List of patter songs explained

This is a list of some of the best known patter songs.

Pre-Gilbert and Sullivan

• Auber: Le domino noir – "Je suis sauvée enfin"
• Cornelius: Der Barbier von Bagdad – "Bin Akademiker, Doktor und Chemiker"
• Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore – "Udite, Udite, o rustici", middle section (Dulcamara)
• Donizetti: Don Pasquale – "Cheti, cheti, immantinente", final section (duet for Don Pasquale and Doctor Malatesta)
• Glinka: Ruslan and Lyudmila – Farlaf's Rondo «Близок уж час торжества моего» (Farlaf)
• Mozart: Marriage of Figaro – "La vendetta, oh, la vendetta", final section (Bartolo)
• Mozart: Don Giovanni – "Fin ch'han dal vino" (Don Giovanni)
• Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail – "Solche hergelaufne Laffen", especially the final section of the aira (Osmin)
• Mozart: "Clarice cara mia sposa", aria for Tenor, K. 256
• Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia – "Largo al factotum", final section (Figaro); "A un dottor de la mia sorte" (Bartolo)
• Rossini: La Cenerentola – "Sia qualunque delle figlie", final section (Don Magnifico)
• Rossini: "La Danza"
• Rossini: Il viaggio a Reims – "Medaglie incomparabili" (Don Profondo)
• Offenbach: La jolie parfumeuse – "Neighbors Chorus"

Gilbert and Sullivan

• Arthur Sullivan and F. C. Burnand: Cox and Box – "My Master Is Punctual" (Mr. Cox)^{[1] [2]}
• Gilbert and Sullivan (referred to below as "Sullivan"): The Gondoliers – "In enterprise of martial kind" (Duke of Plaza-Toro, with Duchess, Casilda and Luiz)^{[3] [4]}
• Sullivan: The Gondoliers – "Rising early in the morning" (Giuseppe)^[5]
• Sullivan: H.M.S. Pinafore – "When I Was a Lad" (Sir Joseph)^[5]
• Sullivan: Iolanthe – "Love, unrequited, robs me of my rest" (the "Nightmare song"; Lord Chancellor)^{[5] [6]}
• Sullivan: The Mikado – "As someday it may happen" (Ko-Ko)^[7]
• Sullivan: Patience – "If you want a receipt for that popular mystery" (Colonel Calverley)^[8]
• Sullivan: Patience – "If you're anxious for to shine" (Bunthorne)^[8]
• Sullivan: Patience – "So go to him and say to him" (Bunthorne and Lady Jane)^[8]
• Sullivan: The Pirates of Penzance – "I am the very model of a modern Major-General" (Major-General Stanley)^[7]
• Sullivan: Princess Ida – "If you give me your attention, I will tell you what I am" (King Gama)^[5]
• Sullivan: Ruddigore – "My boy, you may take it from me" (Robin)^[5]
• Sullivan: Ruddigore – "Henceforth all the crimes that I find in the Times" (Robin)^[9]
• Sullivan: Ruddigore – "My eyes are fully open to my awful situation" (Robin, Despard, and Margaret).
• Sullivan: The Sorcerer – "My name is John Wellington Wells" (J. W. Wells)^[5]
• Sullivan: Trial by Jury – "When I, good friends, was called to the bar" (the Learned Judge)^{[5] [10]}
• Sullivan: The Yeomen of the Guard – "I've Jibe and Joke. ... I've wisdom from the East and from the West" (Jack Point)^[11]
• Sullivan: The Yeomen of the Guard – "Oh! A private buffoon is a light-hearted loon" (Jack Point)^[5]

