinks and their songwriter, Ray Davies? Do you feel like you should have been born in England in the mid-19th Century? So does Ray, I think. Check out some lyrics from one of my favorites of theirs, “The Village Green Preservation Society”:
We are the Sherlock Holmes English speaking vernacular
Help save Fu Manchu, Moriarty and Dracula
We are the office block persecution affinity
God save little shops, china cups and virginity
June 9, 2008 at 8:38 pm
-Media Concepts – I know Village Green and the rest of the Kinks quiteb well although my favorite is probably Muswell Hillbillies.
June 9, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Well, obviously the reason you thought it was from Pinafore was the line:
I know the croaking chorus from The Frogs of Aristophanes!
Then I can hum a fugue of which I’ve heard the music’s din afore,
And whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense Pinafore.
That’s the line I usually get stuck in my head as well.
June 9, 2008 at 9:34 pm
I really love your air conditioner tune! Excellent work, Will.
June 9, 2008 at 10:23 pm
“Do you Really Want to Hurt Me”. My fan loves Culture Club.
June 10, 2008 at 12:38 am
Now I have all the songs in my head. :p
But I knew there was a reason I liked you — adapting Modern Major General is flipping awesome.
June 10, 2008 at 2:08 am
Look out, Tom Lehrer!
June 10, 2008 at 2:41 am
Nice callback to The Elements Song there Paulie.
August 5, 2008 at 9:16 am
Actually, the lyrics are catchy, no matter what version you use.