LIMERICKS ARE MAGIC! | Lyrics 101 - Brentalfloss
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- čas přidán 18. 06. 2024
- It's the first Lyrics 101 video with an actual assignment in MANY YEARS! That's right, you get to participate in this one with your own work! We're talkin' limericks, which aren't technically lyrics, but have a lot to teach you if you're trying to improve your songwriting skills.
You can download my limerick diagram and worksheet here:
www.dropbox.com/s/gxlh73znit0...
And if you’re interested in buying my favorite rhyming dictionary, that’s here:
bit.ly/3mCNWDW
Lo Fi Background music:
“Biscuit” (Prod. by Lukrembo)
🍫 Free Download : / biscuit (*Free downloads are available for commercial use and without voice tag. You can use on CZcams, soundcloud, and streaming service.. etc. and Thank you for writing down my artist name [Prod. by Lukrembo].) 🍪 Soundcloud : / lukrembo ⭐️ Twitter : / lukrembo 😀 Instagram : / lukrembo ✉️ Email : Lukrembo@gmail.com
Jazzy background music:
“Les Yeux Noirs” by Django Reinhardt (performer unknown) - Hudba
There once was a girl named Shannon.
A cross-country trip, she was plannin’
She never took planes,
Was bored riding trains
,
So opted to travel by cannon!
Not bad!!! Your technique is basically perfect!
@@brentalfloss Thanks very much! I'm deeply enjoying your Lyrics 101 series!
there once was a man
from Cork who got limericks
and haiku mixed up
Oh god you miscounted lol
@@mkselite7461 aw beans. inswear im the only banker who can't count
@@mkselite7461 wait where? I only count 5-7-5
Reminds me of the classic:
Haikus are easy.
But sometimes they don't make sense.
Refrigerator.
was it Kevin?
A Limerick he was tasked to write.
So he wrote one, so pure and so bright.
Despite the weight it had carried,
his comment was buried.
Until eventually, it was nowhere in sight.
Very funny! Scan could use some work though :)
This youtuber guy, Brentalfloss
made me into a limerick boss
But i cannot write more
than verse one to verse four
For the fifth one, i am at a loss
Dude that's beautiful
Would it work better as I'm rather than I am? I can't decide for sure; that said it's a fun one
I think this one might be funnier if you turned it into an anti-limeric where the obvious rhyme is staring you in the face, but the writer misses it. Like, if you changed the last line to:
For the fifth one, I am at a ... bit of a roadblock.
Not terrible. 4 out of 5.
@@hoodiesticks
There once was a man with a curse
Who had half a gift for the verse
His poems were quite good
And they rhymed where they should
Except for the last line which never quite seemed to fit in
How many of you are familiar with this gem of a "Limerick"?
There was a young bard from Japan,
Whose poetry never could scan.
When asked why it was so,
He replied, "Yes, I know,
But I always try to fit as many words into the last line as I possibly can!"
That’s incredible
Genius
there once was a group of young suits
who were sick of their long subway routes
things took a grim turn
for they could not discern
that cannons don’t make great commutes
REALLY GOOD!!! Technique is basically perfect. Nice work.
There was a young perv in a rut:
He'd grown numb to his usual smut.
To clear up this haze,
He abstained thirty days:
For the month of November? No nut.
I love this series.
The J.J. McCullough and Brentalfloss audiences are ones I didn’t expect to overlap but I’m here for it
The chief of police in a rut
Cried “This case should be open and shut”
His partner replied,
“Then swallow your pride and get your head out of your butt”
That one actually quite naturally flowing. Nice
I think I would add the world right between head and out.
@@mattmunroe9905 You'd be making a mistake. That's too many syllables.
Han Solo was stuck in a rut
He was captured by Jabba the Hutt
His head had a price
and they put him in ice
so Luke had to go save his butt
Actually pretty good that
I applaud you
I decided to go with the cannon one:
A pirate had nuts that were large
So big they were carried by barge
So when sent on a mission with no ammunition,
He and his balls were the charge.
This one's really good.
That last line needs another syllable somewhere. "They *loa*ded his *balls* as the *charge*," perhaps.
this one made me chuckle!
Really great! For my money, it could use one more syllable at the beginning of the last line, but like, for a CZcams assignment from a few hours ago? This is primo.
@@brentalfloss It could be "Once," as he clearly wouldn't anymore..
There once was a lady from leads.
She swallowed a packet of seeds.
In less than an hour her face was a flower.
And her hair was all covered in weeds.
“And her hair was covered in weeds” would match the syllables of the first line
great poem
@@grimgrog oh thx
My friend was embarrassed somewhat
To admit his addiction to smut.