After G&S: selected showtunes

• Ashman & Menken: "Now (It's Just the Gas)" from Little Shop of Horrors^[12]
• Lionel Bart: "Reviewing the Situation" from Oliver!^[13]
• Cy Coleman: "Museum Song" from Barnum^[14]
• Comden & Green: "If You Hadn't, But You Did" from Two on the Aisle^[15]
• Frankel & Korie: "The Revolutionary Costume" from Grey Gardens^[16]
• Rupert Holmes: "Both Sides of the Coin" from Drood^[17]
• Eric Idle: "You Won't Succeed on Broadway" from Spamalot^[18]
• Kander & Ebb: "The Money Song" from Cabaret
• Kander & Ebb: "We Both Reached for the Gun" from Chicago
• George Gershwin: "The Mophams" from Primrose^[19]
• George Gershwin: "It Ain't Necessarily So" from Porgy and Bess ^[20]
• Bock & Harnick: "Tonight at Eight" from She Loves Me^[21]
• Jerry Herman: "Penny in My Pocket" from Hello, Dolly!^[22]
• Jonathan Larson: "Therapy" from Tick, Tick... Boom!^[23]
• Lerner & Loewe: "Why Can't the English?", "I'm an Ordinary Man" and "A Hymn to Him" from My Fair Lady^[24]
• Roger Miller: "The Royal Nonesuch" from Big River^[25]
• Laurence O'Keefe: "Show You a Thing or Two" from ^[26]
• Cole Porter: "Let's Not Talk About Love" from Let's Face It!^[27]
• Stephen Schwartz: "All for the Best" from Godspell^[23]
• Sherman Brothers: "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" from Mary Poppins^[28]
• Stephen Sondheim: "Another Hundred People"^[15] and "Getting Married Today"^[29] from Company
• Stephen Sondheim: "Now" from A Little Night Music^[15]
• Stephen Sondheim: "The Worst Pies In London" and "A Little Priest"^[30] from Sweeney Todd
• Stephen Sondheim: "Putting It Together" from Sunday in the Park with George^[31]
• Stephen Sondheim: "Mr. Goldstone, I Love You" from Gypsy^[32]
• Stephen Sondheim: "Your Fault" from Into the Woods^[33]
• Stephen Sondheim: "Franklin Shepard, Inc." from Merrily We Roll Along^[34]
• Jeanine Tesori

"The Speed Test" from Thoroughly Modern Millie adapts portions of "My eyes are fully open" from Ruddigore^[23]

• Kurt Weill: "Tschaikowsky (and Other Russians)" from Lady in the Dark^[35]
• Meredith Willson: "Rock Island (opening sequence)" and "Ya Got Trouble" from The Music Man^[23]
• David Yazbek: "Model Behavior" from Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown^[36]

After G&S: selected popular and classical music

• Scrubs: "The Rant Song" from the 2007 episode "My Musical"^[37]
• Animaniacs: "Yakko's World" (1993), among others^[38]
• Barenaked Ladies: "One Week" from Stunt (1998)^[39]
• Billy Joel: "We Didn't Start the Fire" from Storm Front (1989)^[40]
• Noël Coward: "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" (1931)^[41]
• Tom Lehrer

"The Elements" (1959) uses the tune of the "Major-General's Song"^[42]

• Lucky Starr: "I've Been Everywhere" (1959 by Geoff Mack)^[43]
• Phineas and Ferb: "History of the Tri-State Area", "I Really Don't Hate Christmas"^[44]
• Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention: "Let's Make the Water Turn Black" from We're Only in It for the Money (1968)^[45]
• Only Murders in the Building: "Which of the Pickwick Triplets Did It?" (2023)^[46]

Sources

• Book: Ainger, Michael . 2002 . Gilbert and Sullivan – A Dual Biography . Oxford . Oxford University Press . 978-0-19-514769-8.
• Book: Bradley, Ian. Ian Bradley

. Ian Bradley. 1996. The Complete Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan. Oxford. Oxford University Press. 0-19-816503-X. registration.

• Book: Eden, David . Meinhard Saremba . 2009 . The Cambridge Companion to Gilbert and Sullivan . . Cambridge . Cambridge University Press . 978-0-521-88849-3.
• Book: Lister, Linda. So You Want to Sing Light Opera: A Guide for Performers . 2018 . Rowman & Littlefield. 978-1-442-26939-2.
• Book: Williams, Carolyn . Gilbert and Sullivan: Gender, Genre, Parody . 2010 . Columbia University Press . New York . 978-0-231-14804-7.

