I'm filking Shall We Dance from The King And I. My mind, the lyrics,
and the music don't seem to agree, though.

After the line "Shall we dance", the music clearly goes "bum bum bum"
(three beats, no rest). But the lyrics are "One two three and" (four
syllables). When I replay it in my mind, I hear it as a different
four beats which match neither the actual music nor the actual lyrics
("badum bum bum").

So, my question is, how should I best filk it? Three syllables? Four
equal syllables? Four, but the first shorter or less stressed?

Of course, I could go with "Eh, close enough for filk music." But I'd
like to know how people who might sing my lyrics would like it to be.

If you're not comfortable opining in public, you can use the eddress
that's in my sig.

My source:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgVPnWmUqd4

--
Arthur T. - ar23hur "at" pobox "dot" com

On Tue, 19 Apr 2022 23:21:23 -0400, Arthur T. <arthur@munged.invalid>
wrote:

>I'm filking Shall We Dance from The King And I. My mind, the lyrics,
>and the music don't seem to agree, though.
>
>After the line "Shall we dance", the music clearly goes "bum bum bum"
>(three beats, no rest). But the lyrics are "One two three and" (four
>syllables). When I replay it in my mind, I hear it as a different
>four beats which match neither the actual music nor the actual lyrics
>("badum bum bum").
>
>So, my question is, how should I best filk it? Three syllables? Four
>equal syllables? Four, but the first shorter or less stressed?
>
>Of course, I could go with "Eh, close enough for filk music." But I'd
>like to know how people who might sing my lyrics would like it to be.
>
>If you're not comfortable opining in public, you can use the eddress
>that's in my sig.
>
>My source:
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgVPnWmUqd4

As I hear it, there's a half beat pause in the music before the bum
bum bum, where the "and" goes in the lyrics. (And the dance steps.)
--

Qualified immunity = virtual impunity.

Tim Merrigan

--
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
https://www.avg.com

On 4/19/22 11:21 PM, Arthur T. wrote:
> I'm filking Shall We Dance from The King And I. My mind, the lyrics,
> and the music don't seem to agree, though.
>
> After the line "Shall we dance", the music clearly goes "bum bum bum"
> (three beats, no rest). But the lyrics are "One two three and" (four
> syllables). When I replay it in my mind, I hear it as a different
> four beats which match neither the actual music nor the actual lyrics
> ("badum bum bum").
>
> So, my question is, how should I best filk it? Three syllables? Four
> equal syllables? Four, but the first shorter or less stressed?
>
> Of course, I could go with "Eh, close enough for filk music." But I'd
> like to know how people who might sing my lyrics would like it to be.
>
> If you're not comfortable opining in public, you can use the eddress
> that's in my sig.

If I were doing it, I'd want to stick closely to the way it's done in
"The King and I," with the strongest emphasis on "three." Having it with
the strongest emphasis on "two," which is what I think you say you hear
in your mind, would crowd the word "dance" or whatever you replace it with.

Leaving off the "and" wouldn't hurt much. In the original, it's
intentionally a bit awkward, reflecting the king's effort in learning
the dance step. And since it's a duet, the lack of a space for breath
doesn't matter as much. Changing it to three syllables, assuming your
filk is a solo, may actually help.

In "Sing Along with Mad," a parody reduces the response to three
syllables. I haven't read it in years, but I'm pretty sure it starts
like this:

Shall we strike?
Yes, yes, yes!
For the third time since April
Shall we strike?
Yes, yes, yes!

--
Gary McGath http://www.mcgath.com

In Message-ID:<gr7v5hha22lba0ud1bl7a71hno216ge0rs@4ax.com>,
Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com> wrote:

>On Tue, 19 Apr 2022 23:21:23 -0400, Arthur T. <arthur@munged.invalid>
>wrote:
>
>>I'm filking Shall We Dance from The King And I. My mind, the lyrics,
>>and the music don't seem to agree, though.
>>
>>After the line "Shall we dance", the music clearly goes "bum bum bum"
>>(three beats, no rest). But the lyrics are "One two three and" (four
>>syllables). When I replay it in my mind, I hear it as a different
>>four beats which match neither the actual music nor the actual lyrics
>>("badum bum bum").
<snip>
>As I hear it, there's a half beat pause in the music before the bum
>bum bum, where the "and" goes in the lyrics. (And the dance steps.)

Yes. That explains my badum. I had been looking for a rest (or some
such) at the *end* where they sing "and", but it was at the
beginning.

--
Arthur T. - ar23hur "at" pobox "dot" com

In Message-ID:<t3oon0$h89$1@dont-email.me>,
Gary McGath <garym@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com> wrote:

>In "Sing Along with Mad," a parody reduces the response to three
>syllables. I haven't read it in years, but I'm pretty sure it starts
>like this:
>
> Shall we strike?
> Yes, yes, yes!

Thank you for this and the analysis which preceded it. I decided to
go with the Mad precedent and use the three beats.

--
Arthur T. - ar23hur "at" pobox "dot" com