He tried on a dare,
but he had not a prayer
To wait till December to nut.
An actually rather clever observation on no-nut November. Nice
Hadn't seen this when I posted my own NNN interpretation. Good stuff!
A children’s book author was plannin’
On namin’ a character “Shannon”
But then she thought, “No!
Her name should be Bo!”
And that’s how Bo-Peep became canon
#GiveUsTheShannenPeepCut
There once was a man from Dubai
Who desperately wanted to fly
His savings he spent
On a cannon that sent
Him rocketing into the sky
Very solid technique-wise! I'm wondering since you clearly have the style and the structure down, if there's a slightly different angle on the story or a slightly funnier take. As it stands, this feels a bit more like a short narrative than something that really ends with a bang (ironically)
@@brentalfloss yeah I was waaaaaay to focused on rhyming. Gonna sit on it for now. Maybe try another angle entirely.
it flows so smoothly, I like it
There once was a pigeon named Darryl
Who strutted in dashing apparel
Till his beak he did shut
On a cigarette butt
And by morning the sidewalk was sterile
This one is fascinating to me. So a well-dressed bird chomped on a cigarette and cleaned the sidewalk?
There once was a fellow named Tut
He lived in a thatched roof hut
Though named for a King
he hadn't a thing
except the grass skirt on his butt
This one works for me if I read “that-ched” as two syllables.
@@ladambell A lot of poets use "è" to give sound to a silent "E" to match the meter.
I was reading it "Thatch- ED" like the name. Really good!
Brent: I'm trying to keep this PG, not too dirty.
Also Brent: *references the most infamously dirty limerick in history*
There was a young man from Kent
Whose thing was so long that it bent
To save himself trouble
He folded it double
And instead of coming, he went.
The Great Circus of Cameroon
Was planning to open up soon
But their cannoneer guy
Aimed a little too high
And he ended up shooting the moon
I think "shot at" instead "shooting" would work better, since it makes it more obvious that he was shot out, opposed to just shooting something to the moon
There was a man named Brent.
who always knows what he meant
Lyrics for Games
of Many Names
We wonder how he pays rent.
There was a CZcamsr called Brent
Who is such an eloquent gent.
I laugh willy-nilly, at lyrics so silly
Which is his sincere intent.
A Nintendo nerd named Brannon,
Was up late, researching Ganon.
He grimaced in terror,
At a continuity error,
So he shot him right out of the canon
While soaring along through the skies
Saint Donald did thusly surmise:
"I'm a man so devout
there was no shred of doubt
'twould be me that they first cannon-ize."
One of Newton's actual equations:
The integral sec y dy
From zero to one sixth of pi
Is log to base e
Of the square root of three
To the sixty-fourth power of i
A man with the name Harold Gunn
Thought cannonballs had all the fun.
So he thought up a scheme,
And to live out his dream
He shot himself into The Sun!
"woke up in the morning, travelling straight into the sun"
It matters not with whom you may rut
Be she of royal blood or a mutt
Intimacy is fine
But please do be kind
And be sure that your door remains shut
The actual content of it is great! Nice joke, very charming. The scan is a bit off throughout though, aside from the last two lines. I think if you went back through and cleaned up the scansion so it was a bit more "potato-potato-potato" you'd really have a winner here!
Excellent concept and great execution! Though I might just say "It matters not who you may rut" to make it flow a little more naturally.
There once was a poet called Willy
For him mere haikus were too silly
So he asked his friend Brent
To lend him a hand
And drove down to his house in Philly
Brent was his teacher.
He learned about Limericks.
He still likes haikus.
There once was a man named Ali
Whose Limericks ended on line three.
It caused such a fuss.
On top of a toilet he sat.
He grunted so hard that he shat.
A break from his work,
Ten minutes? That Jerk!
Stunk up the whole room, what a brat!
Oh shoot you wanted me to rhyme with "SHUT." Oops!
I'm not quite sure what I should write
But I have been told to, this night.
Hey Brent, thanks for tips
On these cute little quips--
I think this one turned out all right!
Wait, I ended the comment too soon?
Now I feel like a quite proper loon.
Slam the cannon door shut
And set flame to my butt
Au revoir, 3 2 1 and kaboom!
Underrated! Take my like!
There once was a cowardly Saint.
In crusades he’d do nought but faint.
His allies got tired,
And so he was fired,
The canon did cannon acquaint!