External links

• Peter Schickele on the history of the patter song
• Description of Nelson Eddy recording of patter songs, listing them
• Description of Martyn Green recording of patter songs, listing them
• List of some classical patter songs
• Patter Song at TV Tropes

Notes and References

1. Florip, Daniel. "Cox and Box and Trial by Jury do UMGASS proud", The Gasbag, Friends of the University of Michigan Gilbert & Sullivan Society, Vol. 37, No. 2, Issue 234, Autumn 2006, p. 16
2. Eden and Saremba, p. 99
3. https://www.gsarchive.net/gondoliers/web_opera/gond03.html Lyrics to "In enterprise of martial kind"
4. Low, Peter. Translating Song: Lyrics and Texts, p. 13, Routledge (2017)
5. Shepherd, Marc. "Nelson Eddy: Patter Songs from Gilbert and Sullivan" at A Gilbert and Sullivan Discography
6. Williams, p. 23
7. Book: Eden, David. 2009. The Cambridge Companion to Gilbert and Sullivan. Cambridge University Press. 106. 9780521888493 . The list patter song['s] ... most famous examples are 'I am the very model of a modern Major-General' ... and 'As someday it may happen'..
8. Ainger, p. 196
9. Bradley, p. 732
10. http://victorianweb.org/mt/gilbert/judge1.html Article and links about "The Judge's Song", The Victorian Web
11. Lister, p. 23
12. Stone, Martin. "Little Shop of Horrors: Cross-Pollinization!", Mondo Musicals, August 25, 2010, accessed February 7, 2017
13. News: Siegel . Naomi . November 17, 1994 . Dramatically rich 'Oliver' on Mill stage . The Item . Millburn and Short Hills . January 14, 2019 . The patter song, 'Reviewing the Situation,' with its echoes of the Yiddish theater, trips from his lips with precision..
14. Hischak, Thomas. The Oxford Companion to the American Musical, Oxford University Press, p. 51
15. Book: Fisher, Jeremy. 2014. Successful Singing Auditions. A&C Black. 56. 9781408176863.
16. News: Liner . Elaine . October 10, 2009 . WaterTower Theatre's Grey Gardens: Shades of Glamour Amid Stray Cats and Corn . The Dallas Observer . June 8, 2019 . She kicks off Act 2, set in 1973 when she's in her 50s, with the show's patter-song, 'The Revolutionary Costume for Today.'.
17. Farrington, Jan. "Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay!", TheaterJones.com, October 22, 2014, accessed June 24, 2016
18. [Stephen Holden|Holden, Stephen]
19. News: Tuck . Lon . May 16, 1987 . The Gershwin Gold . The Washington Post . June 8, 2019 . How about the superb patter song that brings the first act to an end? It is called 'The Mophams' ....
20. News: Tuck . Lon . July 10, 1977 . Porgy and Bess . The Washington Post . ... the sardonic patter song ('It Ain't Necessarily So;) ....
21. Book: Lambert, Philip . Dec 10, 2010 . To Broadway, To Life!: The Musical Theater of Bock and Harnick . Oxford University Press . 228 . ...the earlier jazz-inflected Bock-Harnick patter song 'Tonight at Eight' from She Loves Me.. 9780199781034 .
22. Web site: The Newest Dolly on the Newest Recording . Filichia . Peter . May 9, 2017 . Masterworks Broadway . Sony Music Entertainment . January 14, 2019 . The real lagniappe is “Penny in My Pocket.” This patter song that originally ended the first act when Dolly was trying out in Detroit was an elaborate production number..
23. Henderson, Kathy. "Speed Test! Check Out Our Video Roundup of the Fastest Patter Songs, from Company, Godspell & More", Broadway.com, August 5, 2013, accessed June 24, 2016
24. Book: Frankel, Aaron. 2009. Writing the Broadway Musical. Da Capo Press. 9780786752027.
25. Web site: Big River . The Guide to Musical Theatre . June 8, 2019 . "What's a Nonesuch?" asks one of the townsfolk. 'Well,' says the Duke, launching into his rhyme-a-second patter song..
