Patter song

The patter song is a staple of comic opera: a solo, typically for bass or baritone, typically delivered very quickly to a kind of sing-song tune. Today's best-known patter songs come from the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan, though the genre is by no means extinct.

Related Topics:
Comic opera - Bass - Baritone - Gilbert and Sullivan

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Patter songs lend themselves well to parody; Tom Lehrer's listing of the chemical elements to the tune of Gilbert and Sullivan's Major General's Song is perhaps the most widely known patter song parody.

Related Topics:
Parody - Tom Lehrer - Chemical elements - Major General's Song

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It is a tradition of long standing in some Gilbert and Sullivan troupes to come up with parody verses to add as encores to the song itself (though Gilbert is said to have disapproved of such practice and to have remarked, "'Encore' means 'again'."), especially with the Major-General's song. Ko-Ko's first solo from The Mikado (which details the kinds of people who might fruitfully be beheaded, should the need to behead somebody ever arise) is often re-written completely.

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