On the Coast of Coromandel / Where the early pumpkins blow...

September 21, 2007 7:26 AM

I'm looking for a recording of Edward Lear's song The Courtship of the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bò.

The lyrics, sheet music and even a midi file for the song can all be found here, but I can't read sheet music and I think the midi file is for the piano accompaniment, not the voice.

I'd like to find a recording of someone singing the song, preferably on the web, but I'm happy to buy an album if I can find one.

posted by Ritchie to media & arts (3 answers total)

On reflection I think I phrased this question stupidly. The reason why I want to hear the song being sung is because I want to learn to sing it myself. I'm open to suggestions on other ways I might learn the song.
posted by Ritchie at 7:36 AM on September 21, 2007

The piano can play multiple notes at once. Your voice can't, unless you're in a Pratchett novel. The general melody for the piano part is the same as the singing part (there's one tiny exception that's ignorable.)

From humming it to myself, I'm going to say this isn't fancy music. It reminds me of nothing so much as songs I sang at camp, or slightly of 'If I Only Had a Brain.'

Singing along with the midi will work for all but professional purposes - and if you have those intents, you should learn to read music.
posted by cobaltnine at 7:59 AM on September 21, 2007

Ah, thanks for that cobaltnine! I don't want to sing it professionally, I've just liked the poetry for ages and wanted to learn how it was meant to be sung. I didn't realize the piano and the vocal melody were generally the same.
posted by Ritchie at 4:26 PM on September 22, 2007