Adrian D. Holmes - Modern Major General Lyrics

[Major-General Stanley]
I am the very model of a modern Major-General
I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral
I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical
From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical;

I'm very well acquainted too with matters mathematical
I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical
About binomial theorem I'm teeming with a lot o' news---
With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse

[Chorus - Pirates, Daughters]
With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse
With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse
With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypote-pote-nuse

[Major-General Stanley]
I'm very good at integral and differential calculus
I know the scientific names of beings animalculous;
In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral
I am the very model of a modern Major-General

[Chorus - Pirates, Daughters]
In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral
He is the very model of a modern Major-General!

I know our mythic history, King Arthur's and Sir Caradoc's
I answer hard acrostics, I've a pretty taste for paradox
I quote in elegiacs all the crimes of Heliogabalus
In conics I can floor peculiarities parablous

I can tell undoubted Raphaels from Gerard Dows and Zoffanies
I know the croaking chorus from the Frogs of Aristophanes
Then I can hum a fugue of which I've heard the music's din afore
And whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense Pinafore

[Chorus - Pirates, Daughters]
And whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense Pinafore
And whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense Pinafore
And whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense Pinafore!

[Major-General Stanley]
Then I can write a washing bill in Balylonic cuneiform
And tell you every detail of Caractacus's uniform;
In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral
I am the very model of a modern Major-General

[Chorus - Pirates, Daughters]
In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral
He is the very model of a modern Major-General!

[Major-General Stanley]
In fact, when I know what is meant by "mamelon" and "ravelin"
When I can tell at sight a mauser rifle from a javelin
When such affairs as sorties and surprises I'm more wary at
And when I know precisely what is meant by "commissariat"

When I have learnt what progress has been made in modern gunnery
When I know more of tactics than a novice in a nunnery:
In short, when I've a smattering of elemental strategy
You'll say a better Major-General has never sat a gee

[Chorus - Pirates, Daughters]
You'll say a better Major-General has never sat a gee
You'll say a better Major-General has never sat a gee
You'll say a better Major-General has never sat-a-sat-a-gee

[Major-General Stanley]
For my military knowledge, though I'm plucky and adventury
Has only been brought down to the beginning of the century;
But still in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral
I am the very model of a modern Major-General

[Chorus - Pirates, Daughters]
But still in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral
He is the very model of a modern Major-General!