16 Let Me Do It

We spent a few days on the Red Sea in a resort for Russians. It was a nice break from the heat, buses and hostels, but we found constant service as alien as anything else.

Let me do it
on my own, please.
I don't need your constant
help. Give me back
my bags, and get out of my room,
and don't you take my plate
until I'm done.

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15 Wedding Honk

Part of a wedding ceremony is to drive a bunch of cars around town honking 'da da dit-dit da, da da dit-dit da.'

Traditionalist taboos, together with the difficulties involved in getting married, are reportedly frustrating.

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Air

Oh, Gratitude!

Andrew Zukoski made this:

14 Parsley, a Touch of Salt

Parsley, a touch of salt,
tomatoes, and some cumin
a good salad makes. Oh!

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13 Waiter Screamed and Spit

This delicious evening of sheesha, shai bi naa'na and karkade in a Luxor 'ahwa is about to go awry.

Waiter screamed and spit and threw
my twenty-seven pounds into
my face! It was hard
to not collapse and get ripped off.
Oh I was shaking!

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12 If I Wash My Clothes

If I wash my clothes in the porcelain bidet,
will a terrible, terrible disease come my way?
Oh ants, begone!

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11 Two More People on the Bus

Two more people on the bus than there are seats.
Here comes the station man. Will he kick us
off the bus? (Just look out the window.)

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10 Oh Poverty!

First day it's charming.
Second day it's oh so quaint.
(Look at the donkeys and you'll just faint!)
Third day it's sleepy.
Fourth day it's sad.
Oh, Poverty!

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Weekend off

I recorded today's round, a muddy six part dirge titled "Oh Poverty!" only to discover a bald and annoying parallel octave in the second bar. I can't go back into the studio until Monday, and besides I'm spending all weekend moving -- so see you then.


If you read this, you probably read Daniel Wolf as well. If not, you missed this:

09 Keep it up Goma!

We made friends with Goma in Siwa. He is 20, and in two years expects to be finished building himself a house. Then he can get married.

He's lucky he can do it himself. In Cairo, many men work their whole lives unable to afford the necessary apartment, and never wed.

Keep it up Goma Goma! Keep working on your house.
When it's done you can get married at last,
married at last.

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08 Doopity Dots

In Aswan we explored the Nubian village on Elephantine Island. We ended up guests at the house of a man who sells local handicrafts. He made us tea and we arranged for Kate to get some henna done. His house was full of crocodiles, most stuffed but one live. But this round is about henna:

Doopity dots and swoopy knots
hey na na na.
Sha na na na Nubia!

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07 If You Want to Ride a Felucca

Oh if you want to ride a felucca out on the Nile,
please share your beer: your captain's waited a while.
Chicken's in the pot, the tea is getting hot and sugary.
I won't sink you and for a good price!

Felucca are the sailboats Egyptians have used on the Nile since antiquity. Sometimes they do sink -- two boys in Aswan took us out for an afternoon, struggled against the wind, and gave up, getting us a cab on the shore. Why? They didn't want to risk it: four other feluccas full of tourists had sunk that day.

I was worried about the A#/A cross relation in the last bar. Not a problem, it turns out. Both are properly generated and the opposition helps too, I'm sure. I should have worried instead about total density.

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06 The Suez Canal is Bluer than the Sky

The Suez Canal is bluer than the sky;
it carries water from Med. to Red, and ships
that carry freight trains.

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