Patter Songs - Tongue-twisters Set to Music! Quiz

Answer: H.M.S. Pinafore

Most of the 14 comic operas jointly written by Sir Arthur Sullivan (music) and William Schwenk Gilbert (lyrics) are as popular today as when written in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The pair were originally brought together in 1871 by John Hollingshead (Gaity Theatre) to compose a comic opera. 'Thespis' was not a great success but was followed four years later by their first production for Sir Richard D'Oyly Carte ('Trial by Jury'). D'Oyly Carte then formed a company to produce the pair's comic operas and from the release of 'H.M.S. Pinafore' in 1878, this was a hugely successful venture.

Answer: The Pirates of Penzance

The Pirates of Penzance" or "A Slave to Duty" is the fifth collaboration between Gilbert and Sullivan and is still one of the most popular and most performed of their works. The plot revolves around Frederic, a young man with a highly developed sense of duty who is apprenticed to a soft-hearted band of pirates. He is released from his apprenticeship when he reaches his 21st birthday and meets Mabel, the daughter of Major General Stanley. The two fall in love. However, in true Gilbert and Sullivan style, the story takes a twist when it is revealed that Frederic's birth date is 29 February and he, therefore, technically, only celebrates a birthday every four years. The story that follows this revelation is Gilbert and Sullivan in their prime.

The success of Gilbert and Sullivan can be attributed the combination of the satirical, razor sharp wit of Gilbert with his eye for parody and a catchphrase and the melodic style and beauty of the music created by Arthur Sullivan. Laughs, romance and wonderful songs characterize the works of the pair. Add to this the marketing and organizational talents of Richard D' Oyly Carte which ensured productions of high standards and it was a recipe for success.

Answer: Gioachino Rossini

'Largo al Factotum', translated as 'make way for the factotum' (general servant) is sung at the first entry of Figaro, the title character. This very popular aria, featuring the almost iconic 'Figaro, Figaro, Figaro' and the tongue twisting lyrics make this a challenge for even the best baritones.

The libretto comes from the first of the three stories in the comedy 'Le Barbier de Séville' by Pierre Beaumarchais. Mozart also used this story, albeit the second part, in his opera 'Le nozze di Figaro' ('The Marriage of Figaro') which was composed 30 years earlier. Perhaps one unusual indication of the great popularity of Rossini's opera is that it has featured in cartoons including Bugs Bunny as 'The Rabbit of Seville' (1949) and Woody Woodpecker (1944).

Answer: Australia

Lucky Starr, born Leslie Morrison in Australia in 1940, released this song written by Geoff Mack as a single in 1962. Starr was the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for the early Aussie rock'n'roll group, The Hepparays. Later in 1962, Mack's publisher offered the song to Canadian-born country singer Hank Snow who thought it would do well in the North American markets if the place names were changed. Mack performed this task with the help of an atlas.

The song quickly became a number one hit in the Country Music charts for Snow.

It was later covered by Johnny Cash, The Statler Brothers and quite a few others, with Rolf Harris contributing a UK version in 1963. It was also worked over for New Zealand names by John Hore (John Grenell) in 1966. Starr later made an EP called 'Lucky's Been Everywhere' which contained all four variations.

Answer: King Caractacus

In the final stanza of this patter, the singer (Rolf Harris) asks 'If you want to take some pictures of the fascinating witches who put the scintillating stitches in the britches of the boys... then you're too late! They've just passed by!' Part of the enjoyment in listening to this 1964 song is that the speed of the lyrics accelerates throughout, reaching a peak in that last stanza and providing a major challenge to both keep up and enunciate clearly!

The origins of the song were from a Boy Scout campfire songbook. Harris added extra verses to those words. Caractacus was actually a first century chieftain of the Catuvellauni tribe of south-eastern Britain who led local resistance against the Romans. His name was also used as a character (Caractacus Pott) by Ian Fleming in 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'.