26. News: Friswold . Paul . August 10, 2016 . Stray Dog's Bat Boy: The Musical Is Hauntingly Therapeutic . The Riverfront Times . June 8, 2019 . ... the excellent patter song 'Show You a Thing or Two.'.
27. News: Atkinson . Brooks . October 30, 1941 . The Play In Review: 'Let's Face It!' . The New York Times . June 8, 2019 . 'Let's Not Talk About Love' restores the patter song to its ancient eminence as a test of memory and wind..
28. Westwood, Matthew. "Songs in the key of the Sherman brothers", The Australian, July 27, 2010
29. Weiss, Hedy. "Writers Theatre sets a blistering look at marriage in Company", Chicage Sun-Times, June 23, 2016
30. News: Coe . Richard . March 11, 1979 . Two Musical High Notes . The Washington Post . January 14, 2019 . With 'A Little Priest,' a patter song of dazzling verbosity, Act I ends at the pinnacle of sophisticated whimsy, a black joke of fiendish ingenuity..
31. News: Holden . Stephen . November 21, 1985 . New Sondheim Lyrics Give Streisand Album Historic Tone . The Chicago Tribune . June 8, 2019 . Another revised Sondheim song, 'Putting It Together,' opens 'The Broadway Album.' This patter song from 'Sunday in the Park With George' ....
32. News: Isenberg . Barbara . April 18, 2010 . In Sondheim's company . The Los Angeles Times . June 8, 2019 . There's always a patter song like 'Mr. Goldstone' in [Sondheim's] scores. For [Patti LuPone's] first entrance in 'Sweeney Todd' as Mrs. Lovett, [she] had to sing 'The Worst Pies in London,' another of those patter songs..
33. Web site: Your Fault / Last Midnight. Genius. July 12, 2022.
34. News: Richards . David . February 9, 1990 . Merrily We Roll Along . The Washington Post . June 8, 2019 . ... he delivers the patter song, "Franklin Shepard, Inc.," dazzlingly..
35. Dale, Michael. "Videos: Chicago's Jason Danieley Holds a Note for Longer Than It Takes Danny Kaye to Sing 'Tchaikovsky'", BroadwayWorld.com, April 8, 2016
36. Collins, Stephen. "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown", British Theatre, April 27, 2015
37. Harris, Kathryn. "Musicals in the Media: the Scrubs Musical", Music Theatre International, March 9, 2010, accessed June 9, 2019
38. Mendoza, N. F. "Shows for Youngsters and Their Parents Too: A sense of history and smarts set Fox's Animaniacs apart", Los Angeles Times, December 26, 1993, accessed June 24, 2016
39. Sutherland, Lori Archer. "'The Flim Flam Cider Song' by Daniel Ingram", TonalDiversions.com, April 1, 2016, accessed February 7, 2017
40. Neethling, Bertie. (2016). "Names in Songs: A Comparative Analysis of Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire and Christopher Torr's Hot Gates" in C. Hough (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Names and Naming
41. Self, Geoffrey. Light Music in Britain since 1870: A Survey, Routledge (2017)
42. Shepherd, Marc. "Tom Lehrer's 'The Elements' and 'Clementine' (1959)", The Gilbert and Sullivan Discography, 5 October 2008, accessed December 15, 2017
43. Doll, Christopher (2017). Hearing Harmony: Toward a Tonal Theory for the Rock Era. University of Michigan Press. pp. 266
44. Blanchette, Kyle. "Top 10 Disney Holiday Specials!", Moviepilot.com, November 30, 2015, accessed June 24, 2016
45. Laurence, Robin. "Geoffrey Farmer fêted in new Vancouver Art Gallery show", Straight.com, May 27, 2015, accessed June 24, 2016
46. Web site: Haysom . Sam . 2023-09-19 . 'Only Murders in the Building' Season 3: Here's all the lyrics to the 'Pickwick Triplets' song . 2024-02-16 . Mashable.