Musical Parody or, "Would You Like the Mondegreens or the Caesar Salad?"
"Life size mice, yeah… Life size mice, yeah…" My college roommate and I used to giggle over our misinterpretations of the Thompson Twins' hit "Lies, Lies, Lies" and other popular songs. We've all misheard lyrics; there are whole books devoted to the sometimes humorous, sometimes baffling constructions our minds make of well-known songs.
My earliest memory of mangling lyrics came from back when I was three or four years old, sitting in a claw-footed bathtub singing "Row, row, row your boat, gently down the drain" as the rubber plug was pulled and soapy water swirled down the drain. "Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life goes down the drain…" Sounds morbid, now; I remember being slightly horrified at the thought, and backing away from the gaping hole at the front of the tub.
These "misheard" lyrics have a name: Mondegreens. "The word "mondegreen" is itself a mondegreen. The American writer Sylvia Wright coined it in an essay "The Death of Lady Mondegreen," which was published in Harper's Magazine in Nov. 1954. She wrote:
When I was a child, my mother used to read aloud to me from Percy's Reliques. One of my favorite poems began, as I remember:
Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands,
Oh, where hae ye been?
They hae slain the Earl Amurray, [sic]
And Lady Mondegreen.
The actual line is "And laid him on the green", from the anonymous 17th century ballad "The Bonnie Earl O' Murray."
Mondegreens are a sort of accidental (usually) musical parody. From there, it's a short hop to true musical parody, pastiche, and satire. (1) A true parody usually mimics the thing it mocks; musical parody and pastiche tend to mimic one thing (a popular song or artistic/musical/literary style) while poking fun or criticism at something else entirely. In any case, satire set to music has the added advantage of familiarity and "catchiness." It's fun and memorable; you can easily sing along and annoy your friends with it. You can measure success by watching for telltale foot-tapping, despite the grimaces on their faces.
Most of you are familiar with "Weird Al" Yankovic: The most successful parodist of popular music…now in his third decade of writing song parodies. (2) If you're familiar with Al's movie UHF, I was living in Tulsa at the time – that was the year my daughter was born – and I remember seeing film crews there. In fact, they filmed part of it on the opposite side of the greenbelt from the house I was living in. Fans might be interested in this little trip down memory lane: http://www.robohara.com/uhf/.
I have weird and eclectic tastes in music, which I delight in inflicting on captive audiences (just ask Jay's debut novel is out now!    ). One of my favorite musical satirists is Tom Lehrer. Even original artists of the caliber of Tom Lehrer have been known to dip a toe in the waters of musical parody; Lehrer's famous song "The Elements" adapts a tune from Gilbert & Sullivan to the periodic table. (2)
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I thought I'd challenge you to try your hand at writing a musical parody. And in the spirit of not asking you to do anything I'm unwilling to do, myself – here's mine. My daughter and I attended a Blackeyed Peas concert two weekends ago, and this catchy little number's been stuck in my head ever since. I may be too old to shake my humps, but I'm not above shamelessly plugging my books…
My Books (by Jessiebelle)
To the tune of "My Humps," with apologies to the Blackeyed Peas.
What you gon’ do with all that bloggin’?
All that bloggin’ from your noggin?
I’ma get get get get you hooked
You’ll run right out an’ by my book.
My book, my book, my book, my book, my book
My book, my book, my book, just click this link an’ look!
Check it out…
I drive my agent crazy,
I’m really not that lazy,
They find my words enticing,
But wish I’d do more slicing.
Hard to shop a novel
That weighs in like the Bible!
Edits, they be sharin'
All their red marks got me swearin’ - my!
But I ain't balkin’,
My characters are talkin’,
Seven scenes, eighty sub-plots
Villains, nuns, and twenty harlots!
So I keep on fakin'
And no I ain't shaken
I just keep on writin'
We keep negotiatin’.
My book, my book, my book, my book
You’ll love my big fat book,
My book, my book, my book,
My novel’s got you!
