Phew!
So TomHChappell in the "Trochaic Tetrameter Quatrains" thread asked me if I would "sing Lobachevsky" -- I took this to mean "translate Lobachevsky into trochaic tetrameter". Turns out he didn't mean that, but since I'd started working on it I figured it was worth finishing.
Danny Kaye (the man who's been my
Idol since my childbirth) has
Been performing a routine a-
-bout old Russian Stanislavsky.
That director, and the secret
Of success before the camera
Is described by Danny Kaye, whose
Idea I am ste- ADAPTING.
Years ago, I'd like to tell you,
Ere I went off to trench warfare,
Mathematics was my field,
Teaching it, and research too.
(Please don't think that this is what I
Must do for a living. 'Tisn't
Like I need to. I could make
Three thousand bucks a year, just teaching.
Some of you who've met strange people,
Those of mathematic stripe, may
Wonder how they got that way; I'll
Try explaining with this story.
I will sing of one of Russia's
Greatest mathematicians; he is
Nicolai Ivanovich
Lobachevsky, my song's theme.
Who's the prof that made me such a
Guru mathematical, a
Genius so oft-quoted? Why, that
Chalk-coat, greatest of his brethren.
To one man I give the credit,
To one man I give the blame,
Nicolai Ivanovich, Oy!
Blame and credit, Lobache...
I am never will forget the
Day I first meet Lobachevsky.
He told me the one-word secret
Of math triumph: Plagiarize!
Let no work evade your eyes,
Think on why God made your eyes,
Shade your eyes not! Plagiarize -- but,
Please to call it always research.
Ever since I met this man, my
Life has never been the same.
Nicolai Ivanovich, Oy!
Math professor Lobache...
I am never will forget the
Day on which I got my very
First original assignment,
Write a paper. It was on
Analytic algebraic
Topologic treatment of the
Locally Euclideanlike
Metrization of manifold,
Differentiable up to
Infinity, and born of Riemann.
Bozhe moi! Oh, what I'm going to
Do, when I know this from nothing?
But I think of Lobachevsky
And I get idea -- xaxa!
Interesting issues are coming up. Probably the most apparent is how I'm mixing archaisms with modernisms. Like, I've got 'tisn't and bucks (dollars) in the same stanza. Also, when it's permissible to leave the last syllable off, and when I should jump through hoops to make it right. Same for line-count. (I've only had to go over four lines once so far, but it'll probably happen a couple more times. I think it's legit since Lehrer busts out these ridiculously long strings of technical terms, or names, or whatever, which are funny mostly because they're long.) Also, Lehrer uses a whole lot of different meters in the song (plus "no meter"); is it faithful to his song if I put the whole thing in one meter? Then again, that was the whole point of this project.
The most interesting of the interesting issues is when and how I should stay faithful to Lehrer's messed-up syntax. Should I imitate his particular messings-up of the syntax, or just mess it up myself in some convenient (but different) way? How similar are Lehrer's "errors" to errors a Russian-speaking-English-learning person might make? (Props to saizai for helping me with "I am never forget the day"...expect more such queries, especially when I get to the "Russian Gibberish" part.)
I'm getting the lyrics from here, and Sai's analysis of the Russian bits is here.
I've got about 2/3 of the song left to do.
*deep breath*
Danny Kaye (the man who's been my
Idol since my childbirth) has
Been performing a routine a-
-bout old Russian Stanislavsky.
That director, and the secret
Of success before the camera
Is described by Danny Kaye, whose
Idea I am ste- ADAPTING.
Years ago, I'd like to tell you,
Ere I went off to trench warfare,
Mathematics was my field,
Teaching it, and research too.
(Please don't think that this is what I
Must do for a living. 'Tisn't
Like I need to. I could make
Three thousand bucks a year, just teaching.
Some of you who've met strange people,
Those of mathematic stripe, may
Wonder how they got that way; I'll
Try explaining with this story.
I will sing of one of Russia's
Greatest mathematicians; he is
Nicolai Ivanovich
Lobachevsky, my song's theme.
Who's the prof that made me such a
Guru mathematical, a
Genius so oft-quoted? Why, that
Chalk-coat, greatest of his brethren.
To one man I give the credit,
To one man I give the blame,
Nicolai Ivanovich, Oy!
Blame and credit, Lobache...
I am never will forget the
Day I first meet Lobachevsky.
He told me the one-word secret
Of math triumph: Plagiarize!
Let no work evade your eyes,
Think on why God made your eyes,
Shade your eyes not! Plagiarize -- but,
Please to call it always research.
Ever since I met this man, my
Life has never been the same.
Nicolai Ivanovich, Oy!
Math professor Lobache...
I am never will forget the
Day on which I got my very
First original assignment,
Write a paper. It was on
Analytic algebraic
Topologic treatment of the
Locally Euclideanlike
Metrization of manifold,
Differentiable up to
Infinity, and born of Riemann.
Bozhe moi! Oh, what I'm going to
Do, when I know this from nothing?
But I think of Lobachevsky
And I get idea -- xaxa!
Interesting issues are coming up. Probably the most apparent is how I'm mixing archaisms with modernisms. Like, I've got 'tisn't and bucks (dollars) in the same stanza. Also, when it's permissible to leave the last syllable off, and when I should jump through hoops to make it right. Same for line-count. (I've only had to go over four lines once so far, but it'll probably happen a couple more times. I think it's legit since Lehrer busts out these ridiculously long strings of technical terms, or names, or whatever, which are funny mostly because they're long.) Also, Lehrer uses a whole lot of different meters in the song (plus "no meter"); is it faithful to his song if I put the whole thing in one meter? Then again, that was the whole point of this project.
The most interesting of the interesting issues is when and how I should stay faithful to Lehrer's messed-up syntax. Should I imitate his particular messings-up of the syntax, or just mess it up myself in some convenient (but different) way? How similar are Lehrer's "errors" to errors a Russian-speaking-English-learning person might make? (Props to saizai for helping me with "I am never forget the day"...expect more such queries, especially when I get to the "Russian Gibberish" part.)
I'm getting the lyrics from here, and Sai's analysis of the Russian bits is here.
I've got about 2/3 of the song left to do.
*deep breath*