Tuesday, 26 May 2026

RABBITHOLE: Malarkey -> Tad Dorgan -> Yes We have no bananas song -> I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls song = The Gipsy Girl's dream from The Bohemian Girl opera -> James Joyce / Lewis Carroll / Enya / Scout songs


One of the Prague guys described some k8s pod naming fun as malarkey :-)

https://www.etymonline.com/word/malarkey "malarkey(n.), also malarky, "lies and exaggerations, humbug," 1924, American English, of unknown origin. Green's Dictionary of Slang offers an 1894 Australian use of "Captain Mullurky" [sic] as a "melodious name for military muddle, apparently perpetrated for a malicious 'lark.'" It is an authentic Irish surname meaning "servant of Earc." Another slang term meaning much the same thing at about the same time in U.S. was ackamarackus (1934)."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malarkey


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tad_Dorgan

"Thomas Dorgan (April 29, 1877 – May 2, 1929) was an American cartoonist. He is known for his cartoon panel Indoor Sports and comic strip Judge Rummy, as well as the many English words and expressions he coined or popularized.[1]"

"He was one of at least eleven children[3] – six sons and five daughters – of Thomas J. and Anna Dorgan. [---] Polytechnic High School teachers Rosey Murdoch and Maria Van Vieck recognized and encouraged Tad's talent as an artist. When Dorgan was a child, he lost several fingers of his right hand in an accident whose details are unclear."
"Dorgan is generally credited with either creating or popularizing such words and expressions as "dumbbell" (a stupid person); "for crying out loud" (an exclamation of astonishment); "cat's meow" and "cat's pajamas" (as superlatives); "applesauce" (nonsense); "cheaters" (eyeglasses); "skimmer" (a hat); "hard-boiled" (tough and unsentimental); "drugstore cowboy" (a loafer or ladies' man); "nickel-nurser" (a miser); "as busy as a one-armed paperhanger" (overworked); and "Yes, we have no bananas", which was turned into a popular song."



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes!_We_Have_No_Bananas - song

"Yes! We Have No Bananas" is an American novelty song by Frank Silver and Irving Cohn published March 23, 1923. It became a major hit that year (placing No. 1 for five weeks)[2] when it was recorded by Billy JonesBilly Murray, Arthur Hall, Snoopy's Classiks on Toys, Irving Kaufman, and others. It was recorded later by " . . .

"The song was the theme of the outdoor relief protests in Belfast in 1932."

"The term has been resurrected on many occasions, including during rationing in the United Kingdom in World War II, when the British government banned imports of bananas for five years. "

. . 

"Musicological entertainer Sigmund Spaeth, in one of his most popular numbers, "dissected" the melody into its component parts[15][16] — the "Hallelujah Chorus" from Handel's Messiah, "My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean," "I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls," "Aunt Dinah's Quilting Party," and Cole Porter's "An Old-Fashioned Garden."[15] Replacing the original lyrics with the appropriate melodic phrases, said Spaeth, the song becomes:"

Hallelujah, Bananas! Oh, bring back my Bonnie to me.
I dreamt that I dwelt in marble halls—the kind that you seldom see.
I was seeing Nellie home, to an old-fashioned garden: but,
Hallelujah, Bananas! Oh, bring back my Bonnie to me![15][16]

SONG: The Gipsy Girl's Dream - I dreamt that I dwelt in marble halls

[VERSE] [Bb] I dreamt that I dwelt in marble halls,

With [F]vassals and serfs at my [Bb] side,

And of [Bb] all who assembled within those walls,

That I was the hope and the [Bb] pride.

[PRE-CHORUS] I [Eb]had riches [Ebm]all too [Bb]great to count, 

[C][could boast of/and] a [A]high [D]ancestral [F]name;


[CHORUS] But [Bb]I also dreamt, which pleased me most,

That [F]you lov'd me still the [Bb]same...

That you [Eb]lov'd me, ..

