Favourite Parodies

Subject: Favourite Parodies
From: cobber
Date: 11 Feb 04 - 06:30 PM

I love parodies and looking at other threads, I'm not alone. Perhaps that's why I got so involved in Australian folk music which is mostly parodies of music hall etc. I can even remember when the interest started. At thirteen, in England, I got my first paper round and one of my customers subscribed to Mad Magazine. It always made me late when that came out. One issue had a section of Armageddon songs, (you have to remember that this was the time when we all expected to be blown away in a nuclear war)and I thought it was brilliant. So much so that yesterday, I found myself singing one of the songs - and the mag was in 1960 or 1961 (I came to Australia in 62 and had to give up the round. It was a version of On the Street Where You Live. At the time I thought it was brilliant, but maybe you had to be there at that time to get the full impact.

I have often walked down this street before
But there once was pavement underneath my feet before
Now as I go by
I see rubble fly
Boy, it's rough on the street where you live
People stop and stare. They don't worry me
I've got lead underwear, I'm safe as safe can be
All the air is filled with radioactivity
Boy it's rough on the street where you live

Another was My Blue Shelter

Whenever I hear and H-bomb is near
I hurry to my blue shelter
A hole in the floor, a six inch lead door
Will lead you to my blue shelter

There was more of both of course but the brain tends to lose it a bit at my age
Anyway that's a kick-off. So if you are like me and think Roy Bailey's I Did It Their Way is one of the great songs of our time, join in. What are your favourites?

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: Bev and Jerry
Date: 11 Feb 04 - 06:58 PM

THE CRY PANIC

Tune: The Titanic

© 2002, Bev and Jerry Praver


   
1. Through a partnership gigantic Enron grew and grew
   And they thought they had a scheme that the public wouldn't see through
   But the good Lord's mighty hand knew that firm would never stand
   It was sad when that partnership went down

chorus:

   Oh, it was sad, oh, it was sad
   It was sad when the partnership went down (to the bottom of the...)
   Husbands and wives, little children changed their lives
   It was sad when that partnership went down

2. Oh, they bailed from Enron and were almost to the door
   When the rich refused to associate with the poor
   So they tied up all their dough where they'd be the first to go
   It was sad when that partnership went down

3. Oh, the firm was full of sin and the scheme about to burst
   When Ken Lay shouted, "Board of Directors first!"
   Some honest ones retired and the rest of them were fired
   It was sad when that partnership went down

4. Oh, they hauled the shredders out at the accounting agency
   When Cheney shouted "Nearer, My God, To Me"
   Little children wept and cried as the rats jumped o'er the side
   It was sad when that partnership went down

Bev and Jerry

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: Leadfingers
Date: 11 Feb 04 - 06:58 PM

My Mate (Catter Trayton) did a superb rewrite of 'The King of Rome'
about a cat getting into a Pigeon Loft as 'The Cat That Roamed' which was sung by Micca at Portaferry.

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: GUEST,Cookieless PoC
Date: 11 Feb 04 - 08:09 PM

Hands down: "Juanita Suarez" the Molly Malone parody. I went to my partner's family reunion, and we sang it at the "talent show." (This was remarkable because unless there's a bucket handy - or a bottle of irish cream - I can't carry a tune. Bodhran players aren't required to.) Our performance got the most applause. Of course, half of those present were from Iceland and spoke no English, but even so...
;-)

PoC

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 11 Feb 04 - 08:27 PM

Looks like the day for messages not geting though...

I love parodies, if you want to see a few of mine look at The FoolesTroupe Songbook!

Robin

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: Margret RoadKnight
Date: 11 Feb 04 - 08:56 PM

Current favourite:
"Don't Know What Was the Last Thing On My Mind"

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 12 Feb 04 - 12:15 AM

I believe Bob Blue wrote "Their Way", though I'd love to hear Roy sing it. I have a few favorite parodies: "Garnet's Home-Brewed Beer", "It's Not What I'd Sing When I'm Sober" (David Diamond, I believe), and one I once heard in Victoria, BC but never learned: "Borscht Riders in the Sky" (the chorus went, "Yippie-oy-oy, Yippie-oy-vey"). I'm also partial to some of mine, of course: The Perennial Beginner (The F-Chord Song) (after Phil and Lou Berryman's "A Chat With Your Mother (a/k/a "The F-Word Song"), Greenberg's (after "Green Fields"), and For Just One Dime (after Stan Rogers' "Northwest Passage").   And one more, that isn't in the DT. This one came from a Mudcat song challenge in January '02, after John Ashcroft ordered thousands of dollars worth of draperies to cover up the immense statue of "Justice" in the Justice Dept., which depicted a woman with one breast exposed. (I've made some editorial changes.) It's after "The Sound of Silence," of course.

