Parodies you didn't know were parodies

Subject: Parodies you didn't know were parodies
From: Mrrzy
Date: 16 Aug 22 - 05:51 PM

Inspired by the Covers thread ...

I heard Eat it, for instance, before Beat it, so I thought Beat it was the (awful) parody.

Has this happened to any of y'all?

I heard a song I thought I knew, faintly, on a radio at an outdoor event, so I was merrily singing along, got some odd looks... I was singing Three Inch Tool. Had no idea there was some sappy I only wanna be with you song.

I notice that I tend to like the parody better. Wondering if that is your experience as well...

Subject: RE: Parodies you didn't know were parodies
From: GUEST,keberoxu
Date: 16 Aug 22 - 07:52 PM

Mine was a different problem.
I heard "Beat It" first.

Then, when I heard Weird Al Yankovic's parody, I misheard so badly
that I thought:
"Edith? Who's Edith?"

Subject: RE: Parodies you didn't know were parodies
From: Mrrzy
Date: 17 Aug 22 - 11:04 AM

Ooh ooh the Clancy Brothers' Galway Bay at Carnegie Hall! Had no idea why the audience was so amused.

Subject: RE: Parodies you didn't know were parodies
From: Donuel
Date: 18 Aug 22 - 06:48 AM

"there's a bathroom on the right"

Subject: RE: Parodies you didn't know were parodies
From: Mrrzy
Date: 18 Aug 22 - 02:12 PM

Mondegreen. Not parody.

Subject: RE: Parodies you didn't know were parodies
From: Mr Happy
Date: 18 Aug 22 - 03:03 PM

There's 'Plastic Jesus'.

It feels like it's based on an old time gospel song.

Anyone know?

Subject: RE: Parodies you didn't know were parodies
From: Mrrzy
Date: 18 Aug 22 - 03:24 PM

Good question...?

Subject: RE: Parodies you didn't know were parodies
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 18 Aug 22 - 07:45 PM

"Plastic Jesus" has strong overtones to "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms." Singout, Valentine's Day, 1964.

The most successful, current parody writer is undoubtedly, Weird Al. Some of his surpass the originals, and most are encouraged/endorsed by the performers (USA rocks, UK sux).

Yankos bio is in film production - the nudist Broadway star from Harry Potter is playing the lead.

- Amish Paradise (Coolio Gangster Paradise)
- Another One Rides the Bus
- eBay (back street boys)
- Yoda (The Kinks Lola)
- Eat It (Michael Jackson)



Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Film release November 2022

Subject: RE: Parodies you didn't know were parodies
From: CupOfTea
Date: 18 Aug 22 - 09:22 PM

A friend was regaling me with a Billy Connolly song (the Welly boot song) in fairly good imitation accent, but he hadn’t a clue it was a parody; he’d never heard “The Work of the Weavers” which I haven’t heard anyone sing for years, though I think those lyrics are in Rise Up Singing.

There was a period when the “Anti-Garden Song” was more popular than Mallet’s original lyrics, and some folks learned it through aural tradition in ignorance of the original. I know I heard Clancy & Makem’s “Galway Bay” before I heard the original lyrics, though I suspected there was some joke to it, by audience response, as well.

I can easily picture people being ignorant that a well-written parody is not the original, as the best parodies have enough inherent humor & good content on their own, when it’s in a genre you’re unfamiliar with. If Weird Al has recorded it, that’s a dead giveaway, but there is such an uptick in people writing parodies these days, particularly political ones, I might not catch one if it’s not based on something traditional.

Joanne in Cleveland
(Whose “A list” parodies are mostly by Les Barker)

Subject: RE: Parodies you didn't know were parodies
From: leeneia
Date: 19 Aug 22 - 12:57 PM

'O my darling Clementine' is said to be a parody of sappy 19th C songs where the fair maid whom the singer pines for has died. Evidently there were a lot of those.

'O where have you been, Billy boy?' is said to be a parody of Barbara Allen. Or maybe of some other ballad where a noble goes off to visit his lover and comes back to his mother, either broken-hearted or poisoned.

Subject: RE: Parodies you didn't know were parodies
From: Mrrzy
Date: 19 Aug 22 - 02:34 PM

Hmmm. I thought of Billy Boy as a *version* - fascinating.