Thank you for teaching this course
A technique that I strongly endorse
It's really quite wise
To do this exercise
All in all it's a useful resource
My very first poem was a limerick:
There once was a zookeeper named Blake
Who stumbled upon a snake
"Now listen to this,"
It said with a hiss
"I'd eat you, but I'd prefer a steak"
- me, age 9
But as for the actual assignment here:
(to be read in a French accente`)
Our ship has sustained much damage
After An English barrage
The captain soon ran in
crawled into a cannon
Off he went with a "Bon Voyage!"
Well I like the ending! But the rhymes and the scan have some funkitude. Barrage and voyage rhyme but damage? You could pronounce it in a floofy way out loud, but in print it's funky. You change tenses from "has" (present) in the first line to "ran" (past) in the third line. Ran in/cannon is growing on me, I like it. I think the syllables in the last line could be rearranged for flow like "And fled with a fond 'Bon Voyage!" (not a perfect fix, but an example)
@@brentalfloss Thank you kindly for the genuine advice. I'm honored to receive such feedback from someone I've long followed.
On a side note, arrrgh everyone's a critic!
A man saw a mystery light
Among the forest so bright
He followed it back
To two teens in the sack
He blinked once, and whispered "Good night!"
Now I gotta go rewatch Zero Punctuation's limeric-review of "Wolfenstein"...!
A girl was in love with her mutt
and used art to make it clear-cut
She got her first start
on Deviant Art
Now she draws beastiality smut
As Cody Johnston once said, "Tha'was good though!"
On the eve of a deadly monsoon,
'Twas a man who sought flight to the moon.
From a cannon he shot--
Though true aim he had not--
And instead struck a hot air balloon!
The language is very flowery and inverted but I mean, as an idea and in terms of scansion? Perfection!
This is my favorite cannon one yet
Once a pirate fell into a rut,
And so, with too much ale in his gut,
On a cannon he sat,
Shouted 'FIRE!', and that
Is why he's now called Captain Lackbutt.
(Yes, I did both. In a single limerick.)
There now lives a man from Green Bay
Who avoids his over night stay
The canon he'll use
By lighting the fuse
Sends him 'round the globe in a day
There once was a Donald who'd strut
And frequently take trips to putt
He won a big race
But then got replaced
Since mostly he spoke from his butt
Damn, I never thought a fkn scientific breakdown of limericks would be such interesting content
There lived a performer named Clyde
Who flew from a cannon with pride
But with shock and with awe
His coworkers saw
His trousers were found still inside
There once lived a musical man, who started his wonderful plan
he made vids for fun, that were hated by none
but copyright still ordered his ban
This limerick was posted in a Dear Abby or Ann Landers column decades ago (alas, the photos I can find don't look like the ones of my youth):
A corpulent maiden named Kroll,
Had a notion exceedingly droll,
At the masquerade ball,
Wearing nothing at all,
She backed in as a Parker House roll.
Once, in the war, a man, round and small,
Bragging: "I am a wonderful ball."
By the generals order,
he was stuffed in a Mortar,
and later scraped down from a wall.
edit: thanks for the critique! i tried to apply it, but i am not the best when it comes to poetry
Good one. I'd personally shorten the first two lines, like:
In the war, a man, round and small
Once claimed to be a wonderful ball.
The actual story here and the joke is charming and funny but you've got some traffic jams in the first two lines. I'd say simplify. For instance... "Back in wartime, a man round and small ... he called himself "wonderful ball" (my revision isn't great, it's just to show how it could scan)
Ha ha. I like it, here's my revision..
There once was a soldier who stood round and small
When in battle he bragged "I'm a wonderful ball!"
By the general's order, he was stuffed in a mortar
But the soldier bounced straight off the wall! (kinda needs a visual of a cannon aiming at a wall)
Super interesting, this is starting to become one of my new favorite series to watch!
Linguine was oft in a rut
A cannonball man and a glut
His plump contradiction
Bore non-canon fiction
Where the cannon got stuck to his butt
( _Linguine_ reads as “lin-gwee-nee”, like the pasta. )
Really glad to see this series go on, Brent. Always really fun and interesting!
Doctor Bannon was summoned to preach
In Peoria and in Palm Beach.
To save time, Doctor Bannon
Was fired from a cannon
And half of him landed in each.
Pandemic has me in a rut.
Stuck at home, I just sit on my butt.
I work and I sleep and eat junk food and weep
And now it's December. Say what?
This limerick I read in a medical journal decades ago (IIRC, it was meant to help medical students remember stages of syphilis.):
There once was a man from Bombay,
Who thought that the syph went away,
So now he has tabes,
And saber-shinned babies,
And thinks that he's queen of the May.
Prince Eric had a question that he yells:
"Why are you always wearing those seashells?"