THE BREAST OF JUSTICE
(c)2002 Mark Cohen

Hello Justice my old friend
They're trying to cover you again
Because John Ashcroft softly weeping
Saw the photographs of his meeting
And your proud metallic gleam in the flashing light
Gave him a fright
It was the Breast of Justice

Remember back in '34
They placed you on the marble floor
Like a beacon in the dark you shone
Like a goddess on a heav'nly throne
And for years and years you proudly stood and glared
At all who dared
To hide the Breast of Justice

While the people bowed and prayed
To other gods whose games they played
You alone held up this warning
To the ones whose fears were forming
And you told them, "Justice will prevail, though the prudes of any shape
May throw a drape
Across the Breast of Justice"

"Fools," you said, "You do not know
This metal skin is only show
While you beat your breast in anguished pose
Because you happen to see mine exposed
Do you think that a few yards of cloth will set you free?
Don't you see?
This is the Breast of Justice"

In every corner of the land
Wherever Justice takes a stand
Putting curtains up to hide the light
Will only make the truth burn twice as bright
And our eyes will behold the heart of liberty
Beating free
Within the Breast of Justice

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: cobber
Date: 12 Feb 04 - 02:21 AM

This is great. Foolestroope I think your songbook's great and I love What a friend we have in Johnny. (Part 1) and I'll never hear Sound of Silence in the same way again. Hi Margaret! I haven't heard yours. I'll check if its in the archive. Roy Bailey wanted to release his version of My Way but the owners of the copyright stopped him, so I believe. I have a tape of an ABC radio programme where he did it in Australia at Perth Uni. The introduction is as funny as the song.

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: cobber
Date: 12 Feb 04 - 02:37 AM

I just found a thread with the words of the last thing on my mind. It's great. The trouble is at my age it's bloody true. So much for parody being funny.

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: Sarah the flute
Date: 12 Feb 04 - 03:48 AM

The Trains of waterloo
That's my favourite .... oh and anything from the kipper family especially the one about the dogs
.....and spot
These are the dogs what I have got!
Far better than the original.

Sarah

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: Little Robyn
Date: 12 Feb 04 - 03:49 AM

Also from that Mad comic...

The girl that I marry will have to be
A purple skinned beauty with 2 heads or 3,
The girl I call my wife
Will have a nose with 8 nostrils you play like a fife,
Her nails will be claw-like and in her hair
She'll wear geiger counters and I'll be there
'stead of sighing, I'll be flying
Next to her and she'll roar like a lion.
The girl I propose to will have 7 toes too
Like me.

What else did they rewrite? I wish I still had that edition.
Robyn

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: BanjoRay
Date: 12 Feb 04 - 04:00 AM

I can't stand parodies. They're funny when you hear them once, then after that they rapidly become unbearable, and they totally destroy the original song, which you can never again hear without the parody sneaking into your head. Once a parody starts becoming popular, it then becomes totally uncool to sing the original, till people get sick of the parody, then the whole song/parody combination vanishes down the plughole never to be heard from again.
Yechhh!
Don't write parodies - write good original songs. They last much longer. (unless they get parodied)
Ray

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: GUEST,MC Fat
Date: 12 Feb 04 - 04:41 AM

Kevin Seisaay's piss take on No Woman No Cry called No Rum and No Pies, still gets me some of the best laughs when I sing it. George Welch's Sally Wheatley parody 'Dennis Wheatley' and one by an unknown Scottish author about a budgie which is a parody on Billy Connolly's parody DIVORCE

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: Tiocfaidh
Date: 12 Feb 04 - 04:56 AM

there's another piss-take on No Woman... called 'No Hashish, No High'
Dont have the words of it, but its a great parody

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: Dead Horse
Date: 12 Feb 04 - 05:10 AM

I am in total agreement with BanjoRay on this one. Music is serious, music is.

P.S. Please post lyrics to Juanita Suarez & No Rum and No Pies.
Did a Googly & came up zilch.

