Some Words Are Funny
by John Riggio
Bumfuzzle. Absquatulate. Razzmatazz. These are real words, but they're funny sounding, right? This song celebrates some of these more esoteric and odd words. You may never need to use them in a sentence, but on occasion they can prove useful! For instance, we use the word "diphthong" (two separate vowel sounds on the same syllable) in our recording sessions from time to time because it helps us know how to pronounce a word, and when to move from one sound to the next. You see? Useful indeed!
Set to a lively rock groove, this song demonstrates a number of funny words which you may or may not have heard of before. But they're all real, we promise. For reinforcement, on the recording the piano has the melody, as well as the recurring motif at measures 1, 33, and 45. Singers join in on that motif at bar 49, using the syllable "da". For added comic value, we've included some spoken lines that utilize some funny words, so you'll need a few students to speak those lines. If you're using our full version in performance, you can find an MP3 with no spoken solos at our web site.
This would make a great cross curricular song between music and English classes. Learn the song in music class, and find out what these strange words mean in English class! You could even modify the lyrics to add your own funny words that aren't mentioned in the music!
Text is taken from Music K-8 magazine.