Ariel looked down
And she said with a frown
"What /would/ I wear? I've outgrown my B shells"
These are great! Please don't stop the lyric 101's
There once was a man who wrote limericks,
Who broke down the form by arithmetic,
He then pressed “upload”,
Which received a truckload
Of comments so vast that he shit a brick.
There once was a hero named Zoor
It was Zelda he tried to allure
He tried to fight Gannon
But was shot from the cannon
And now he's not part of the lore.
Cannon:
Bill needed to track down a sweater
his place sucked, the next town had better
his quick travel mode
caused him to explode
guess he shoulda just sent a letter
Rhymes with shut:
A gentleman went for a haircut
When he sat down the barber said "What?"
His canvas was blank
"This must be a prank!"
the gentleman was Mr. Peanut
There once was a man from a hut.
He felt a strange warmth on his butt.
Upward he flew!
He knew not what to do!
Except to be sick in the gut.
(I call this piece "Extra Credit" because I made a limerick about being shot out frok a cannon, where the last rhyme syllable rhymes with shut, and it doesn't even use shut in it!)
I really like taking the whimsy of a limerick and combining it with horror:
There once was a child named Jake
He liked to skip down to a lake
He stuck his foot deep
A claw awoke from its sleep
And that was the last time he made that mistake
I was once playing the sims,
named my family the Tims.
Their life was sublime,
till Death said it’s time.
Now they are known as the Grimms.
Holy shit! Turning a simple phrase into a story. Magical
There once was a frightening clown
Who brought circus revenue down
A cannon they got
Used him as the shot
And fired him out of the town
Here’s a bonus one I came up with while watching the video:
A greedy young fellow named Trent
Was months overdue on his rent
His landlord arrived
With a Colt 45
And promptly the money was sent
Ok so the second one is very good, basically it's perfect in terms of technique. And the first one, while it feels very slightly funky with the setting of "circus" and "him," it's basically solid and well-done too!
@@brentalfloss Thanks! I was a little unsure about the first one myself, to tell the truth.
I was writing my essay that’s due,
when I checked out this lesson from you,
about wasting some time
writing poems in rhyme,
now you’ve gotten me doing it too...
Brent is really using his SpongeBob imagination in that thumbnail
A dapper young man on the strut,
His attire in the latest cut,
Doffed his hat to a lass,
Thinking he was high class,
In truth, he was anything but.
A translation for viewers who have never enjoyed a Georgette Heyer Regency Romance: A well-dressed young man swaggering around in the fashionable part of the city/ wearing clothes that are ultra-fashionable / tipped his hat to a young woman / He thinks he's all that / but he's far from it.
While Brent was teaching us what
Form to use for our limericks, I thought:
I'd better not fixate
But they're all in six-eight.
And now I'm sufficiently taught.
Made me giggle like a kid, what a refreshingly funny video ^^
"I'm sorry, you're telling me *what?*"
"I said that you're missing a strut."
But the lopsided cannon
His friend had been mannin'
Then blasted him onto his butt.
(Best I could do trying to get both prompts in.)
Oh my gosh! I am using this with my kids tomorrow!
When we can have concerts again, I hope Brent's ready for all the fish people will bring him.
the legend is back!!!!
but what happened between those years??????
There once was a 'Rudo named Ganon,
Some dastardly deeds he was plannin',
But an elf boy named Link,
Shut them down in a blink,
When he shot our guy out of a cannon.
There once lived a girl in a hut,
Whose father would get in a rut
When she'd bring home a guy,
Dear daddy would cry,
"For God's sake, please keep your legs shut!"
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Literally snorted!
there once was a man from somewhere
who had some very round hair
so he was mistaken
for a ball and was taken
to be shot into the air
I found this uber helpful and snazzy. Been a while since I wrote. Thanks!
There once was a man from Wellshire,
Whose sitchwation* had grown quite dire,
The ship was-a sinking, but
The cannons still clinking, So
Up he climbed and yelled "Fire!"
*situation
Love this music theory sorta stuff
This old guy, who was a real prune
used a cannon to go to the moon.
Took flight with a POOF,
got stuck in his roof,
tomorrow, he'll try a balloon.
Ok, so this one is GOOOOOD. Great story, well-told. Only thing I'd note is that the way the first line scans puts emphasis on the word "was," it almost makes it sound like someone told you he wasn't a prune and you're like "no he WAS! he WAS!" ... maybe a slight rearrangement like... "And old man who looked like a prune" or something.
But truly, this is solid work!
@@brentalfloss Oh wow thanks for not only answering to so many comments but also helping us improve. I was actually going to go with the classic "There once was a Person from Place" first line, but then I couldn't for the live of me come up with a place to rhyme with "Moon"...
