Yes, I might choose a Flanders and Swann song for my next one. I'm thinking of "A Song of the Weather."
I can't remember the title but, from memory... definitely not for learners...
The fragrant honeysuckle spirals clockwise to the sun,
And many other creepers do the same.
But some climb anticlockwise--the bindweed does, for on--
(Or convolvulus, to give her proper name).
Placed on either side of the sill, one of each species grew,
And raced toward the window ledge above;
They spiraled to the lintel in the only way they knew,
Where they stopped--touched tendrils--smiled--and fell in love.
There follows a real tour-de-force of feminine rhymes; "bindweed" with "entwined, we'd," "luck'll" with "honeysuckle."
It ends with "deprived of the freedom from which we must fight/To veer to the left or to veer to the right."
OK, time to Google
The title is "Misalliance," and the lyrics are at
http://www.smallpotatoesmusic.com/alives/misall.html
And, of course:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYr0eNtpDHs
Michael (and others), do you know the satirical songs of Tom Lehrer? I mention them for two reasons. First, Lehrer's recordings from the 1950s show a definite trace of the "Harvard accent," which still existed then but was dying out. Second, he references Gilbert and Sullivan at least twice. One is in his song, "The Elements," which simply enumerates all of the chemical elements--arranged so as to rhyme and perfectly fit the music of "A Modern Major-General."
The second is his direct parody of Gilbert and Sullivan, starting at about 3:12. Sudeep, and other learners, don't even try to understand this one. Part of the humor is that it's difficult for a native English speaker to understand the words. It's almost "double-talk." He warns you that it's meaningless. It's his impression of how Gilbert and Sullivan sound to an ear accustomed to U.S. English.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b3coO_6MwY
That I missed her depressed her young sister named Esther,
This mister to pester she tried.
Now her pestering sister's a festering blister,
You're best to resist her, say I.
The mister resisted, the sister persisted,
I kissed her, all loyalty slipped.
When she said I could have her, her sister's cadaver
Must surely have turned in its crypt.
Yes, yes, yes, yes!
But I love she and she loves me.
Enraptured are the both of we.
Yes I love she and she loves I
And will through all eterni-tae!
Michael, I, too, know and love (the late) Flanders and Swann. I like the song about the forbidden love between the right-handed honeysuckle and the left-handed bindweed. (I think it's too difficult for a language learner, though).
The science-fiction writer, Isaac Asimov, wrote a very good story, "Fair Exchange," about a time traveler who travels back to 1871 in order to find the lost music to the first Gilbert and Sullivan opera, Thespis, or The Gods Grown Old. Unfortunately it's still in copyright and I don't know of any place to read it online.
