"Python Wizard," with apologies to The Who

[Chris Angelico]

On Thu, Jul 14, 2011 at 5:31 AM, John Keisling <maththespian87 at gmail.com> wrote:
> I very much appreciate that, coming from someone who clearly values
> well-written poetry and lyrics as much as I do! I double majored in
> math and English, and I always liked structured poetry. It's very
> important to match not only the syllable count, but the meter too. I
> also pride myself on never using the same rhyme twice in a song, which
> even the original does not manage to do (they used "fall" twice).

Having not known the original, I can't properly appreciate the parody,
but I wholeheartedly concur with the above. Especially when you
transmit your alternate words by email (as opposed to singing it
yourself and posting on Youtube, for instance), you need them to scan
perfectly so the reader isn't thrown off by anything. The other big
pitfall is polysyllabic rhymes, quite common in Gilbert & Sullivan but
probably not an issue here. (For instance, if the original rhymes
"modern gunnery" with "in a nunnery", then you have to replace that
with three-syllable words whose last two syllables are identical and
whose first syllables rhyme. Not an easy task!)

This appears to be an excellent parody, but others are better
positioned to proclaim its quality than I.

Chris Angelico