    You [Bb]lov'd me [F]still the [Bb]same,

That you [Eb]lov'd me, ..

    You [Bb]lov'd me [F]still the [Bb]same,


[VERSE] I dreamt that suitors sought my hand;

That knights upon bend-ed knee,

And with vows no maiden's heart could withstand,

They pledg'd their faith to me;

[PRE-CHORUS] And I dreamt that one of that noble host

Came forth my hand to claim.


[CHORUS] But I also dreamt, which charmed me most,

That you lov'd me still the same...

    That you lov'd me, you lov'd me still the same,

    That you lov'd me, you lov'd me still the same.


You could divide the verse and chorus like that - OR not the same - still not the same.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Dreamt_I_Dwelt_in_Marble_Halls == The Gipsy Girl's Dream

""I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls", or "The Gipsy Girl's Dream", is a popular aria from The Bohemian Girl, an 1843 opera by Michael William Balfe, with lyrics by Alfred Bunn. It is sung in the opera by the character Arline, who is in love with Thaddeus, a Polish nobleman and political exile."

I know this song from Enya's version, I did not know the opera origin nor the appearance in Joyce's works.

  • Lewis Carroll's parody of the lyrics was published in Lays of Mystery, Imagination and Humour in 1855:[3]

    I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls,
    And each damp thing that creeps and crawls
    went wobble-wobble on the walls...

  • The opera is featured in two short stories from James Joyce's 1914 collection Dubliners: "Clay" and "Eveline".[4]
  • The opera was made into a 1936 Laurel and Hardy film, The Bohemian Girl, which featured an 18-year old Arline singing the song to her adoptive gypsy father, Oliver.
  • The Irish singer Enya recorded an ambient, ethereal cover version for her third studio album, Shepherd Moons, released in 1994

https://www.james-joyce-music.com/song03_discussion.html 

"This song from The Bohemian Girl, a popular opera by Michael Balfe, shows up several times in Finnegans Wake. But the opera itself plays an integral part in two of Joyce's short stories in Dubliners." 

https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/enya/marble-halls-chords-3029570


https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Palace_of_Humbug from The Collected Verse Of Lewis Carroll by Lewis Carroll

I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls,
And each damp thing that creeps and crawls
Went wobble-wobble on the walls.

Faint odours of departed cheese,
Blown on the dank, unwholesome breeze,
Awoke the never ending sneeze.

... 

but the rhythm / timing is different

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:Charles_Lutwidge_Dodgson 

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Through_the_Looking-Glass,_and_What_Alice_Found_There/Chapter_IV#72 = The Walrus and the Carpenter

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Phantasmagoria_and_Other_Poems 

 including A Double Acrostic

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Hunting_of_the_Snark_(1876)

WOULD these fit to music e.g. sea shanty or other 

.. myeh the lyrics are not that funny for contemporary times . . 


TODO: lookup more Sigmund Spaeth love that stuff complicated song sing original lyrics of yes, no banana song and gradually re-place each segment with original tune lyric ? Too complicated.

TODO: make a Scout campfire song, using tune of I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls. Linger longer in dream, alot of same lines repeated.

[VERSE] I dreamt I slept in my warm bed at home,

  And my stuff toy was tickling my nose,

It cuddled my neck and my funny bone,

  It crawled down to my toes,

[PRE-CHORUS] But then I awoke and to my surprise,

  I couldn't believe my eyes,

[CHORUS]  A little mouse was 

 it felt still the same

 I could not believe 

 it felt still the same


[VERSE]I dreamt I slept in my soft bed at home,

  And my dear Mommy kissed my nose,

But when I awoke I was in a tent,

  And a spider disturbed my repose,

[PRE-CHORUS] It crawled down my neck and into my clothes,

  It started to wriggle and writhe,

[CHORUS]  


https://thecomicsdetective.blogspot.com/ on Josette Frank and comics