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: Micca
Date: 12 Feb 04 - 07:52 AM

Is this the same Dead Horse who sang a parody of "Three score and ten" at Stony Stratford?

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 12 Feb 04 - 08:14 AM

Some of my "Parodies" aren't rally parodies (they have a tendency to take on a life of their own!) - in fact I started a threa a while ago on that topic as to what to call such an animal - we found a good word, but I've forgotten it! I can't find the thread again... one of my winges is that the "search your posted messages " helper is not as elegant as I would prefer, but that's life!

I like the whole mess called the Mudcat .... useful improvemnt will be appreciated greatly, but I prefer to keep the wheels on and the thing rolling along...

Robin

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: Margret RoadKnight
Date: 12 Feb 04 - 08:18 AM

"It's Not What I'd Sing When I'm Sober" is aka "I'd Like You To Join In the Chorus" (I recorded it under the latter title) and has lyrics by David Diamond to "The Limerick Rake"/ "Champion At Keeping 'Em Rolling" tune.

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: Cuilionn
Date: 12 Feb 04 - 09:32 AM

Nae exactly a sang parody, but sin ye mention MAD magazine, here's the stairt o ma favourite bit o theirs, whilk wis ca'd sumpit like "Legend o the Ad-men." (Forgie ony mispellings, as Ah'm daein this frae memory):

'Twas brillo, & the G.E. stoves
Did Procter Gamle in the Glade;
All Pillsbury were the Taystee loaves
And in a Minute Maid.

Beware the Ad-men, Oh, my son:
The voice that lulls, the ads that vex
Beware the .....(?) and shun
That horror call'd Brand X.

He took his Q-Tip swab in hand,
Long time the Tension Headache fought,
Then Dristan'd he by a Mercury
And .....? a while in thought...

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: Forsh
Date: 12 Feb 04 - 01:33 PM

I wrote a song once called '44 Blues' which had the chorus line of 'I'm 44 & I wanna be 21, (Rept x 2) I'm 44 got the key to the door, two times over & a little bit more, I'm 44 & I wanna be 21!.
I sang this at Ashington FC (Northumberland), I went for a loo break and came back in to the room to find an old fella Singing: I'm ^5 & I wanna be 44, I can't get my leg over, any more... !! It had taken him about 3 minutes to parody my song, and introduce irony and I thought it was GREAT! You know you have wrote something worth while when someone parodys it. humbug to those who don't like parody!

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: Amergin
Date: 12 Feb 04 - 01:42 PM

Micca has written some wonderful parodies....like the Hash Me Father Scored...or the Manchester Wanker... ;)

I like writing parodies as much as I like writing other stuff...serious songs can be fine...but it is fun to just let loose with a parody....a few I have written are floating around here:

On The Dole Again
(Parody of On The Road Again)

Always On My Nerves
(Always on My Mind)

Black Is The Colour(Of My True Love's Eye)
(obvious)

Bored In East Virginia
(again obvious)

and others...

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 13 Feb 04 - 02:10 AM

Well, BanjoRay, I appreciate your honesty, even if I don't agree with you. (insert stupid little smiley face thing here)

Foolestroupe, I think someone suggested that a humorous song which borrowed its tune and structure from another song but wasn't trying to demean or poke fun at the original should be called a "satire" -- but I may be wrong.

I've often maintained that writing parodies--or satires--can be a good way to start learning the craft of songwriting, or at least lyric writing. You already have the tune and the rhyme structure set out for you, so you can focus on getting the words right.

Of course, sometimes you can write a parody that changes the structure, like one of my favorite verses in the running parody of "Old Time Religion":

Oh we all will worship Loki
He's the ancient god of chaos
Which is why this verse doesn't rhyme or scan very well either
And that's good enough for me

There's a similar line in "I'd Like You to Sing in the Chorus"--thanks for the added info, Margaret. I'm sure you know the version that goes "I'm Champion of Driving Them Crazy", whose source I don't know.

Oh, and let's not forget one of the masters of parody, the late Allan Sherman.