She's got me reading.
(Oh) Spendin' all your eyesight on it and spending time on it.
She's got me reading.
(Oh) Spendin' all your eyesight on it, up on it, on it.
What you gon’ do with all that bloggin’?
All that bloggin’ from your noggin?
I'ma get, get, get, get, you hooked,
Get you go and buy my book!
What you gon' do with that rejection?
Who could turn down such perfection?
Oooh, that really makes me scream, makes me scream
Makes me scream!
‘Cause it’s my book, my book, my book, my book
My book, my book, my book, my lovely big fat book!
Check it out…
I met a printer down at the drive-thru.
He said “Publish this? Hey hey, hey can do! -
I could be your printer, you can be my client
Won’t cost a cent, I’m not lyin’.
I mix your wit with my Docutech,
Speedy, speedy Docutech,
Your wit with my Docutech, witty witty riiiiiiight.
They say I'm really clever,
The bookstores they say “Never.”
Always want me autographin’,
I say “Buy” and they start laughin’,
Tryin' a get my books free
They don’ wanna pay me.
You can look but you can't read it,
Without a credit card receipt, it
Just wouldn’t be right, right?
No, not right, no, no, no, not right
So don't try to scam a fee boy,
My words ain’t free, boy,
I'm just tryin'a write boy,
And move my book.
My book, my book, my book, my book,
My book, my book, my book, my book, my book, my book.
My lovely big fat books (books)
My lovely big fat books (books)
My lovely big fat books (books)
On the back shelves and the front (books)
My book it’s got you -
She's got me reading.
(Oh) Spendin' all your eyesight on it and spending time on it.
She's got me reading.
(Oh) Spendin' all your eyesight on it, on it, on it.
What you gon’ do with all that bloggin’?
All that bloggin’ from your noggin?
I’ma get get get get you hooked
So you’ll run right out an’ by my book.
My book, my book, my book, my book, my book
My book, my book, my book, just click this link an’ look!
Oooh, this feels just like a dream - makes me scream,
Makes me scream!
‘Cause it’s my book, my book, my book, my book
My book, my book, my book, my lovely big fat book!
What you gon’ do with all that bloggin’?
All that bloggin’ from your noggin?
I’ma get get get get you hooked
So you’ll run right out an’ by my book.
What you gon' do with all the rest?
All those words stuffed in that chest?
I'ma make, make, make, make you edit
Make you sorry you ever said it.
She's got me reading.
Spendin’ all your time reading, and working hard on edits…
She's got me reading.
Spendin’ all your time reading, and working hard on edits…
Sources:
And, if music’s not your thing… You’re probably already familiar with The Onion, a well-known parody newspaper founded in 1988 by University of Wisconsin-Madison Juniors Tim Keck and Christopher Johnson. If not, it’s a fine example of parody.
Did You Know…?
Question: When is parody protected from a charge of trademark infringement?
Answer: Parody is a usage of a mark that pokes fun at the mark and does not confuse the public as to the source of the usage. In determining whether there is infringement the court balances the public interest in free expression against the public interest in avoiding consumer confusion. "A parody must convey two simultaneous--and contradictory messages; that it is the original, but also that it is not the original and is instead a parody. To the extent that it does only the former but not the latter, it is not only a poor parody but also vulnerable under trademark law, since the consumer will be confused." From Cliffs NOtes, Inc. v. Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, 886 F. 2d 490 (2d Cir. 1989)
Did You Know…?
Parody is protected under Copyright law's "Fair Use" doctrine. But it has to be good parody…
Since copyright law prohibits the substantial use of a copyrighted work without permission of the copyright owner, and because such permission is highly unlikely when the use is to create a parody, it may be necessary for the parodist to rely on the fair-use defense to forestall any liability for copyright infringement. However, the fair-use defense if successful will only be successful when the newly created work that purports itself to be parody is a valid parody.
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Comedy: April 19, 2006 Issue [#989]
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