Anyway, you're right I kinda messed up the emphasis there. Thanks
There once was a hungry ol' glutton
Who spent his days feasting on mutton.
When he tried Taco Bell,
It didn't go well -
The bathroom door he was soon shuttin'.
I did one for my hometown as well.
There was was a fellow from Lincoln.
His swordfighting skills? They were stinkin'.
His acting career
Took a sharp downward veer
When he dueled against Mandy Patinkin.
Kinda esoteric but I'm still kinda happy with how it turned out.
I'm not someone who's into music or poetry much, so I'm gonna give it my best shot:
There once was a man near Mount Oates
Who wanted to help on a boat
A cannon he entered
The crosshair was centered
The target could no longer float
You make learning fun.
There once was a lemon named Wade
Who was destined to be lemonade,
He was chopped into two
Mixed with water, sugar too,
What a delicious beverage he made!
I love this series so much.
It's learning and personal touch. I watched front to back, ate all of my snacks,
Now I have nothing to munch. :c
A limerick packs laughs astronomical
Into space that is quite economical,
But the best ones I've seen
So seldom are clean,
And the clean ones so seldom are comical
Santa walked with such a strut
showing off his brand new haircut
He was off to play golf
With his good pal Rudolf
And so now he steps up to putt-putt
Brent makes great videos on the tube of you
As im sure you know the comments are sometimes poo
But today they amaze
Cause there’s a rhyming craze
Everyone is having fun and so can you!
Scansion: C+
Content: A++
@@brentalfloss ill take it!
Since this video is shortly after your song about the game:
The doors in the hotel were all shut.
E. Gadd knew where the exit was but-
before he could explain,
he first had to complain,
'cause Luigi was scratching his butt.
That Bowser was always a'plannin,
And thought he was better than Ganon
And though he's the boss
He was at a loss
Simply shooting out Bill from a cannon
Hope this counts as cannon-related:
There once was a guy from Dubai,
Who thought people liked CDI.
He crafted some cannons
And yelled "That old Ganon's
No match for the king, You must die!"
And one more because I couldn't help my self. This isn't one of the assigned ones, but...
There once was a fellow named Brent,
Whose style was of Broadway descent.
He started to frown
When he heard Hadestown
Only rhymed to a meager extent.
Both of these are very, very good!
There was once a man at a Zoo
Who was overly fond of Fondue
A monkey threw shit,
His bowl was then hit,
And soon he was just eating Poo
Yeah it's immature, but it got me to laugh.
There once was a girl named Shannon.
She always wanted to defeat Ganon.
Once at an exhibition
she played ammunition
and shot herself out of a cannon.
The ringmaster took out his calipers
and measured the waists of his travelers
When one fit his cause
how happy he was
to know someone of such fine caliber
There once was an actor from Connecticut,
Who found himself in a bit of a rut.
So he broke out in song,
For a little too long.
The director just muttered "cut".
Limericks also a great example of the three act structure in micro-form. I think that's going to have to be something I include in my own next video.
There once was a man named Enis...
Oh wait maybe I shouldn’t say that one
😂😂😂😂
I made one for "shut"; I can't write it
Too dirty, the mods would just smite it
But I'll do what you ask, and finish your task
So I'll get in this cannon and light it
Original middle lines: "But I'll do what is asked, and complete your task"
Nice! Maybe change the third line to "But I'll do what you ask" so it's a perfect rhyme with "task", and change "complete" to "finish" so the stress pattern (I think that's called scansion?) is better
@@theheathbar123 Good call, that's quite a bit better
Not bad!! :) Very clever, and great form!
Brent told us that limericks were magic
But I found my own rhyming skills tragic
My syllable count
Slightly off in amount
I'm to prompt as blue hedgehog to Badnik
0:47 You do know that an anapest has its emphasis on the third syllable, right? Like in violin or disagree. What you're describing in an amphibrach.
There once was a man who was plannin'
To get shot out of a cannon
He said for a role
For us it was droll
Til it turned out to be Michael Shannon
There once was a Gunner named Clay
Who sneezed at least 10 times a day
While cleaning the 10 pounder
He sniffed up some powder
And achooed himself to Bombay!
The 3rd line has too many syllables, take out "while" and it'll fit nicely and still make sense :)
Not bad! Line 3 needs a little work though, the emphasis for CLEAN-ing doesn't fit the format very well. I think "While he cleaned the 10 pounder" would fit better.
An extra syllable in the third line and a bit of a stretch for the pounder/powder rhyme, but in general this is really good!
this was great, and really informative. But everytime he used potato as an example I had no idea what he was talking about.