Song Parody

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A song parody is a specific form of parody that involves taking an existing song, keeping the beat and background the same, then rewriting the lyrics (or possibly adding lyrics to a song that originally had none). Sometimes the new lyrics are similar to the original, sometimes they bear little resemblance. The United States Supreme Court case Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music established song parodies as Fair Use, even when used for profit. Thus, one does not technically need to get permission from the original artist to make a parody, though some (such as "Weird Al" Yankovic) make it a point to get permission for any parodies.

In a non-audio medium such as a comic, making a song parody can be a good way to let the reader know how a song is supposed to actually sound by giving them a beat and tune to which it should be set as he reads the lyrics.


Examples of Song Parody include:

Advertising

  • NBC ran a series of slick, self-promotional jingles on-air under the slogan "Proud as a Peacock!" in the early 1980s, at a time when the network was struggling in third place - out of three. Much to the horror of network brass, a parody "LOUD as a Peacock!" was recorded by the same musicians as a joke. The DJ who played the parody version on WNBC radio ended up abruptly transferred to Cleveland, Ohio.

Live Action TV

On the first day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
A drunk who drove into a tree
On the second day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
Two shattered skulls
And a drunk who drove into a tree....
Twelve beaten children
Eleven drive-by shootings
Ten frozen homeless
Nine amputations
Eight burn victims
Seven strangled shoppers
Six random knifings
Five suicides
Four beaten wives
Three O.D.'s
Two shattered skulls
And a drunk who drove into a tree!

Magazines

Music

  • "Weird Al" Yankovic has based his career on this trope, as have Bob Rivers and others.
  • Many filk songs are parodies of other songs.
  • Liam Lynch's album Fake Songs: There's the "Fake Bjork Song", the "Fake David Bowie Song", etc.
  • Cletus T. Judd, like Weird Al, does mostly song parodies, focusing on country music.
  • Christian band Apologetix performs Christian parodies of popular songs.
  • Comedy-themed barbershop quartets often have entire repertoires that consist of parodies of popular barbershop songs.
  • Allan Sherman is an older example of building a career on parodies.
  • Anthony and Those Other Guys Thormas Time is a Jingle Bells Parody.
  • Self primarily do non-comedic originals, but the outtake compilation Feels Like Breakin' Shit included a pair of parody songs: "Titanic" is a Titanic-themed parody of The Pixies' "Gigantic" (which also includes a bit of Weezer's "The World Has Turned And left Me Here"), while "Moronic" is a parody of Alanis Morissette's "Ironic" that's a Take That to the original artist.
  • "Puppet Dude" by Foetus is an odd case of a stealth song parody: If you read the lyrics, they're clearly meant to fit the meter and rhyme scheme of "Rocket Man", but the song itself sounds absolutely nothing like it.
  • Garfunkel And Oates parodied their own "I Would Never (Have Sex With You)" as "I Would Never (Dissect An Ewe)", while pretending to be an amateur tribute act called Simon And Hall.
  • Dolly Parton's "Jolene" (1973) has a jealous wife singing "Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, I'm begging of you please don't take my man." It inspired a few Answer Songs, which retell the same story from the point of view of another character. In 2021, the song became "Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, I'm begging of you please don't hesitate" in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Web Original

Web Comics

Western Animation

  • Many of the songs on Animaniacs were parodies of already existing songs. The episode "H.M.S. Wakko" was made chiefly of parodies of Gilbert and Sullivan songs.