I'm singing you the ballad of a great man of the cloth
His name was Harry Lewis and he worked for Irving Roth
He died while cutting velvet on a hot July the fourth
And his cloth goes shining on

Glory, Glory, Harry Lewis...his cloth goes shining on

Now Harry Lewis perished in the service of his lord
He was trampling through the warehouse where the drapes of Roth are stored
He had the finest funeral the union could afford
And his cloth goes shining on

Although the fire was raging, Harry stood by his machine
And when the firemen broke in, they discovered him between
A pile of roasted Dacron and some French-fried gabardine
And his cloth goes shining on

Aloha,
Mark
(grandson of a dress cutter)

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: GUEST,MC Fat
Date: 13 Feb 04 - 04:59 AM

I'm thinking of writing a parody of Nutbush City Limits called 'Knutsford City Limits' (Knutsford is a town in Cheshire) Sort of think it might go.....Dole House Council House, Down to the Ale House, Followed by the Curry House, Then to the Shithouse., They call it Knutsford, Knutsford, Knutsford City Limits. Has it got potential?

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: ReeBop
Date: 13 Feb 04 - 11:33 AM

My mother was always one for "bad" parodies--especially of Christmas and religious songs that we would sing on the way home from church.

The one I mainly recall was to "Put your hand in the hand" and it started out: "put your hand in the fan" It was brilliant. I think all of the lyrics are available in a sing along book that we always refered to as the fish book...

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: lady penelope
Date: 13 Feb 04 - 02:04 PM

Current favourite, Morticia's version of Thousands or more.


I love Old time religion. It can keep you occupied thinking up new verses, so the fun is never ending.

TTFN Lady P.

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 13 Feb 04 - 10:06 PM

Mc Fat,

You won't know till you've tried it. Neither will we.

Robin

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: cobber
Date: 14 Feb 04 - 02:42 AM

Although I started this thread because I love parodies, I agree in part with BanjoRay. Once a parody appears, the original often falls behind. I think it has something to do with the type of song that gets parodies which are often (but not always) pretty terrible but wildly popular. They have to be well known or the parody doesn't work. Even some of the better songs that get parodied are those that have been sung to death and the parody comes as a bit of a relief. To work, a parody must be easily recognised. Here's one I was given a couple of years ago.
Take the rose bush from my hair
Shake loose all them little thorns
What's the sprinkler doing on
So damn early in the morn
Crawling home at 5 a.m.
Lord this sidewalk sure is hard
I guess I drank too much again
Help me make it through the yard

I don't know what's left or right
I'm too drunk to even stand
Why the devil won't you help me
Please take your foot off my hand

Put some coffee on the stove
And we'll go try to find your car
I can't hack it all alone
Help me make it through the yard

And get my lawyer on the phone
And help me make it through the yard

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: The Walrus
Date: 14 Feb 04 - 06:52 AM

One that sticks in my mind from many years back:

The basic tennet of this song was that, when the Spanish rising against Napoleon started in May 1808, the Spanish Army was so divided and badly officered that it was ineffectual (the insurrection being mainly borne by the civilian force - the guerrileros) - I should say that this was written by a Napoleonic re-enactor


Y Viva España
(TUNE: Y Viva España<1>)
<1> UK 'Charted' pop song of the 1970s

We are a band of Spanish heroes
who'll defend out rights and our country,
From Cadiz up to the Asturias
We'll go speeding on to victory.
We'd go bravely into battle every day
If it wasn't for the Frenchmen in the way.

CHORUS:
Oh the Junta of Saville is down the drain,
Y viva España,
our dragoons, they have run away again,
Y viva España,
Now we're hiding safe behind the door
Of some small cabaña
Bonaparte won't you go away once more
From España por favor.

Last week we went dow to Grenada
To attack a small French garrison,
We got a nasty shock when we arrived there
they had three more men than they'd let on,
And then, I'm very sad to say,
Our two divisions charged the other way.

Chorus

But now we've found the answer to our problem,
We never more shall face defeat,
We've found a way of stopping fifty Frenchmen
Slitting Spanish Armies up a treat.
The answer to our problem has been found
Next time we nail the Army to the ground

Chorus.


Any use?

Walrus

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: kendall
Date: 14 Feb 04 - 07:39 AM

I think parodies are a lot of fun, and it takes some talent to write one. My favorite is "The Folkie"
However, I don't care for the parody of The Band Played Waltzing Matilda"

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: Apache
Date: 14 Feb 04 - 10:16 AM

A take off of American Pie, all about AStar Wars, very funny, very well thought out and put together, you can download the MP3 from Kazaa or WinMX.

HGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Weird-Al-Yankovic's Lyrics - The Saga Begins Lyrics

A long, long time ago
In a galaxy far away
Naboo was under an attack
And I thought me and qui-gon jinn
Could talk the federation into
Maybe cutting them a little slack
But their response, it didn't thrill us
They locked the doors and tried to kill us
We escaped from that gas
Then met jar jar and boss nass
We took a bongo from the scene
And we went to theed to see the queen
We all wound up on tatooine
That's where we found this boy...

Oh my my this here anakin guy
May be vader someday later - now he's just a small fry
And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye
Sayin' "soon I'm gonna be a jedi"
"soon I'm gonna be a jedi"

Did you know this junkyard slave
Isn't even old enough to shave
And he can use the force, they say
Ahh, do you see him hitting on the queen
Though he's just nine and she's fourteen
Yah, he's probably gonna marry her someday
Well, I knew he built c-3po
And I've heard how fast his pod can go
And we were broke, it's true
So we made a wager or two
He was a prepubescent flyin' ace
And the minute jabba started off that race
Well, I knew who would win first place
Oh yes, it was our boy

We started singin' ...
My my this here anakin guy
May be vader someday later - now he's just a small fry
And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye
Sayin' "soon I'm gonna be a jedi"
"soon I'm gonna be a jedi"

Now we finally got to coruscant
The jedi council we knew would want
To see how good the boy could be
So we took him there and we told the tale
How his midi-chlorians were off the scale
And he might fulfill that prophecy
Oh, the council was impressed, of course
Could he bring balance to the force?
They interview the kid
Oh, training they forbid
Because yoda sensed in him much fear
And qui-gon said "now listen here"
"just stick it in your pointy ear"
"i still will teach this boy"

He was singin' ...
My my this here anakin guy
May be vader someday later - now he's just a small fry
And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye
Sayin' "soon I'm gonna be a jedi"
"soon I'm gonna be a jedi"

We caught a ride back to naboo
'cause queen amidala wanted to
I frankly would've liked to stay
We all fought in that epic war
And it wasn't long at all before
Little hotshot flew his plane and saved the day
And in the end some gunguns died
Some ships blew up and some pilots fried
A lot of folks were croakin'
The battle droids were broken
And the jedi I admire most
Met up with darth maul and now he's toast
Well, I'm still here and he's a ghost
I guess I'll train this boy

And I was singin' ...
My my this here anakin guy
May be vader someday later - now he's just a small fry
And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye
Sayin' "soon I'm gonna be a jedi"
"soon I'm gonna be a jedi"

We were singin' ...
My my this here anakin guy
May be vader someday later - now he's just a small fry
And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye
Sayin' "soon I'm gonna be a jedi"

Subject: Willie McBride Rap
From: Jim McCallan
Date: 14 Feb 04 - 11:02 AM

To be 'spoken' (or 'rapped') un-accompanied in 4/4 time, to the backing of a bodhran...


WILLIE McBRIDE RAP

Well, how's she hangin', young Willie McBride?
Can I stop for a smoke, to take me out of my stride?
And just sit here and chill, and bring the World to a stop,
'Cos I've been ramblin' through the fields, and I'm ready to drop?
So you were only a kid when you went to the war,
Was it your first time abroad, and you didn't know the score?
And at the risk of soundin' morbid, I would like to say
That I hope it happened quick, when you got sent on your way.

Or was it all like a dream, where you got carried aloft
With the drummers at attention, and the pipes blowin' soft?
Was the sun goin' down, did you capture the mood?
As the speeches were read, did it make you feel good?

Now, did you have a babe before you went to the fight?
Did she lie by your side, and give you love every night?
Did she ask you on her knees, to never forget her?
Did she ask you to become a concientious objector?
Or is your picture pasted into an old photograph book,
With no-one knowing why, or when, or where it was took?
Were your intentions pure, was your heart filled with pride?
Was there a smile on your face, was there a gun at your side?

And did they beat? ..... you know the rest.
Did they drape the flag and beret, and the gloves on your chest?
And did they party, to send your soul on its way?
Did they fire the salute as you went into the clay, eh?

Well, I'm sittin' here, Bill, and it's a fabulous day,
The mushies are up, and everything is OK.
There aint no tanks, nor no poisonous gases.
Just lines and lines, and lines of white crosses.
And this cemetery's full of people like you,
That Governments uprooted, and told what to do.
Did they really give a shit about your plans and your dreams?
As your lights went out, did they hear your screams?

