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Sunday, May 10, 2020

Sha-Na-Nahnsense or the World According to the Silhouettes: an Abecedarial Q&A

"Nirvana-na or
Connect the Dot Head"
(see verses for N below)
Ulysses Poe
chemical marker and
watercolor on copy paper
8 1/2" by 11"
     The Silhouettes were a doo wop/R&B group 
whose "Get a Job" lyrics feature the phrase
"sha-na-na" and variants and was a #1 hit on
multiple Billboard charts in 1958. Yip yip yip
yip yip...mum mum mum mum mum... 

Anna-na Karenina-na…?
Da! This novel’s Tolstoy’s.
Banana-nas…? Chiquita sends us
handfuls…boatloadsconvoys!

“Uncle Tom’s Cabana-na”…?
From ‘toon director Avery.
Diana-na…? A princess dies.
(The incident’s unsavory.)

Bay-bed Epifauna-na…?
They line the Chesapeake.
The Erin Isle’s Fermanagh-nagh…?
Their soup’s potato/leek.

Equestrian Gymkhana-na…?
A horse-‘n’-rider playdate.
Gabriel’s Hosanna-na…?
Judaic. Tough to translate.

Tennessee’s The Night of the Iguana-na…?
More Streetcar.
Jonah-nah…? Got swallowed
by a fish. We read his memoir.

Hurricane Katrina-na…?
A cryin’ shame! A pity!
Slovenia’s Ljubljana-na…?
It’s Cleveland’s sister city.

Peggy Lee’s Mañana-na…?
It’s “soon enough for” her.
Nirvana-na…? Lord Buddha asks,
“Which bliss do you prefer…?

Oh, Donna-na” moved up 
the Hot 100 when he* died.
The Amazon’s Piranha-nha…?
Go swimmin'…? You decide!

     * Its composer and earliest 
performer, Richie Valens

Manuel Jose Quintana-na…?
He (MJ...?*) penn’d Pelayo.
Bactrian Rukhsana-na…?
We must reread her bio.

     * Not to be confused with 
number 23, Michael Jordan. Among 
the alternate entries for Q is "Qasr 
al-Kharana-na...? It isn't in Ohio."

The riverboat Sultana-na…?
Its first three boilers blew.
Mexico’s Tijuana-na:
We shan't go there. Shall you…?

We studied at Champagne/Urbana-na --
went all four years.
Peruvian Vicugna-na Vicuña-ña…?
Dear deers!

Country girl Wynonna-na…?
Made music as a Judd.
Warrior princess Xena-na…?
She guzzles dragon’s blood.

Yerba Buena-na…?
It’s class’d as C. douglasii.
New York hamlet Zena-na…?
Its yards...? Green-grassy. 
                                             ‘Bye.

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