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Operatic about Leica |
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06-12-2006
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#1
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Registered User
Peter Klein is offline
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Seattle
Age: 56
Posts: 294
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Operatic about Leica
. . . or, I should say, OperETTic.
Short humor break, folks. About a year ago, I wrote a parody song about Leicas. I posted it on the LUG. The next thing you know, it's October, I'm in San Francisco, and I'm standing up in front of a couple hundred people singing the thing at the annual Leica Historical Society of America banquet, which I still can't believe I did.
Without further ado. . .
"I Am A Total Devotee of Leica M Photography"
Copyright (c) 2004, 2005 Peter A. Klein
Sung to the tune of "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General"
Apologies to Gilbert and Sullivan
- - - - -
Scene: A photographic gathering in a posh metropolitan hotel. The
Master Amateur is holding forth on the glories of Leica. He is dressed
in a battered old raincoat and a French beret. In his hand is a
battered M3 covered with black tape. He is surrounded by a chorus of
paunchy middle-aged men, each wearing an enormous autofocus SLR with
zoom lens. The lenses bounce on their bellies when they sing.
- - - - -
(MASTER AMATEUR)
I am a total devotee of Leica M photography.
I will not buy a digicam, I won't do videography.
I read the work of Lager with his product list canonical.
I'll never use a plastic lens with focus ultrasonical.
I look at other cameras with an attitude that's whimsical.
I do not want an SLR with viewing pentaprimsical.
The look of glass from Asia makes me squint my eyes and squirm a knee.
I'd rather get my lenses from a little town in Germany.
(CHORUS)
He'd rather get his lenses from a little town in Germany.
He'd rather get his lenses from a little town in Germany.
He'd rather get his lenses from a little town in Germa-Germa-ny.
(MASTER AMATEUR)
I will never put my camera on a tripod that is teetering.
I cannot understand the need for modern matrix metering.
Look back upon my history, it's all in my biography:
I am a total devotee of Leica M photography.
(CHORUS)
Look back upon his history, it's all in his biography:
He is a total devotee of Leica M photography.
(MASTER AMATEUR)
I love my Leica cameras with passion that's tyrannical
A rangefinder, a floating frame, and everything mechanical.
The shutter curtain's rubberized, and fashioned from the finest silk.
The lenses have a bokeh that is smooth as summer buttermilk.
My fifty f-two Summicron takes landscapes that are lyrical.
I pierce the gloomy shadows with my Summilux aspherical.
I must have Leica quality although it costs a lot o' bucks.
I bought a ninety A-P-O, I'm saving for a Noctilux.
(CHORUS)
He bought a ninety A-P-O, he's saving for a Noctilux.
He bought a ninety A-P-O, he's saving for a Noctilux.
He bought a ninety A-P-O, he's saving for a Nocti-Nocti-lux.
I develop all my Tri-X film in acid that's ascorbical.
I try to make my photos have a reference metaphorbical.
And so throughout my history, you'll find in my biography:
I am a total devotee of Leica M photography.
(CHORUS)
And so throughout his history, we find in his biography:
He is a total devotee of Leica M photography.
(MASTER AMATEUR)
I want to be like Eisenstadt and Smith and Frank and HCB.
I take my Christmas photos in a style that's documentary.
I never shoot at weathered rocks and twisted trees and gnats and logs.
There's universal pathos in my pictures of my cats and dogs.
I lurk in bars and coffeshops, and stalk the streets with Delphic glee.
To shoot unwary passers-by with Leica mounted pelvically.
And when I spy a plant that has a lovely flower's bloom upon.
I take a dazzling close-up with my dual-ranging Summicron.
(CHORUS)
He takes a dazzling close-up with his dual-ranging Summicron.
He takes a dazzling close-up with his dual-ranging Summicron.
He takes a dazzling close-up with his dual-ranging Summi-Summi-cron.
(MASTER AMATEUR)
And although I've tried the other brands they always feel inferior.
They can't resolve the fuzz upon a baby's bare posterior.
That's why throughout my history, you'll find in my biography:
I am a total devotee of Leica M photography.
(CHORUS)
That's why throughout his history, we'll find in his biography:
He is a total devotee of Leica M photography.
------------
--Peter
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06-12-2006
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#2
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Striving
ChrisN is offline
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Canberra
Posts: 2,616
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WoW!!! Don't stop!
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Chris
"I eagerly await new concepts and processes. I believe that the electronic image will be the next major advance. Such systems will have their own inherent and inescapable structural characteristics, and the artist and functional practitioner will again strive to comprehend and control them."
Ansel Adams, March 1981
Most recent
My Top 10
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06-13-2006
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#3
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Registered User
richard_l is offline
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Winston-Salem, NC
Posts: 1,393
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Wonderful! I'd say you're the Tom Lehrer of photography.
__________________
"Simplicity is the ultimate elegance." Leonardo Da Vinci
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06-13-2006
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#4
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Post deleted by posters request
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06-13-2006
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#5
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RFF Sponsoring Member.
jaapv is offline
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Hellevoetsluis,Netherlands
Posts: 5,970
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Great! Now figure out a way to put the music in your post  |
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06-13-2006
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#6
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Registered User
richard_l is offline
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Winston-Salem, NC
Posts: 1,393
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For those who don't know the tune, here's a MIDI file. Just click on the MIDI button.
