2. A Modern Major General

N.B. If you are even remotely interested in watching any of these videos, I wouldn't do them all in one sitting. A good selection would be either of the first two (the actual song), the Minions rendition, and Randy Rainbow's take. But they're all worth viewing on separate occasions. And if you're interested in following along, you can find the lyrics here.

There was a fun article the other day in the Washington Post about the Gilbert and Sullivan patter song "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General" (from The Pirates of Penzance), and I enjoyed all the references so much that I thought I'd be lazy and simply link them here. The article was inspired, I gather, by the Broadway revival of Pirates! The Penzance Musical starring, interestingly, David Hyde Pierce. Here's the tune, as performed in 1983 in the film featuring Kevin Kline and Linda Ronstadt (who knew?):

I grew up hearing G&S, and in particular D'Oyly Carte Opera performances (on LPs) featuring the inimitable Martyn Green. Here's his version of the song (with a very young Alistair Cooke as emcee):

It's challenge enough to catch all the lyrics, never mind sing them (which I manage to do up through "beings animalculous" on a good day). Here they are written out. Sing along!

But enough of the straight stuff. What about the Minions? This delightful nonsense rendition is sung by the French director and voice actor Pierre Coffin. 

In a similar vein, there's the Reboot version, recapping season 3. 

The National Park Service got in the spirit for its 1916 Centennial celebration, with "The Modern Major Park Ranger":

And wouldn't you know that the equally inimitable Randy Rainbow also had his way with it?

Finally, for your reading pleasure from August 1981, also in the WaPo, "I Am the Very Model of a Reaganite American."

Oh, but finally finally—and speaking of David Hyde Pierce: here he is doing the opening monologue to Saturday Night Live eleven years ago with a silly patter song (so apparently having nothing to do with his current Pirates! leading role—but eerily prescient):

The song that keeps on giving.

Finally finally finally, here's a CBS Sunday Morning profile of David Hyde Pierce from just a few days ago, which, yes, does feature this new role of his, but also more—it's great to see, if you're a fan of DHP, which I certainly am:

One of these days I might do a post on The Mikado. If there's a Gilbert & Sullivan operetta I love and know well, that's it.