Drunken Owls and Other Delights

What is the longest thing you know by heart (for example, a prayer, speech, commercial jingle, etc.)? Why did you learn it?

I know pretty much every officially released songs by the Beatles by heart. I'm still learning how to play a lot of them, something I'm doing while I'm writing my Blogging the Beatles posts, but I've listened to the albums for so long that I know all the lyrics and much of the instrumentation and can hear them clearly in my head if I thought about them (I'm thinking of the guitar and bass saxophone back-and-forth in "Savoy Truffle" as I type this). And yes, I even know "Revolution 9" pretty well.

I can also quote nearly all of Yellow Submarine if given a prompt, since I've watched that movie countless times since I was probably eight or nine.

The best payoff, though, was when A. and I went to see a version of Shakespeare's King Lear. Come Act 4 Scene 6 in which Edgar and Edmund duel to the death, I started quoting the play verbatim under my breath, much to A.'s complete surprise. And why did I know this one bit, when I can only quote small bits and pieces of other Shakespeare plays? Because of the last minute of "I Am the Walrus". ;)

When the laughter fades away
Ma vie, tout ma vie
When there's nothing left to say
Ma vie, my oh my

It's the last laugh of the laughter
Sur la dernier page du chapitre
On the last day of the year
Ma vie, tout ma vie

When the spotlight fades away
Ma vie, c'est la vie
When the blue skies turn to grey
Ma vie, tout ma vie

It's the last laugh of the laughter
Sur la dernier page du chapitre
On the last day of the year
Ma vie, tout ma vie

When the laughter fades away
Ma vie, tout ma vie
When there's nothing more to say
Ma vie, my oh my

It's the last laugh of the laughter
Sur la dernier page du chapitre
On the last day of the year
Ma vie, tout ma vie
Ma vie, my oh my