COMPLETE - The Owl and the Pussycat, by Lear - PO/ll

Peter Why · Post by **Peter Why** » January 22nd, 2006, 2:23 am

All audio files are now on our catalog page: http://librivox.org/the-owl-and-the-pussycat-by-edward-lear/

Each week a poem is chosen to be recorded by as many Librivox volunteers as possible! Have fun!

A little nonsense.

THE OWL AND THE PUSSY-CAT.

By Edward Lear

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat:
They took some honey, and plenty of money
Wrapped up in a five-pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
"O lovely Pussy, O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!"

Pussy said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl,
How charmingly sweet you sing!
Oh! let us be married; too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?"
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the bong-tree grows;
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood,
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.

"Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will."
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.

It's on Gutenberg in the Lear collection at:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/13650/13650-h/13650-h.htm#songs

If you wish to contribute, please have your readings submitted by 3:00 p.m. PST on Saturday, January 28th (that's 23.00 gmt, on the same day).

Please post a link to your version in a reply to this post, or use http://www.yousendit.com to send your file directly to me at peter[dot]planete[at]tiscali[dot]co[dot]uk Do tell me your name, so you can be credited with the reading ... do you want a pseudonym or your real name to be used? ... and give your url if you have one and want it to be published.

File name: owlpussycat_lear_[your initials].mp3

ID-3 tags:

Title: The Owl and the Pussycat
Artist: Edward Lear
Album: Librivox Weekly Poetry

... perhaps adding "Recorded by .." in the Comment.

New readers: remember to read the "librivox disclaimer" at the beginning of your poem, e.g. "The Owl and the Pussycat, By Edward Lear, read for librivox.org by [your name]" or some variation on that, adding date, location, your personal url, if you wish.

Please read the Recording Notes http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6427#6430

Enjoy yourself!

(and remember, anyone who submits a recording can choose the next weekly poem! If you'd like to pick next week's poem, just post here!)

Peter

ChipDoc · Post by **ChipDoc** » January 22nd, 2006, 8:50 am

Great selection, Peter!

On a technical note, I'm afraid that the "&" in the filename is going to choke most Unix-based webservers, so I sent it without:

http://ChipDoc.com/LibriVox/owlpussycat_lear_chip.mp3
1.53Mb/1:40
Chip
http://ChipDoc.com/

Peter Why · Post by **Peter Why** » January 22nd, 2006, 9:22 am

Thanks, Chip; I've changed the file name that I've asked for. Uploading your poem now.

Peter

thistlechick · Post by **thistlechick** » January 22nd, 2006, 10:11 am

Merriam Webster Dictionay on Runcible Spoon:
Main Entry: run?ci?ble spoon
Pronunciation: 'r&n(t)-s&-b&l-
Function: noun
Etymology: coined with an obscure meaning by Edward Lear
: a sharp-edged fork with three broad curved prongs

Do you suppose that Edward Lear is the inventor of the spork?

Here is my recording:

http://betsie.info/librivox/owlpussycat_lear_blb.mp3
Read by: Betsie Bush http://betsie.info
(00:01:46)

ChipDoc · Post by **ChipDoc** » January 22nd, 2006, 10:17 am

More than you know, thistlechick! The intent of the runsible spoon is that the broad curved prongs be used to CUT with! The thing was actually a knispork...

How do I know this odd fact? We actually HAD a runcible spoon at our house when I was growing up. It made a wonderful serving utensil.

kri · Post by **kri** » January 22nd, 2006, 11:43 am

Runcible spoon....that's such a great word.

I think I'll have fun with this one.

kri · Post by **kri** » January 22nd, 2006, 11:54 am

Bleah, stupid mic was not set in the right place. I even tested it! There's some breathing on the mic, but it's not enough to re-do it.

http://www.greenkri.com/librivox/owlpussycat_lear_kll.mp3

kayray · Post by **kayray** » January 22nd, 2006, 12:32 pm

Oh this was a good one. It was hard not to sing the tune! (written by Burl Ives, I think)

http://kayray.org/audiobooks/librivox/misc/owlpussycat_lear_ks.mp3

I think we want reader initials in the title tag also:

The Owl and the Pussycat - ks

so the tracks are distinguishable one from another?

If I'm wrong, just edit mine out :)

peastman · Post by **peastman** » January 22nd, 2006, 7:11 pm

A beautiful poem about love and British imperialism and exploitation! Here's my version:

http://s27.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0SO66AOTH94E105YT2RUGC0OSA

I followed Kara's lead in adding my initials to the title. Feel free to remove them if that isn't what you want.

Roald Dahl wrote an alternate version of this poem in which the Owl proposes to the Pussycat, and the Pussycat rejects him. "And I woudn't want kittens with feathers! Oh no! I wouldn't want kittens with feathers."

Peter

Squiddhartha · Post by **Squiddhartha** » January 22nd, 2006, 7:54 pm

Voila:

http://surly.org/librivox/owlpussycat_lear_s.mp3

ChipDoc · Post by **ChipDoc** » January 22nd, 2006, 8:16 pm

thistlechick wrote:Merriam Webster Dictionay on Runcible Spoon:
Main Entry: run?ci?ble spoon
Pronunciation: 'r&n(t)-s&-b&l-
Function: noun
Etymology: coined with an obscure meaning by Edward Lear
: a sharp-edged fork with three broad curved prongs

Hmmm... Though on one level I hesitate to quibble with Merriam Webster, isn't runcible an adjective rather than a noun...? Took me a while to notice this!

Here's another interesting oddity:

Edward Lear wrote:They took some honey, and plenty of money
Wrapped up in a five-pound note.

Seeing as how this poem was written in the days when fifty pounds would buy you a nice house in London (December 1867), this is sort of like saying that they took "plenty of money" wrapped up in about 20,000 dollars!

LibraryLady · Post by **LibraryLady** » January 22nd, 2006, 9:27 pm

kayray wrote:I think we want reader initials in the title tag also:

The Owl and the Pussycat - ks

so the tracks are distinguishable one from another?

If I'm wrong, just edit mine out

We haven't been doing this before now but we can make it part of the protocol if you want. It seems to make sense!

ChipDoc wrote:
thistlechick wrote:Merriam Webster Dictionay on Runcible Spoon:
Main Entry: run?ci?ble spoon
Pronunciation: 'r&n(t)-s&-b&l-
Function: noun
Etymology: coined with an obscure meaning by Edward Lear
: a sharp-edged fork with three broad curved prongs
Hmmm... Though on one level I hesitate to quibble with Merriam Webster, isn't runcible an adjective rather than a noun...? Took me a while to notice this!

Yup, runcible is an adjective, but note that the entry is for the phrase "runcible spoon," which is a noun. I guess that means there are other things which are runcible??

ChipDoc · Post by **ChipDoc** » January 22nd, 2006, 10:23 pm

Of course it also could be used as a verb...

And hast thou slain the Jabberwok?
Runcible to my arms, my beamish boy!

LibraryLady · Post by **LibraryLady** » January 22nd, 2006, 10:52 pm

LOL! I'll be really impressed if you can come up with a way to use it as an adverb!

ChipDoc · Post by **ChipDoc** » January 22nd, 2006, 11:36 pm

Oh that's just runcibly easy to do...