Cookies, part Five: the finished lyrics
Here they are:
“i don’t want to use an old cliché,”
gasped the chaplain to his strapping protégé,
“but having ducked into this candy shop
and nicked a bit of pecan drop
i’ve something to confess. So listen, pray!”
"i'm cookies for you!
simply speculatius!
positively peppernutty pfeffernüsse!
we're toffees, we two.
magical milanos!
manifestly mandelplaettchen, me and you!
i'm, cookies for you!
truly tortelletty!
unquestionably coconutty macaroons.
we're brownies, to boot!
lovely ladyfingers!
quite a pair of quadratinis, me and you!"
"my boy, i know i taught you sin was base
but my entire soul is pining for a taste.
To hike up these sleeves of silk
and dip this biscuit in your milk
would send my spirit skyward to some holy place!"
"i'm cookies for you!
passionately pralines!
decisively divinity: that's me for you.
we're plumb bombs, partout!
beautifully biscotti
wholly german honey cookies, through and through!
i'm cookies for you!
noticeably nut balls!
obviously oblaten, oh it's true, it's true!
we're wafers, we two!
completely cracking crumpets
a perfect pair of cinnamony snickerdoos!
So, before we get to the music, I want to make a couple of quick comments about the words. First, notice that I stuck to the conviction that all of the desserts in the song would be cookies. Also, I developed a pattern of using the cookies to describe the chaplain's feelings in the first triplet of each stanza and using them to describe his view of his relationship with the altar boy in the second triplet. Finally, I polished up specific words in the verse, such as using "pecan drops" rather than "carrot drops". I thought pecan drops would be a bit more recognizable as cookies. They should be recognizable since they're at the very beginning of the song. I like the second verse, though it's pretty obvious. I wanted to include lots of religious words like "sin" "soul", "holy", and that, just to remind the listener of the chaplain's faith, with the hope that it would underscore his fall into temptation. I like the "sleeves of silk" line because not only does it put an image in my mind of a priest's garments, but, it's also kind of sexy. Silk is very sensual, and I tried to emphasize this sexiness by using the phrase "hike up these sleeves" instead of "roll up these sleeves", because of the association of the word "hike" with "skirt". Women roll up their skirts when they want to put them in the wash or wring them out, but they hike up their skirts when they want to show a bit of leg. Oo la la! Finally, there's the obviously dirty biscuit in milk reference. Moving on, it wouldn't be the IHML if I didn't throw in some fake French. So the word "partout" occurs, which here is supposed to mean " all over" or "everywhere", as in, "everywhere we go" or "all over the place." I wanted that image to be kind of dirty too: plumb bombs exploding all over the place. It's also an onomatopoeia. When you say it, spit bursts out of your mouth. It almost sounds like "Kabloom" or something. You get it, right? I also want to tell you that I found a funny coincidence. The word "oblaten" is a kind of cookie, at least according to the Joy of Cooking. But I also found this definition of the word "oblate" in my dictionary widget: "a person dedicated to a religious life, but typically having not taken specific monastic vows." That, my friends, is a happy accident! Finally, somehow the last word "snickerdoos" doesn't sound as cheesy as "snickerdoodle", so I kept it in.
The pattern of the rhyme scheme for each triplet in the chorus is: a, b, a. All of the a's rhyme across stanzas, and none of the b's rhyme. The verses are all a limerick pattern: a, a, b, a. Also, wherever possible I tried to create assonances and alliterations.
So now that we have our lyrics and sketched out a form for the song, it's time for the really fun part: the music!
“i don’t want to use an old cliché,”
gasped the chaplain to his strapping protégé,
“but having ducked into this candy shop
and nicked a bit of pecan drop
i’ve something to confess. So listen, pray!”
"i'm cookies for you!
simply speculatius!
positively peppernutty pfeffernüsse!
we're toffees, we two.
magical milanos!
manifestly mandelplaettchen, me and you!
i'm, cookies for you!
truly tortelletty!
unquestionably coconutty macaroons.
we're brownies, to boot!
lovely ladyfingers!
quite a pair of quadratinis, me and you!"
"my boy, i know i taught you sin was base
but my entire soul is pining for a taste.
To hike up these sleeves of silk
and dip this biscuit in your milk
would send my spirit skyward to some holy place!"
"i'm cookies for you!
passionately pralines!
decisively divinity: that's me for you.
we're plumb bombs, partout!
beautifully biscotti
wholly german honey cookies, through and through!
i'm cookies for you!
noticeably nut balls!
obviously oblaten, oh it's true, it's true!
we're wafers, we two!
completely cracking crumpets
a perfect pair of cinnamony snickerdoos!
So, before we get to the music, I want to make a couple of quick comments about the words. First, notice that I stuck to the conviction that all of the desserts in the song would be cookies. Also, I developed a pattern of using the cookies to describe the chaplain's feelings in the first triplet of each stanza and using them to describe his view of his relationship with the altar boy in the second triplet. Finally, I polished up specific words in the verse, such as using "pecan drops" rather than "carrot drops". I thought pecan drops would be a bit more recognizable as cookies. They should be recognizable since they're at the very beginning of the song. I like the second verse, though it's pretty obvious. I wanted to include lots of religious words like "sin" "soul", "holy", and that, just to remind the listener of the chaplain's faith, with the hope that it would underscore his fall into temptation. I like the "sleeves of silk" line because not only does it put an image in my mind of a priest's garments, but, it's also kind of sexy. Silk is very sensual, and I tried to emphasize this sexiness by using the phrase "hike up these sleeves" instead of "roll up these sleeves", because of the association of the word "hike" with "skirt". Women roll up their skirts when they want to put them in the wash or wring them out, but they hike up their skirts when they want to show a bit of leg. Oo la la! Finally, there's the obviously dirty biscuit in milk reference. Moving on, it wouldn't be the IHML if I didn't throw in some fake French. So the word "partout" occurs, which here is supposed to mean " all over" or "everywhere", as in, "everywhere we go" or "all over the place." I wanted that image to be kind of dirty too: plumb bombs exploding all over the place. It's also an onomatopoeia. When you say it, spit bursts out of your mouth. It almost sounds like "Kabloom" or something. You get it, right? I also want to tell you that I found a funny coincidence. The word "oblaten" is a kind of cookie, at least according to the Joy of Cooking. But I also found this definition of the word "oblate" in my dictionary widget: "a person dedicated to a religious life, but typically having not taken specific monastic vows." That, my friends, is a happy accident! Finally, somehow the last word "snickerdoos" doesn't sound as cheesy as "snickerdoodle", so I kept it in.
The pattern of the rhyme scheme for each triplet in the chorus is: a, b, a. All of the a's rhyme across stanzas, and none of the b's rhyme. The verses are all a limerick pattern: a, a, b, a. Also, wherever possible I tried to create assonances and alliterations.
So now that we have our lyrics and sketched out a form for the song, it's time for the really fun part: the music!