__________________
"Simplicity is the ultimate elegance." Leonardo Da Vinci
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06-13-2006
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#7
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silver addict
thafred is offline
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Vienna
Age: 32
Posts: 397
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Cheers Peter! Fantastic ....I nearly riuned my pants while laughing!!!
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06-13-2006
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#8
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Moderator
rover is offline
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Connecticut
Age: 44
Posts: 11,525
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Now you have to record this and post it on the web for all to enjoy.
Did the LHSA pay for your trip to San Francisco?
__________________
Dad with a Camera
1955 DS M3 w/Elmar 50/2.8, Nikkor 50/2 or Canon 50/1.5, 1962 M2 w/35mm Summaron, 1966 SS M3 w/50mm Summilux, 1968 M4 w/50mm rigid Summicron and CV 35 Ultron, Bessa R4a w/CV 21/4 Color Skopar, CV 28/2 Ultron and CV 35/2.5 PII Color Skopar
rover's world at flickr
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06-13-2006
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#9
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RF renegade
scottgee1 is offline
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 618
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Very clever!
And you might want to change your avatar, comrade!
 /ScottGee1
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<a href='http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=1058'>My Gallery</a>
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06-13-2006
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#10
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Nick Merritt
KoNickon is offline
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Hartford, CT USA
Age: 51
Posts: 1,401
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Peter -- absolutely perfect parody of G&S.
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06-13-2006
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#11
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Registered User
JOE1951 is offline
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Halifax, Nova Scotia
Age: 46
Posts: 113
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That's funny, very Gilbert and Sullivan!!
Although my preference is more Wagnarian...Kiwl the wabbit, Kiwl The Wabbit, KIWL THE WABBIT!
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06-13-2006
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#12
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Post deleted by posters request
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06-13-2006
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#13
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Registered User
Way is offline
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Torrance, CA
Posts: 535
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Great stuff! Captures a lot of the strange and wonderful idiosycracies of us rangefinder folks! Congratulations!
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A. D'Espine 1840, S. Peresson 1987, W. Whedbee 2000
E. Sartory, J. Tubbs, R. Steenburgen, JNL, Nurnberger
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06-13-2006
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#14
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Poser
SteveM(PA) is offline
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Royersford, PA USA
Age: 40
Posts: 833
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I just spit tea all over my keyboard!
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-Steve
my gallery
12 angry men
my flickr
olympus xa, fed 3b, zorki 4k, iiif rdst, m3 ds, r-d1
"The cup of tea on arrival at a country house is a thing which, as a rule, I particularly enjoy. I like the crackling logs, the shaded lights, the scent of buttered toast, the general atmosphere of leisured cosiness."
-P. G. Wodehouse
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06-13-2006
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#15
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Poser
SteveM(PA) is offline
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Royersford, PA USA
Age: 40
Posts: 833
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by richard_l
Wonderful! I'd say you're the Tom Lehrer of photography.
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Here's a link to "The Elements"
http://chemlab.pc.maricopa.edu/PERIODIC/lyrics.html
__________________
-Steve
my gallery
12 angry men
my flickr
olympus xa, fed 3b, zorki 4k, iiif rdst, m3 ds, r-d1
"The cup of tea on arrival at a country house is a thing which, as a rule, I particularly enjoy. I like the crackling logs, the shaded lights, the scent of buttered toast, the general atmosphere of leisured cosiness."
-P. G. Wodehouse
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06-13-2006
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#16
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Registered User
Peter Klein is offline
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Seattle
Age: 56
Posts: 294
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Wow, thanks everyone!
Richard_l, thanks for posting the midi link. Now everyone can sing along!
Rover, I am a member of LHSA, and I got to SF under my own funding. 
ScottGee1: Ah, you noticed that Zorki 4 in my avatar. Yeah, I mostly shoot with Leicas, but every so often, it's fun to drive a tractor. It just turns out that my best mirror self-portrait was taken with the Zorki. I've threatened to show up at an LHSA event with the Zorki just to tweak people, but I haven't yet.
Joe1951: Be vewwy quiet. I'm hunting Weicas. (Actually, one of the guys who sang the chorus part with me in San Francisco had a German accent, so we had a little bit of Wagner in our G&S).
Magus: I had never heard that old Leica song before. Thanks!
--Peter |
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06-13-2006
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#17
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Registered User
rool is offline
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 241
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Oh my god...
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06-13-2006
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#18
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CanoHasseLeica
Silva Lining is offline
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Awld Lahdahn Tahn
Age: 37
Posts: 899
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That is utter genius....brilliant.
(I love the rhyming of lot o' bucks with noctilux )
__________________
------------------------
Phill
My Gallery
Currently Shooting - Leica M6 + Zeiss Planar 50/2 Ultron 28/2- PanF
In the bag - Hasselblad 503Cxi + Distagon 60/3.5 + TriX
Olympus E-P1 and Summilux 50/1.4
My PBase Gallery
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06-13-2006
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#19
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Registered User
Peter Klein is offline
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Seattle
Age: 56
Posts: 294
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by hoot
Peter, have you seen my ditty? It was partly inspired by yours. Click |
Hoot: I missed that the first time around, and it is, well, a hoot! Good show!
--Peter |
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06-14-2006
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#20
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Registered User
boilerdoc2 is offline
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 477
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That has got to be the most ingenious parody I have heard....ever! Now I have to figure out how to save and burn it for my friends!
Jorge, please make this a sticky!
Steve
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