Presenting
A Chiffmunk Christmas
A chiffy twist on a holiday classic!
Dale, the Undisputed one,
Lean your ear this way,
Don’t you tell a single soul
What I’m going to say!
B.B. wants a Dixon low,
Walden wants a Burke,
And he’d like a Copeland, too,
Any key will work!
Walden, you are too much!! 
You have an endless source of creativity and humor… this one is definitely a classic!
Best,
Andrea
another verse…
Listen Dale and listen good,
Here’s what’s going down:
Some are naughty, some are nice,
In your virtual town.
What we need at C&F
Is some Christmas cheer.
(TSam wings a hand grenade,
Everyone stand clear!)
Bloomie issues sage advice,
With his trademark wit.
Cran redoes his avatar,
Serpent’s in a snit.
As for me my whistling skills,
Are a little weak.
Undisputed, make it so
My Overton won’t squeak!
(with apologies to those named.)
Quote @ emmline
Listen Dale and listen good,
Here’s what’s going down:
Some are naughty, some are nice,
In your virtual town.What we need at C&F
Is some Christmas cheer.
(TSam wings a hand grenade,
Everyone stand clear!)Bloomie issues sage advice,
With his trademark wit.
Cran redoes his avatar,
Serpent’s in a snit.As for me my whistling skills,
Are a little weak.
Undisputed, make it so
My Overton won’t squeak!
(with apologies to those named.)
Love it!! 
Merry Christmas to members who’ve never posted
They lurk all night and all day
And we have to mention energy
For not reading but responding anyway!
OK, I suck.
No, no…just need to work on your meter.
Emmline, your additional verses were wonderful! This could turn into quite a lengthy song if each of us could add to it… ah, a challenge!! 
Cran, with the meter it seems to be a 4-3-4-3 sort of thing that’s going on, so you could alter your verse to follow that. 4 emphasized words/syllables on one line, 3 on the next.
I’m working on something, but can’t quite get it yet… I’m stuck on a rhyme that fits the meter. 
~Andrea
I can’t! I’m waiting for more verses…
Could I ask for a descriptive site on meter or would that be hijacking this thread?
Oops…
The meter is 7 5 7 5 doubled.
This means that the first line has 7 syllables, the second five, etc.
I’ll see what I can find, Cran. Basically if you clap your hands as you say the lines, you’ll find that you naturally clap at particular points-- basically finding a ‘beat’. So with Walden’s first line “Dale, the Undisputed One” the syllables that are emphasized are ‘Dale’, ‘Un’, ‘pu’, and ‘One’. The next line “Lean your ear this way” has ‘lean’, ‘ear’, and ‘way’. See how it is four beats, then three?
Does that help?
~A
Edited to say: Oops, I think I stand corrected. What am I talking about then?? 
Right. These are feet. “Dale the,” is the first foot, with the first syllable being emphasized. So the meter is 8,7,8,7, and each couplet (or two lines at 8, 7 syllables) consists of this pattern:
Da da Da da Da da da
Da da Da da Da
No, you’re not corrected. You’re still right, just talking about a slightly different thing than Walden. You’re talking about emphasized syllables, whereas he’s talking about total number of syllables.
Steven
::Edited because my question was redundant.::
I think I’s gotten confuzzled somewhere’s along the way.
~Andrea
Helps a lot…I think.
I’m not disagreeing with you. But yes, it’s rhythm, but that’s related to meter. For example, common meter is called 8 6 8 6, but it is also iambic. The iambic rhythm is part of common meter, and so is the rhyme pattern, namely that the second line of each couplet rhymes. So c. m., is called 8 6 8 6, but it really means more, that
(1) It is in stanzas of two rhyming couplets.
(2) The couplets consist of one line of 4 iambic feet, and one of three.
(3) The rhyme is on the second line of each couplet (though, the first lines often rhyme, also, this is not part of the definition of common meter).
Blank verse, also called iambic pentameter, is another meter, and it consists of lines of ten syllables, or five iambic feet.
I’ve not looked this stuff up, forgive me.
Thanks for the explanation, Walden… I always go by what sounds right to my ear, and have really forgotten a lot of the correct terms and definitions. This has been good to go back and explore!
Cran, I found this page that is somewhat helpful:
http://library.thinkquest.org/27864/data/cyoc/poetry.html?tqskip1=1
Best,
Andrea
Thank you, Andrea!
All that counting and explanation may be of use, but it seems to me its just a matter of repeating a rhythm…much as one might have the feel for what makes a jig a jig.
Aww…but Em… that would be like taking away our sheet music and learning to play by ear. Where’s the fun in that??
~A
