Some notes on "The Liar-Man" Noam D. Elkies Imagine an English speaker hearing a performance in German, recognizing a few words, and filling in a ludicrously wrong idea of what the song might be about. Note that each of the three occurrences of "Leier" is matched by an English "Liar"; likewise for much of the second line: Und -> under, starren -> Starr, Fingern, kann (v.) -> can (n.); "wankt" and "liedern" become "wanks" and "leaders"; "hunde" becomes "hound", for once a true cognate but used as a verb rather than a noun. All of the final rhyming ends, and some full syllables, are preserved: besides Man/kann there's also "leer", and will/still becomes still/Bill -- NB "Bill" is here a form of "Will[iam]". These lyrics can be sung to Schubert's famous song: "cower"[ing] and "[pot]ty, he" as one note split into two (if the Italians can elide consecutive vowels then so can we); likewise "The Ameri[can]" as four 16th notes, or if you prefer "Th'Amer'[can]" which is close to some colloquial pronunciations (as in "Merkin"); an extra upbeat in "They won't let it blow over"; and either an extra upbeat or (if one insists on preserving "Will" on the downbeat, as in "Willst") a contrived word accent in the last line. The portmanteau phrase "The American Peoping Toms" is a variation on a political cartoon seen in the Fall of 1998, showing the Declaration of Independence starting "We The Peephole"; this pun has also been seen in other guises during the Fornigate scandal. This parody inspired Jim Propp to compose another song parody with the same title and subject. In a Nov.1998 e-mail, Jim wrote: In a more popular vein, I suggest: "Liar-Man, Liar-Man / Does whatever a liar can / Put aside / what he says / Open wide / He's the prez / Look out! / Here comes the Liar-Man." ;-)