Well, how about it man, did the hat go around,
As your mutilated body went into the ground?
Were you banner headlines, were you front page news?
Did the heads of state come and pay their dues?

Well Willie, I'm sorry, I can't figure it out.
Did your next-door neighbours, here, check it all out?
Did they believe all the bullshit and the lies and the crap,
That for once and for all, you'd blow the Hun off the map?
Well, I don't know if you get to see the tube where you are,
But we haven't really come along the road very far.
And all over this planet; Listen to me, Liam
The words are different, but the song is the same.

And did they sing it... did they sing it again?
Do your unborn children ever mention your name?
Are you happy now, or do you feel like a prat?
If you could have it again, would you do it like that?

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: Emma B
Date: 14 Feb 04 - 01:46 PM

Any parody of The Fields of Athenry has my vote - anything has got to be better than the original!
My favourite however is My Husband's got no Porridge in Him

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 14 Feb 04 - 02:48 PM

There's one called "Not the Fields of Athenry," but I don't have the lyrics to hand right now.

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 14 Feb 04 - 03:25 PM

The Willie McBride parody two posts above is about as funny as a triple bypass.

For a truly funny take-off of No Man's Land search out the parody by Crawford Howard. Hilarious.

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: Jim McCallan
Date: 14 Feb 04 - 03:33 PM

I don't think it was meant to be funny, Murray.

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: Micca
Date: 14 Feb 04 - 04:25 PM

Mark, here is Malcolm Austens Parody as I sung it at Lougnstock2
NOT THE FEILDS ATHENRY
© M.AUSTEN 1993

By a lonely prison wall
I heard a young girl calling
Michael they are singing it again
And it just goes on and on
And I hate that blooming (bloody) song
I'm so fed-up with the fields of Athenry

ch.
Oh no not the fields of Athenry
If I hear it one more time I'm going to cry
They should ban the flaming (bloody) thing
There are far better songs to sing
I'm so fed-up with the fields of Athenry

By a lonely prison wall
I heard a young man calling
Mary why do you think that I'm in here
I hit the singer with my shillelagh
Now I'm bound for old Australie
But no more I'll hear the fields of Athenry

By a lonely harbour wall
I heard a young girl calling
To a prison ship and saying wait for me
Won't you let me come along
Before they start that blooming (bloody) song
I'm so fed up with the fields of Athenry

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: chordstrangler
Date: 14 Feb 04 - 06:40 PM

Hi all, I have to say I have a very healthy respect for parodies and use a few of them including some of the marvellous Crawford Howard's in gigs.   They rarely failed.

I also find them useful for practice work in that I believe that song writing – like just about everything else in life – comes easier the more often you do it.   I would often write parodies to try to keep up to speed at those times when no obvious subject for a song presents itself.

I offer this as an example and in tribute to all those young men who went in search of fast women in slow cars.    For the sake of the mechanically challenged, a pair of nylon stockings or tights could serve as an emergency fan belt if all else failed.    Suggestions would be welcomed.





                         Country Roads

Nineteen Sixties, Morris Minor
No brake, no lights no steering and divil the sign of a wiper.
Engine on its' deathbed, gearbox grinds and groans
And the heater, horn and handbrake is known to God alone.

How I hate these Country Roads
Broke down again on my way home.
My brakes are stickin', lovelorn and stricken
Oh how I hate these country roads.

Tyres as bald as eggshells, doors let in the rain
And a red light says the battery isn't charging up again.
Smoke pours from the dashboard, sparks fall on your knees
While around your arse and ankles howls a bleak Antarctic breeze.

Oh how I hate these Country Roads,
walked every inch trying to get home.
No hydraulic fluid means my love life's ruined
Oh how I hate these Country Roads.

I hear a whining coming from a back wheel bearing
Before the engine stops it gives a loud asthmatic moan.
Again I learn for certain I'd be wise to do my courting:
Nearer home, or on the phone.

A broken fan belt parted me and darlin' Mary
She jived like Ginger Rogers and she waltzed light as a fairy.
Sad was the night we parted in the Mother of All Fights
When I said: "I'll drive you home love if you'll just whip off your tights"

And a tank of dirty petrol, stalled me and young Rebecca
Burnt out my carburettor, now I rue the day I met her.
And little Annie Murphy, she left me sad and blue
With my valves in need of grinding, heart and half shaft broke in two.