Answer: Chemical elements

Lehrer's song, set to the music of Gilbert & Sullivan's 'The Modem Major-General' list all 102 chemical elements known at that time. Rhyming was certainly made easier by the very common 'ium' ending of these elements. Lehrer, a mathematics lecturer at Harvard University accompanied himself on piano.

The elements were listed in a pleasing, alliterative fashion rather than in order of increasing atomic number, which would have started at Hydrogen (1) and finished with Nobelium (102). Element 103, Lawrencium, wasn't successfully synthesized until 1961. Since that time, many more artificial (non-naturally occurring) elements have been created and identified. Lehrer recognized the possibility of further elements with his final two lines: 'These are the only ones of which the news has come to Harvard, And there may be many others, but they haven't been discovered.' This song, along with several others by Lehrer, appeared in the music revue 'Tom Foolery', and is also a favorite of chemistry teachers world-wide.

Answer: Bob Dylan

'Bob' was the tenth song from Yankovic's eleventh studio album 'Poodle Hat' (2003). This song parodied the style of Dylan songs such as 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' and 'Tombstone Blues'. Yankovic's lyrics were simply a collection of random lines rhyming as couplets, each a palindrome, including such wonders as 'Lisa Bonet ate no basil' and 'May a moody baby doom a yam?'.

The video recording of 'Bob' highlights the uncanny ability of Yankovic to mimic the voice and musical style of Dylan (including the harmonica), accompanied by the lyrics written on flash cards. 'Poodle Hat' won the 2003 Grammy Award for the best comedy album.

Answer: Plastic Bertrand

The song's vocals were actually performed by Lou Deprijck, the producer, rather than by Bertrand (Belgian-born Roger Jouret). Deprijck claimed the song was intended as a caricature of punk music. With this as a rough translation of the first verse ('Wham! Bam! my cat Splash lies on my bed with his tongue puffed out, by drinking all my whisky.

As for me, not enough sleep, drained, persecuted, I had to sleep in the gutter where I had a flash, Oooo-ooo-ooo-ooo! in four colors'), I'll have to take his word for it! This song, and the flip side of the single 'Pogo-Pogo' took two hours to record. Nevertheless, the song reached Number One on charts in France and Switzerland, Number Two in the Netherlands, Number Four in Germany, Number Eight in the UK and Number 47 in the USA.

Many cover versions have been recorded since 1977 and it has appeared in several movies including 'Winning London' (2001), '127 Hours' (2010) and 'Ruby Sparks' (2012).

Answer: We Didn't Start the Fire

'We Didn't Start the Fire' is a song by Billy Joel which uses a rapid fire list of names, places and phrases to describe the events of the world between 1949, the year Joel was born, and 1989, the year he turned forty. The idea for the song grew from a conversation Joel had with someone just before their 21st birthday who was bemoaning the state of the world he now faced. This person believed that the world had previously been a better place. Joel used over 100 news headlines from the first forty years of his life to make the point that history repeats itself.

The song was released on the album, 'Storm Front', and was a commercial success. Despite his mixed feelings about the song (he liked the lyrics but not the melody), it gave Joel his third Number One Billboard Top 100 hit. The song was also nominated for a Grammy award for Record of the Year in 1990.

Answer: Animaniacs

This children's TV show, which ran from 1993 to 1998, was thoroughly enjoyed by many adults too. Along with slapstick comedy and skits, it used music including patter songs to educate young viewers about a wide variety of topics including geography, history, science, social sciences and mathematics.

Some of the more popular patter songs included 'The Presidents' (of the USA, in chronological order) and 'The countries of the world'. Warner Brothers' 1930s cartoon stars, Yakko, Wakko and Dot were reintroduced into this show as part of a cast of regular and occasional characters which also included Dr. Otto Scratchansniff, Thaddeus Plotz and Duanne Sewer.

In a nice link to Gilbert & Sullivan and their popularizing patter songs, Yakko sings 'I am the Very Model of a Cartoon Individual' in 'H.M.S. Yakko'.