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When Joker is speaking to Gordon over the intercom in Batman: The Killing Joke, the enunciation and rhyming scheme (and the fact that he asks for music) make it pretty obvious that the Joker is singing. Is there an official source on how the song was supposed to be sung? Melody, timing, pitch, etc?

Lyrics:

When the world is full of care
And every headline screams despair,
All is rape, starvation, war and life is vile

Then there’s a certain thing I do
Which I shall pass along to you,
That’s always guaranteed to make me smile:

I go loo-oo-oony as a light-bulb battered bug!
Simply loo-oo-oony, sometimes foam and chew the rug!

Mister, life is swell
In a padded cell,
It’ll chase those blues away:
You can trade your gloom
For a rubber room
And injections twice a day!

Just go loo-oo-oony like an acid casualty,
Or a moo-oo-oonie, or a preacher on T.V.

When the human race
Wears an anxious face,
When the bomb hangs overhead,
When your kid turns blue,
It won’t worry you,
You can smile and nod instead.

When you’re loo-oo-oony, then you just don’t give a fig,
Man’s so pu-uu-uny, and the universe so big!

If you hurt inside,
Get certified,
And if life should treat you bad...

Don't get ee-ee-even.
Get mad.
- Batman: The Killing Joke, Alan Moore and Brian Bolland

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  • Do you have a video link or something?
    – RedCaio
    May 31, 2016 at 7:20
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    @RedCaio - Pictures added.
    – Wad Cheber
    May 31, 2016 at 7:55
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    Unfortunately, we just don't know. Alan Moore wrote the lyrics, but he's not very open about his previous projects, and he isn't especially fond of this story in particular. I doubt he has ever mentioned the melody, if he even wrote one.
    – Wad Cheber
    May 31, 2016 at 8:13
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    I've found two different interpretations of it on YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=f9kl-Rexu7M and youtube.com/watch?v=KOb4fOGQHCE, but I don't think either is official.
    – FuzzyBoots
    May 31, 2016 at 10:59
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    I couldn't help reading it to the tune of "Always look on the bright side of life", but maybe that's just me... "loo-oo-oony" matching with "al-ways look on" in the chorus. Jun 9, 2016 at 15:26

3 Answers 3

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Here you have it sung by Mark Hamill in animated version of "Killing Joke":

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2

I like both the Monty Python suggestions. The lyrics fit the melody of Always Look On the Bright Side rather well: on reflection I would think that this is rather more likely than the suggestion I am about to make, but I’ll share it anyway for consideration:

I used to believe at the time of publication that the melody could be loosely based upon Button Up your Overcoat, known for its chorus lyric:

Take Good Care of Yourself (You Belong To Me).

At the time Alan Moore was writing The Killing Joke, it was being reused as a jingle for Mentadent-P toothpaste in the UK; so it was constantly in the public consciousness. Moore’s lyrics could act as a parody of the original, while the original lyrics themselves rather perfectly describe the Joker’s relationship with Batman.

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The answer is no one knows for sure, but it is pretty clear that is a rewrite of "The Galaxy Song" by Monty Python.

It follows the same schema of paragraphs topics, references it with "the universe" and just reading it you get the same general rythm.

I don't think it was supposed to be a 1 to 1 thing, but just something very similar.

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