Oh how I hate these Country Roads
Walked every inch, all on my own.
Me points are welded – me love life's ended
How I hate these Country Roads.

It's far from heaven, broke down outside Virginia
With an angry Cavan Father and the whole damn world 'agin you.
And the wisdom slowly dawning, If I'm hopin' to go far
It's either join the priesthood, or get a better car.

Oh how I hate these Country Roads
Soaked to the skin, chilled to the bone.
A damn ignition shot down my mission
Oh how I hate these Country Roads.
A cracked distributor means I'll never livewither.
Oh how I hate these Country roads.

…………M.

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: freda underhill
Date: 14 Feb 04 - 06:55 PM

this parody is cutting tosay the least...


Loreena's Lament

(sung to the tune of the Banks of the Ohio)

I told my love go take a walk
Take a walk just a little walk
Down beside where the waters flow
Down by the banks of the Ohio

CH
And only say that you'll be mine
And in no others arms entwine
Down beside where the waters flow
Down by the banks of the Ohio

I took a knife unto his dick
And sliced right through that cheatin'prick
He cried Loreena don't ya mutilate me
I'm not prepared for celibacy

And only say that you'll be mine
And in no others arms entwine
Down beside where the waters flow
Down by the banks of the Ohio

I drove my car through the lonely night
And tossed that old fella off to the right
He dialed triple 9 for emergency
They found his manhood beneath a tree

And only say…etc

The po-lice man he didn't blink
He said Loreena you need a shrink
He said Loreena that just wasn't nice
And he thrust that dick on frozen ice

And only say…etc

The doctor came and sewed him up
I wept into my empty cup
He made a million on cheap porn flix
They counselled me and I got nix

And only say that you'll be mine
And in no others arms entwine
Down beside where the waters flow
Down by the banks of the Ohio

........

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: GUEST,Don Hakman
Date: 14 Feb 04 - 06:58 PM

My favorite parody group is now the Capitol Steps.

You can hear their current songs here
http://www.capsteps.com/

They have been at it for nearly 2 decades.

I wrote a parody song for them years ago. They do live shows here in DC at Chelsea's.

They have a lot of DVDs that are so funny that National or World Wide fame would seem assured. Perhaps since the members are all Congressional staff there may be a reason for their relative obscurity.

If you loved Tom Lehrer's stuff you will love the Captol steps.


.................
My apology to those who thought Banjo Ray was serious.
It was just a parody of a musical snob.

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: Dead Horse
Date: 14 Feb 04 - 07:02 PM

A bit of shameless advertising here, but feel free to delete Dead Horse and insert border morris of your choice.

THE BLACK FACE MORRIS

In the evening, after eight.
Dead Horse Morris they congregate
Wi' their corduroy trousers and noisy gait
There go the black face morris

They take their sticks an' away they go
Stomping round, to and fro
Where they're goin' to nobody knows
There go the black face morris

Oh Whitstable is a boozy town
There's loads of pubs where y'can drink one down
That's where them Dead Horse can be found
There go the black face morris

So div'nt go near the old Yacht Club
Or down the road to Armins pub
You might see Dead Horse with their faces scrubbed
There go the black face morris

But join the Dead Horse if you can
The dancing is easy to understand
Just stomp around like a boozy old man
There go the black face morris

Now you know where my monica comes from!

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: Dead Horse
Date: 14 Feb 04 - 07:16 PM

Did someone mention Athenry?

WHEAT & RYE

By a broken down stone wall, I heard an old girl calling
Albert, they have taken you away
Since the sheep they have all gone, thru the post came lots of porn
And the Council Tax you did refuse to pay

Low lie the fields of wheat & rye
Where once we shot small birds up on high
We shot them as they flew, then we put them into a stew
Or else we ate them in a crusty pie

Near a smelly old pig sty, I heard a farm hand crying
Nothing matters Mavis, when you're pissed
The cows have got B.S.E. I've spent the grant from the E.E.C.
And the farmers got his knickers in a twist

Down by the five bar gate, I heard the farmer stating
Albert, I will break you're ruddy neck
The cows have all got out, and the milkmaids up the spout
You've turned my brand new tractor into a wreck

Beside the old dung heap, I saw the policemen creeping
They were searching for my stash I hid nearby
Sniffer dogs were on my trail, and I'd soon be heading for jail
It's so lonely hiding in the fields of wheat & rye

Low lie the fields of wheat & rye
Where once we shot small birds up on high
We shot them as they flew, then we put them into a stew
Or else we ate them in a crusty pie

If ya record it, I wants millions:-)
(and NO, I don't do parodies!)

