Songs for My Father: Nonsense Varia on Shirley Temple's Signature Song

The Original: 

On the good...ship...Lollipop
it’s a sweet...trip...to the candy shop
where bon-bons play...
on the sunny beach of Peppermint Bay.

The Varia:

On the ship...A-...li, huh, Pop,
Cassius Clay’d...spar...till his partner’d drop.
Perhaps his new...
patronym can shift his angle of view.

On the good... ship...Bali, Pop,

fans of way-...ang...in Bedugul stop,
hear gong kebyar...,
then head home to pawn their twelve-string guitar. 

On the good...ship...Bali, Pop,

what's that sound... I...hear? It sure ain't bop.
It's gamelan...
play'd by local girls and one foreign man.

On the ship...Bi-...aly, Pop,

two produ-...cers...plot their Broadway flop.

What could go right…?

“Springtime” fails to close on opening night.

On the good...ship Bengali, Pop...

On the good...ship...Brolly, Pop,

you hear "drip…drip…” but you feel no drop:
your bumbershoot...
keeps those raindrops off your seersucker suit.

On the good... ship...Cali, Pop,

The cartel’s...hip...: you’re a narco cop!
You’d best behave...,
lest you wind up in a Cristo Rey grave.
 
On the good...ship...Cholly, Pop,
Count Cassi-...ni...pens his gossip slop.
Society...
cares not Oleg holds no master’s degree.

On the good...ship...'Cholly,' Pop, 

Lady Brit...yips..., "Slang has gotta stop:

it makes me ill..."

(Is this dowager a bit of a pill...?)

 

On the good...ship...Collie, Pop,

Captain Las-...sie...serves up mutton chop.
No dog food here...:
Captain Lassie makes that doggedly clear. 

On the good...ship...Colly, Pop,
sailor/col-...liers..., each with pail and mop,
scrub clean each deck...
When all shine, tars get their bi-monthly check.

On the good...ship...Dali, Pop
pocket wat-...ches...melt. (Does duration stop…?)
Oh, Salvador...:
you’re a charlatan but never a bore.
 
On the ship...De-...nali, Pop,
politi-...cians...standing near the top
can see from there...
a Eurasian (not a Kodiak) bear.

On the good... ship...Dolly, Pop,

Sing “Hello,”...boys...as you dance nonstop.
Your Mrs. L...
of the Broadway ball for decades is belle.

E
 
On the good...ship...Folly, Pop,
what’s that buil-...ding…? ’Taint no barbershop.
What is quite clear…?
Architect’rally, that ziggurat’s queer.

On the good...ship...Frawley, Pop,

Fred and Eth-...el...(subs for mom and pop)
are Lucy’s chums...
Meanwhile, Desi beats big Babalu drums.
 
On the good...ship...Golly!, Pop,

goodness gra-...cious...! (That’s a malaprop.)
Hello! Whoopee...!
Jeepers! Gosh! Alas! Aw, shucks! Dearie me!
 
On the ship...Good...Golly, Pop...

On the good...ship...Holly, Pop,

Audrey break-...fasts...at that jew’lry shop.
Capote knew...
how to tell ‘em long before he turn’d Tru.

I
 
On the good...ship...Jolly, Pop,
David’s ef-...forts...all have come a croppe.’
“My GOP...
merdemorph’d into the Party of T.”
 
On the good...ship...Kali, Pop,
if you’re e-...vil..., best to run, chop-chop.
If innocent...,
you may manage to her wrath circumvent.

On the good...ship...Lalli, Pop.

Was he real...? Or Finnish agitprop?
He swung his axe...
and some bishop fell. (No legend: just facts.)

On the ship...La-...lique, huh, Pop,
stunning pie-...ces...ev’ry femme ‘n’ fop
would kill to own...:
glass from “lost wax” molds, not glass bottles blown.

On the good...ship...Mali, Pop...

though they're land-...lock'd..., Mali folks "land hop"
from Gao to Bla…
where they chug Castel, not Stella Artois.

On the good...ship...Molly, Pop...

Mrs. Bloom...cries..., "Yes I will don't stop!"
Her Poldy knows...
she's the star of Joyce's novel's big close.

On the ship...Mul-...lally, Pop...

On the ship...Ne-...pali, Pop...

On the good...ship...Ollie, Pop...

he and Stan...tweak...funny bones full stop.
Their bowler hats...
soar as each one takes those falls known as 'prats.'

On the good...ship...Polly, Pop...

Sawyer's Aunt...whom...Tom would never swap.
She loves Huck, too...:
Polly hugs young Finn right out of the blue.

On the good...ship...Quale, Pop,

hallmarks rule..., while...things themselves we drop.
Is zest a thing…?
Yes – and sep’rate from its Buffalo wing. 

On the good...ship...Raleigh, Pop,

Addicts har-...vest...Big Tobacco’s crop.
Thick blackened tongues...
bloat as cancer eats through tummies and lungs.

On the good...ship...Solly, Pop,

saying “Sor-...ry!”..., ‘r’s for ‘l’s they swap.

Who does such stuff…?

Asians do. They make intelligence tough.

On the ship...So-...mali, Pop...

On the ship...Swen-...gali, Pop,

feckless ar-...tists...tend to come a-cropp.-
Headlong each falls...
and the depths he sinks to always appalls.

On the ship...Ta-...male, Pop,

it's a hot...trip...to the taco shop.
Cholula Sauce...
let's you gringos know exactly who's boss.

On the good...ship...Thali, Pop,

flavors – six! –...chefs...on your platter drop

From sweet, salt, spice…

through bitter, sour, astringent: Nepalese nice!

On the good...ship...Trolley, Pop...

Hear the "clang...clang"! Hear the wheels "plop, plop"!
"The Trolley Song"...
Garland sings; the chorus travels along.

U

On the good...ship...Valli, Pop,

Harry Lime’s quip is quite hard to top.

But still he’s vile,

even if his jest elicits a smile.

 

On the good...ship...Volley, Pop,
serve and vol-...ley...EVE and WALL-E swap
like tennis pros...
(In some nonsense verses, anything goes.)

On the good...ship...Wally, Pop... 

X

On the good...ship...“Y’all Leap!” Pop,

as my count-...down...adumbrates yall’s hop,
I lose my place...
(Is it time to end this caucusless race…?)

Z