_Co_de

Reprinted from Songworm 1
This parody was sung by Frank Hayes on Tapeworm 2

Parody of “Woad”, words by Flanders and Swann , music traditional: “Men of Harlech”

For more information and other parodies, see www.songworm.com
Parody lyrics ©3/7/86 by Bob Kanefsky. All rights reserved. The copyright of the original lyrics and music remain with the holder(s) of the original copyright.

C What’s

the

Am use

of

C in

cantations

F Need

ing strange ges

G tic

ulations,

C Eye

balls

Am of

ob

C scure

crus

Em tac

eans,

C Toe

nails

G of

a

C toad

?

What’s the use of years of training, 
Spells that don’t work when it’s raining 
Or because the moon is waning? 
Better far is Code!

G Code’s

the stuff we write now.

C Code

that’s clean and tight now.

C Run

it

Am through

your

C Ap

ple

Am II

(Try

C not

to stay up

Am fixing

it all

G night

, now.)

F Anc

ient

C mag

es,

G7 through

the

C a

ges

G Fre

quently were prone to violent rages

C Due

to

Am pour

ing

C o

ver

Em pag

es

C Filled

with

G ink

that

C glowed

.

Oftentimes a poor old biddy 
Found on her familar kitty 
Ticks and fleas, which (more’s the pity) 
Moved into her rugs.

Shamans using dung from cattle 
With small insects must do battle. 
We have code to serve us that’ll 
Not be fraught with bugs.

Shaman, save your tonic; 
Witch, your pets bubonic. 
We’ve the means, with our machines, 
To make phantasms visual and sonic.

If you’ve stayed with code that’s made with 
Principled techniques and not been played with, 
You won’t need a wizard’s aid with 
User-friendly code!