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: Dead Horse
Date: 14 Feb 04 - 07:52 PM

And while we are on the subject

THE BAR IT SMELLED MALODOROUS

As I went a-walking one evening last week
I popped into my local, a pint for to seek
But the pub had been taken over, by a brewery far away
And they'd changed the old Evening Star - to The Dawning Of The Day
And they'd changed the old Evening Star
And they'd changed the old Evening Star
And they'd changed the old Evening Star - to The Dawning Of The Day

I ploughed through the new carpet to the stainless steel bar
I stood by the potted palm as I ordered a jar
Now the barmaid she was topless, and so was the beer
And the price it had gone up me boys, it was now twice as dear

The jukebox and the pinball were one side of the room
And the one arm-ed bandit, it played a merry tune
While the brass plated plastic fire was switched off at the main
And the bar stool I was sitting on, it was simulated cane

The back room was a restaurant serving Indian and Bolognese
While the curry and the Parmesan, set up a permanent haze
With extractors in the kitchen tried to take the smoke away
But the bar it smelled malodorous at The Dawning Of The Day

Over in the corner where the dartboard had been
Was a bright pink, self-selection, three flavour condom machine
And where once the hand pumps had stood, now only lager was strewn
And if never I return again, it will be too bloody soon!
And if never I return again. And if never I return again
And if never I return again, it will be too bloody soon!

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: GUEST,Gerry Byrne.
Date: 14 Feb 04 - 10:54 PM

Sean Cannon singing Pat Cooksey's version of the Kenny Rodgers
song Lucille is brilliant, this guy wrote Why Paddy's not at Work
Today, and loads of other great songs.

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: John-S
Date: 15 Feb 04 - 07:27 AM

There are some great ones here.

Pastiche, Parody, Plagiarism and the art of Coarse Songwriting

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: Apache
Date: 15 Feb 04 - 12:13 PM

I love that "Not The Fields Of Athenry", brilliant.

What about the Kieth Donnolly stuff, "Don't worry, be happy, it might never happen and if it has already happened it might not happen again, and even if it does it could be worse" is a good song, a bit long winded though, lol.

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: GUEST,Gerd.
Date: 15 Feb 04 - 08:20 PM

I heard Sean and Pat singing Lucille tonight in Frankfurt, politically incorecct, but very funny. Half of our family
could not get in to the concert but we look forward to the
next.

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: Thomas the Rhymer
Date: 15 Feb 04 - 09:02 PM

Aloha Mark! Hey, can you post 'Mickey's Mouseketeers'?... you know... the one that goes to the tune of the ever interminable 'Barrett's Privateers... Back when I was trying to learn it, I couldn't make it all the way through because I was laughing so hard I was choking on my 'very own tears o joy'... an veritable scream...

I just made my first parody... but I'll spare you the details... ;^)
ttr

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: JennyO
Date: 16 Feb 04 - 07:11 AM

This is a poem parody, rather than a song parody, but I remember this from a long time ago, in an old Mad Magazine issue. I think it was supposed to be an Alfred E Neuman creation:

I wandered lonely as a clod
Just picking up old rags and bottles,
when on the lonely road I trod
I came upon some axolotls.
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
A sight to make a man's blood freeze.

Some had handles, some were plain-
they were orange, pink, and green, in the main.
My hair stood up, my blood ran cold.
I fled with fear upon my soul.
I find my solace now in bottles,
and I forget them axolotls.

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: cobber
Date: 20 Feb 04 - 08:45 PM

I can't believe how many of us have been influenced by Alfred E. Neumann. Not the fields of Athenry is brilliant and will find a home at a few sessions I can think about, so is Wheat and Rye. This is what I meant about parody being spawned by people being sick to death of the original. Sorry about the millions though, Dead Horse. Parodies on record become tiresome really quickly

Subject: RE: Favourite Parodies
From: JennyO
Date: 21 Feb 04 - 09:02 AM

Martin Pearson does a very funny parody of Starry Starry Night, called "The Black Painting Song". It starts off "Starless, moonless night......." I'd love to find the words. Does anyone have them?