Poetry, Jingles, Doggerel and Song Lyrics

[Ming]

I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud
by William Wordsworth

I WANDERED lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Nice and simple, very straightforward. A very sincere poem, I always felt.

[Moonraker]

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

Picture yourself in a boat on a river,
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies.
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly,
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes.

Cellophane flowers of yellow and green,
Towering over your head.
Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes,
And she's gone.

Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain,
Where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies.
Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers,
That grow so incredibly high.

Newspaper taxis appear on the shore,
Waiting to take you away.
Climb in the back with your head in the clouds,
And you're gone.

Picture yourself on a train in a station,
With plasticine porters with looking glass ties.
Suddenly someone is there at the turnstile,
The girl with kaleidoscope eyes.

[Julie2owlsdene]

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.

Sung by? (Was it written by the Beatles?)

[Julie2owlsdene]

Just remembering old song lyrics and the recent sad death of Wendy Richards. Wasn't she the girl in the song called, "Come Outside"? Trouble is I can't remember the singer, was it Mark Winter, or someone like that?

[Eddie Muir]

The news of the death of Wendy Richard was very sad. You are quite right, Julie - Wendy did sing on the song Come Outside, which was a number one hit for Mike Sarne back in June 1962. Mike follwed up this record with Will I What, which featured Billie Davis. He still makes the occasional television appearance but as an actor, not a singer and in recent times has had small parts in Jonathan Creek and The Bill. For lovers of trivia: Mike was born in London on 6th August 1940 and is married with five children.

[Julie2owlsdene]

Mike Sarne, that was he, Eddie. Thanks for that, what about, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Was it the Beatles who wrote and sung that, as I felt sure, someone else had recorded that song also.

[Eddie Muir]

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and recorded by the Beatles for their 1967 album Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. John sang lead vocals and played lead guitar on the recording. It was recorded again in 1974 as a single by Elton John, who had a big hit with it both in the UK and the USA. So you are right about someone else recording the song, Julie. Incidentally, John Lennon provided background vocals and guitar accompaniment on Elton's version using the pseudonym, Dr Winston O'Boogie!

[Rob Houghton]

From The Beatles to Shakespeare in one easy leap!!

One of my favourite poems is by Willie:

When icicles hang by the wall
And Dick the shepherd blows his nail
And Tom bears logs into the hall,
And milk comes frozen home in pail;
When blood is nipt and ways be foul,
Then nightly sings the staring owl
Tuwhit! Tuwhoo! A merry note!
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

When all around the wind doth blow,
And coughing drowns the parson's saw,
And birds sit brooding in the snow,
And Marian's nose looks red and raw;
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,
Then nightly sings the staring owl
Tuwhit! Tuwhoo! A merry note!
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

(Love's Labour's Lost - Act V, Scene 2)

[Julie2owlsdene]

Certain songs can bring back particular memories, one of these songs for me was in the early sixties, I can't remember who sang it, maybe you can, Eddie

I think the title was called 'Good News Week,' I have many CD's of the 60's but this song is never featured.

Some of the words are:-

It's good news week, someone's dropped a bomb somewhere, exploding in the atmosphere, and brightening up the sky,
It's good news week......

Does it ring any bells with anyone?

[Moonraker]

Yes, written by the pervert, Jonathan King, and sung by Hedgehoppers Anonymous.

[Julie2owlsdene]

Great link, thanks for that, Nigel. I never thought about hunting on You Tube. It's been years since I heard that record. Hate the video. Reminds me of a week-end I spent in Blackpool in my early teens, it was playing everywhere.

[Moonraker]

Hate the video. Reminds me of a week-end I spent in Blackpool in my early teens,

Hell, Julie; what kind of boys did you used to date???

[Julie2owlsdene]

Hell, Julie; what kind of boys did you used to date???

Where ever is your mind going, Nigel

I was a young innocent teenager, spending the week-end in Blackpool for the illuminations,with my good friend Linda and her parents. That record was playing all over the Pleasure Beach.

[Aurélien]

• The Moving Finger Writes
  taken from a translation of the Rubaiyat
  of Persian (Iranian) Polymath and Poet,
  Omar Khayyám

• The moving finger writes; and having writ,
  Moves on: nor all thy piety nor wit
  Shall lure it back to cancel half a line,
  Nor all thy tears wash out a word of it.

This famous scholar/scientist/poet's full name seems to have been
Ghiyāth ad-Dīn Abul-Fat'h Umar ibn Ibrāhīm Khayyām Neyshābūri.

[Jen-Jen]

I've just stumbled upon this thread and have had a great time reading all the poems. I remember we studied a few poems at school, but I must say I hated them at the time - most likely owing to the fact that they were ones I could never understand. After reading this thread, I'm actually keen to dig up my old poetry books from school and give them another chance.

I can really only remember one poem off by heart...so here it is...

'Sneezles' by A.A.Milne

Christopher Robin had wheezles and sneezles
They bundled him into his bed.
They gave him what goes with cold in the nose,
And some more for cold in the head.
They wondered if wheezles could turn into measles,
If sneezles would turn into mumps;
They examined his chest for a rash, and the rest
Of his body for swelling and lumps.
They sent for some doctors in sneezles and wheezles
To tell them what ought to be done.
All sorts and conditions of famous physicians
Came hurrying round at a run.
They all made a note of state of his throat,
They asked if he suffered from thirst;
They asked if the sneezles came after the wheezles,
Or if the first sneezles came first.
They say “If you teasle a sneezle or wheezle,
A measle may easily grow.
But humour or pleazle the wheezle or snezle,
The measle will certainly go.”

They expounded the reazles for sneezles and wheezles,
The manner of measles when new.
They said, “If he freezles in draughts and in breezles,
The PHTHEEZLES may even ensue.”

Christopher Robin got up in the morning,
The sneezles had vanished away.
And the look of his eye seemed to say to the sky,
“Now, how to amuse them today? ”