List of patter songs

This is a list of some of the best known patter songs.

Pre-Gilbert and Sullivan

• Auber: Le domino noir – "Je suis sauvée enfin"
• Cornelius: Der Barbier von Bagdad – "Bin Akademiker, Doktor und Chemiker"
• Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore – "Udite, Udite, o rustici", middle section (Dulcamara)
• Donizetti: Don Pasquale – "Cheti, cheti, immantinente", final section (duet for Don Pasquale and Doctor Malatesta)
• Glinka: Ruslan and Lyudmila – Farlaf's Rondo «Близок уж час торжества моего» (Farlaf)
• Mozart: Marriage of Figaro – "La vendetta, oh, la vendetta", final section (Bartolo)
• Mozart: Don Giovanni – "Fin ch'han dal vino" (Don Giovanni)
• Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail – "Solche hergelaufne Laffen", especially the final section of the aira (Osmin)
• Mozart: "Clarice cara mia sposa", aria for Tenor, K. 256
• Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia – "Largo al factotum", final section (Figaro); "A un dottor de la mia sorte" (Bartolo)
• Rossini: La Cenerentola – "Sia qualunque delle figlie", final section (Don Magnifico)
• Rossini: "La Danza"
• Rossini: Il viaggio a Reims – "Medaglie incomparabili" (Don Profondo)
• Offenbach: La jolie parfumeuse – "Neighbors Chorus"

Gilbert and Sullivan

• Arthur Sullivan and F. C. Burnand: Cox and Box – "My Master Is Punctual" (Mr. Cox)^[1][2]
• Gilbert and Sullivan (referred to below as "Sullivan"): The Gondoliers – "In enterprise of martial kind" (Duke of Plaza-Toro, with Duchess, Casilda and Luiz)^[3][4]
• Sullivan: The Gondoliers – "Rising early in the morning" (Giuseppe)^[5]
• Sullivan: H.M.S. Pinafore – "When I Was a Lad" (Sir Joseph)^[5]
• Sullivan: Iolanthe – "Love, unrequited, robs me of my rest" (the "Nightmare song"; Lord Chancellor)^[5][6]
• Sullivan: The Mikado – "As someday it may happen" (Ko-Ko)^[7]
• Sullivan: Patience – "If you want a receipt for that popular mystery" (Colonel Calverley)^[8]
• Sullivan: Patience – "If you're anxious for to shine" (Bunthorne)^[8]
• Sullivan: Patience – "So go to him and say to him" (Bunthorne and Lady Jane)^[8]
• Sullivan: The Pirates of Penzance – "I am the very model of a modern Major-General" (Major-General Stanley)^[7]
• Sullivan: Princess Ida – "If you give me your attention, I will tell you what I am" (King Gama)^[5]
• Sullivan: Ruddigore – "My boy, you may take it from me" (Robin)^[5]
• Sullivan: Ruddigore – "Henceforth all the crimes that I find in the Times" (Robin)^[9]
• Sullivan: Ruddigore – "My eyes are fully open to my awful situation" (Robin, Despard, and Margaret).
• Sullivan: The Sorcerer – "My name is John Wellington Wells" (J. W. Wells)^[5]
• Sullivan: Trial by Jury – "When I, good friends, was called to the bar" (the Learned Judge)^[5][10]
• Sullivan: The Yeomen of the Guard – "I've Jibe and Joke. ... I've wisdom from the East and from the West" (Jack Point)^[11]
• Sullivan: The Yeomen of the Guard – "Oh! A private buffoon is a light-hearted loon" (Jack Point)^[5]

After G&S: selected showtunes

• Ashman & Menken: "Now (It's Just the Gas)" from Little Shop of Horrors^[12]
• Lionel Bart: "Reviewing the Situation" from Oliver!^[13]
• Cy Coleman: "Museum Song" from Barnum^[14]
• Comden & Green: "If You Hadn't, But You Did" from Two on the Aisle^[15]
• Frankel & Korie: "The Revolutionary Costume" from Grey Gardens^[16]
• Rupert Holmes: "Both Sides of the Coin" from Drood^[17]
• Eric Idle: "You Won't Succeed on Broadway" from Spamalot^[18]
• Kander & Ebb: "The Money Song" from Cabaret^[19]
• Kander & Ebb: "We Both Reached for the Gun" from Chicago^[19]
• George Gershwin: "The Mophams" from Primrose^[20]
• George Gershwin: "It Ain't Necessarily So" from Porgy and Bess ^[21]
• Bock & Harnick: "Tonight at Eight" from She Loves Me^[22]
• Jerry Herman: "Penny in My Pocket" from Hello, Dolly!^[23]
• Jonathan Larson: "Therapy" from Tick, Tick... Boom!^[19]
• Lerner & Loewe: "Why Can't the English?", "I'm an Ordinary Man" and "A Hymn to Him" from My Fair Lady^[24]
• Roger Miller: "The Royal Nonesuch" from Big River^[25]
• Laurence O'Keefe: "Show You a Thing or Two" from Bat Boy: The Musical^[26]
• Cole Porter: "Let's Not Talk About Love" from Let's Face It!^[27]
• Stephen Schwartz: "All for the Best" from Godspell^[19]
• Sherman Brothers: "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" from Mary Poppins^[28]
• Stephen Sondheim: "Another Hundred People"^[15] and "Getting Married Today"^[29] from Company
• Stephen Sondheim: "Now" from A Little Night Music^[15]
• Stephen Sondheim: "The Worst Pies In London"^[30] and "A Little Priest"^[31] from Sweeney Todd
• Stephen Sondheim: "Putting It Together" from Sunday in the Park with George^[32]
• Stephen Sondheim: "Mr. Goldstone, I Love You" from Gypsy^[30]
• Stephen Sondheim: "Your Fault" from Into the Woods^[33]
• Stephen Sondheim: "Franklin Shepard, Inc." from Merrily We Roll Along^[34]
• Jeanine Tesori: "The Speed Test" from Thoroughly Modern Millie adapts portions of "My eyes are fully open" from Ruddigore^[19]
• Kurt Weill: "Tschaikowsky (and Other Russians)" from Lady in the Dark^[35]
• Meredith Willson: "Rock Island (opening sequence)" and "Ya Got Trouble" from The Music Man^[19]
• David Yazbek: "Model Behavior" from Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown^[36]

After G&S: selected popular and classical music

• Animaniacs: "Yakko's World" (1993), among others^[37]
• Barenaked Ladies: "One Week" from Stunt (1998)^[38]
• Noël Coward: "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" (1931)^[39]
• Charles Ives: "Memories: A. Very Pleasant" (1897)^[40]
• Billy Joel: "We Didn't Start the Fire" from Storm Front (1989)^[41]
• Tom Lehrer: "The Elements" (1959) uses the tune of the "Major-General's Song"^[42]
• Only Murders in the Building: "Which of the Pickwick Triplets Did It?" (2023)^[43]
• Phineas and Ferb: "History of the Tri-State Area", "I Really Don't Hate Christmas"^[44]
• Reunion: "Life Is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)" (1974)^[45]
• Scrubs: "The Rant Song" from the 2007 episode "My Musical"^[46]
• Lucky Starr: "I've Been Everywhere" (1959 by Geoff Mack)^[47]
• Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention: "Let's Make the Water Turn Black" from We're Only in It for the Money (1968)^[48]