Friday, February 27, 2009

Masters of Song Fu - "What is wrong?"

Song Fu Logo

My entry into the latest "Masters Of Song Fu" contest will shortly appear on their site, ready and waiting expectantly for your vote. Thanks to everyone who voted for my song in the first round - a small and select bunch!

The challenge was to use only 10 words in the song, though each word could be repeated. The idea clearly being to get our brains working overtime on combining those ten words in different ways to change their meaning. Nice idea. I did try it, and will post my first attempt shortly (I have a very rough demo which I'll tidy up and post), but it just seemed too obvious. Thinking cap back on, I decided that if I couldn't fill a song with variations on ten words, then I would just fill it with a single word. A single l-o-n-g word. One with over 1900 letters.

It's the name of an enzyme, Tryptophan Synthetase, and amazingly is NOT the longest word - that is the technical name for another enzyme and runs to almost 190,000 letters - I'll leave that one for somebody else to sing as a whole album!

Instrumentation is just guitar, bass, piano and vocal. I did try some drums, but the song is so damn fast that they sounded ridiculous. And yes, I had Danny Kaye firmly in mind as I sang it!

Lyrics are as follows:-


What is wrong?
==============
"Doctor,what is wrong with me?"
"You need some methionylglutaminylarginyltyrosylglutamylseryl-
leucylphenylalanylalanylglutaminylleucyllysylglutamylarginyl-
lysylglutamylglycylalanylphenylalanylvalylprolylphenylalanyl-
valylthreonylleucylglycylaspartylprolylglycylisoleucylglutamyl-
glutaminylserylleucyllysylisoleucylaspartylthreonylleucyl-
isoleucylglutamylalanylglycylalanylaspartylalanylleucylglutamyl-
leucylglycylisoleucylprolylphenylalanylserylaspartylprolyl-
leucylalanylaspartylglycylprolylthreonylisoleucylglutaminyl-
asparaginylalanylthreonylleucylarginylalanylphenylalanyl-
alanylalanylglycylvalylthreonylprolylalanylglutaminylcysteinyl-
phenylalanylglutamylmethionylleucylalanylleucylisoleucylarginyl-
glutaminyllysylhistidylprolylthreonylisoleucylprolylisoleucyl-
glycylleucylleucylmethionyltyrosylalanylasparaginylleucylvalyl-
phenylalanylasparaginyllysylglycylisoleucylaspartylglutamyl-
phenylalanyltyrosylalanylglutaminylcysteinylglutamyllysylvalyl-
glycylvalylaspartylserylvalylleucylvalylalanylaspartylvalyl-
prolylvalylglutaminylglutamylserylalanylprolylphenylalanyl-
arginylglutaminylalanylalanylleucylarginylhistidylasparaginyl-
valylalanylprolylisoleucylphenylalanylisoleucylcysteinylprolyl-
prolylaspartylalanylaspartylaspartylaspartylleucylleucylarginyl-
glutaminylisoleucylalanylseryltyrosylglycylarginylglycyltyrosyl-
threonyltyrosylleucylleucylserylarginylalanylglycylvalylthreonyl-
glycylalanylglutamylasparaginylarginylalanylalanylleucylprolyl-
leucylasparaginylhistidylleucylvalylalanyllysylleucyllysyl-
glutamyltyrosylasparaginylalanylalanylprolylprolylleucyl-
glutaminylglycylphenylalanylglycylisoleucylserylalanylprolyl-
aspartylglutaminylvalyllysylalanylalanylisoleucylaspartylalanyl-
glycylalanylalanylglycylalanylisoleucylserylglycylserylalanyl-
isoleucylvalyllysylisoleucylisoleucylglutamylglutaminylhistidyl-
asparaginylisoleucylglutamylprolylglutamyllysylmethionylleucyl-
alanylalanylleucyllysylvalylphenylalanylvalylglutaminylprolyl-
methionyllysylalanylalanylthreonylarginylserine."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The lyrics alone made me squeal with delight (I once got a poem published which mentioned hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride, so I don't know if I'm representative of the rest of the audience), I can't wait to hear it. (Or is there already a link I didn't notice?)

My captcha was 'ultratin'. If I ever discovered a new element, that's what I'd name it.

Mick Bordet said...

Thanks Angela - the link was absent because the vote was delayed (some server problems at the quickstop site, apparently).

You may well be at least partly representative, as the song is currently resting within the higher reaches of the voting chart.

I'm sure there's a song somewhere waiting to be written using only captcha phrases!